Gurpreet Bhatia, recipient of the 2018 VET International Practitioner Fellowship, and Head of Department- Hospitality and Business Management, MCIE, recently travelled to India and Europe as part of his Fellowship.
Aimed at identifying and introducing industry best practices from different training organisations in other countries, the Fellowship is awarded by the International Specialised Skills Institute in partnership with the Department of Education and Training, Victoria.
It is awarded to Vocational Education and Training (VET) practitioners who are employed within Registered Training Organisations (RTOs). As part of the program, the Fellows travel overseas to acquire new skills through research and knowledge sharing to bring improvements and innovation in VET delivery in Australia.
Meeting with Shaun Leonard - HOD BHMS Lucerne
Gurpreet’s Fellowship is aimed at fostering training, continued education, and skill enhancement of learners with special needs within the hospitality industry. According to Australian census data (2016), the Hospitality sector accounts for 6.9% of Australia’s working population but people, who are disadvantaged, are the largest minority in the sector.
As part of his Fellowship, Gurpreet recently traveled to India and then to Europe where he commenced research and visited various organisations. Under the Fellowship, Gurpreet worked to identify effective practices and strategies used in internationally acclaimed training organisations for training learners with special needs. He also studied the various frameworks and intervention methods used to support and improve learning outcomes and success in enhancing employment opportunities and career pathways for these learners with special needs in a VET setting.
International Research Conference - Zurich
Gurpreet said, “While I feel privileged to have been awarded the prestigious Fellowship, I am equally humbled by this extremely positive experience, interacting with some amazing professionals from the hospitality industry in different organisations in India and Europe. I am thankful for their support as well as for the opportunity to gain insights into their program and to exchange our experiences and knowledge. I am now looking forward to sharing my experiences, learnings, and recommendations with the industry and my peers.”
As part of his research travel, Gurpreet attended the International Conference on Special Needs Education (ICSNE 2019) in Zurich, Switzerland, as well as visited the Lemon Tree Hotels, India, to gain insights into their internationally acclaimed modern training and employment drive for workers with special needs which account for nearly 12% of the hotel’s 4,600 strong workforce.
With Aradhana Lal Vice President Brand Communications Sustainability Initiatives Lemon Tree Hotels.
Gary Coonar, Managing Director, Melbourne City Institute of Education, said, “New ideas and practices, continuing education, and benchmarking is the lifeline for any industry. At MCIE, we are continually interacting and taking feedback from the VET industry to provide world class training and job-ready skill sets to our students. While we are proud that Gurpreet is a recipient of the prestigious Fellowship from International Specialised Skills Institute and the Department of Education and Training, Victoria, we are equally confident that his learnings from the Fellowship program will benefit the industry and help introduce several process innovations and best practices.”
Under the Fellowship program, the International Specialised Skills Institute promotes innovation and adoption of new ideas and best practices. The Fellows disseminate their learnings to the government, industry, educational institutions, and peers through a Fellowship report, industry workshops, conferences, and other external forums.
RTO Provider: 22172 – September 5th 2019 – BD
