Page 451 - Week 02 - Thursday, 3 March 1994
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
The need for such a program has been identified in numerous studies conducted throughout Australia in recent years. The aim of this Bill is to establish the AIHS as a separate entity from the CIT. This is important for two main reasons. Firstly, it avoids placing a financial burden on the ACT community and government. To this end, the Government has decided that the hotel school will operate so as to achieve full cost recovery. Secondly, the hotel school will operate on a fee-for-service basis - the usual basis for major hotel schools around the world and within Australia.
The Bill provides for the flexibility to engage academic and other staff on a basis equivalent to major competitors in the academic world, allowing the hotel school to react to community and industry requirements when appointing staff. It is intended that provisions for AIHS employment flexibility in this Bill be incorporated within the legislation establishing the separate public service for the ACT. This Bill also provides initial funding for the hotel school via a capital advance, with the AIHS paying interest and repaying the principal over an agreed period. It is also the Government's intention that the AIHS will have a reasonable number of scholarships, via corporate sponsorship and the like, to allow equity of access into the educational program. The ACT Government, through the CIT, has taken the initiative by introducing a new educational program which has no cost impact on the ACT Government and yet meets the needs of the industry as well as allowing more Australians to gain tertiary education.
It is estimated that the AIHS will generate some 170 jobs during the approximately $11m construction and refurbishment phase of the development and will employ some 175 people in an ongoing capacity through increased economic activity in the Canberra region. It will, of course, offer visitors even more choice of accommodation when holidaying or business travelling to Canberra and will contribute to the overall prosperity of Canberra through the multiplier effect of these activities. The AIHS will contribute an estimated $4m to $5m per year to the ACT economy. It will undoubtedly attract a large number of interstate and international students, all of whom will bring extra funds into the region and further diversify the already multicultural face of our city.
Through extensive research and industry input from around the country, the need for an institution such as the AIHS has been clearly established. It will be the first degree program in Australia which incorporates the practical skills development and training in a situational training hotel with the academic rigour necessary for a degree level course. When operational, the AIHS will put the ACT firmly on the map as a provider of hospitality management education and will position Canberra even more strongly as a provider of quality educational services to the wider community and to international students. This will be a truly national school, a school of which we can all be justly proud, and a school which gives the tourism and hospitality industry even more reasons to develop further. Madam Speaker, I present the explanatory memorandum for the Bill.
Debate (on motion by Mr Cornwell) adjourned.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .