QS Subject Focus Summit on Hospitality and Leisure Management 2021

The QS Subject Focus Summit on Hospitality and Leisure Management 2021 under the theme of “Sustainable and Resilient Solutions in Tourism Today” was organized by QS, Taylor’s University, Malaysia and Prince of Songkla University, Thailand from 5-7 October 2021.

Hospitality and the tourism industry can be especially vulnerable to disruption, whether through changes to consumer preferences or global challenges. Any hurdle, regardless of size, can have a significant impact and events such as global pandemics, strikes, natural disasters and climate change are affecting how service providers operate.

Three Keynote and five Distinguished Speakers delivered their speeches and panelists from Australia, UK, USA, China, Hongkong, Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand discussed various topics on sustainable and resilient solutions that can be implemented for future hospitality and tourism industry.

List of 43 International Speakers: https://qssubjectfocus.com/phuket-2021/speakers/

Participants from more than 25 countries attended different sessions of the QS Subject Focus Summit on “Innovation and Leadership in Hospitality and Tourism Education”, “Tourism Today - Rising Demand for Future Sustainable Tourism”, “New Ways in New Times - Strategies for Revival of Tourism Industry”, “Hospitality Today - Future Prospects and the New Normal for Hotels and Resorts”, “The Future of Hospitality and Tourism Education: Post Pandemic”, “Travel Today - Digital Transformation Reshaping Travel Industry”, and “Leadership Today - Redefining Leadership for Future Survival”.

Themed "Sustainable and Resilient Solutions in Tourism Today", the QS Subject Focus Summit Hospitality and Leisure Management explored events such as the COVID-19 pandemic and looks at what lessons can be learnt. The summit brings together experts and leaders in hospitality and academia to discuss the future of hospitality and the tourism industry and how sustainable models should be implemented.

Taylor's Alumni Malaysia Chapter Pre-Launch for School of Hospitality, Culinary, Tourism & Events

On Saturday, 18th September 2021, the long-awaited Taylor's Alumni Malaysia Chapter Pre-Launch was inaugurated. Due to the current pandemic situation the event was held virtually in a Metaverse Lakeside campus. This event was a huge success. With the COVID-19 situation not allowing our alumni to be on campus, the online format allowed participation of those alumni who would have not been able to participate otherwise. In the end, there were more than 250 alumnus present representing nearly all the graduation years from 1990 to 2021.

The event was graced by Prof. Dr. Pradeep Nair, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Chief Academic Officer, Taylor's University, along with the faculty leadership team, Prof. Dr. Neethiahnanthan Ari Ragavan, Executive Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences and Leisure Management and the Academic Head of Schools and Director.

The event included a trip down memory lane on how Taylor’s Brand have grown over the years with our alumni and also included thank you notes to our alumni. The Soiree concluded with the virtual breakout session based on their respective field of studies for discussions and alumni activities that made them laugh and reminisce about their study time. This gave students the opportunity to interact with the lecturers, play games, and hangout at the virtual restaurant & café. The event ended with a high note thanking the participants and the members who helped host the event in a virtual format.

The event was very well organized by Taylor's Alumni & Community Engagement Department headed by Ms. Choo Lai Yee and supported by Ms. Stephanie Mill.

International E-Content Development Competition 2021 Gold & Silver Recipients

Four products from Faculty of Social Sciences & Leisure Management, Taylor's University received Gold and Silver awards in the International E-Content Development Competition 2021 (e-ConDev 2021) organized by the Ministry of Higher Education and Universiti Teknologi MARA that was held virtually from 20th to 27th August 2021. This event involved four categories of competition, namely, MOOC, Micro-Credential, Open Educational Resources and Pitching categories.

Teams from the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences (SLAS) received 2 Gold Awards for this competition. The first Gold award consisting of four Mata Pelajaran Umum (MPU) lecturers, Mr. Zaim Azizi Abu Bakar, Ms. Fadhilah Raihan Lokman, Ms. Siti Noor Amyah Khasbullah and Mr. Serit Banyan won the Gold Medal in Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) with their project titled “Valued-Based Education in MPU 4 Social Innovation Project”. The same team also won the Pitching category Gold award with their project “Cultivate and Nature Empathy-Ready Mindset Through Value-Based Education.”

MPU Social Innovation Project module introduces value-based education which creates a strong online learning environment that enhances students' ability to empathize and develop innovative solutions to offer positive impact on the community. Students are engaged in an inter-disciplinary and collaborative setting to identify opportunities in today's global and local settings that creates, and capture values based on United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDG).

Another team from School of Liberal Arts and Sciences presented 2 micro-credential modules namely, Professional Acting Masterclass and Professional Playwriting Masterclass. under the leadership of Mr. Mark Beau, Dr. Sayyid Shafiee, Ms. Fong King Yang and Ms. Prema Ponnundurai won the Silver Award prize for Micro-Credential category titled “Professional Acting Masterclass: Digitalizing the Multi-Approach Learning of Practical Skills”.

This award provides wider visibility towards the quality of the modules and the programme. These modules will be taught by Mr. Mark Beau de Silva, Senior Lecturer for TUTAS Conservatory’s Bachelor of Performing Arts programme at Taylor’s University, who is also a creative writer and director. It is designed for students as well as working adults. Upon completion of the Micro-Credential module, a Professional Certificate will be awarded to each of these module.

The team from the School of Hospitality, Tourism and Events received a Silver award led by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Seyyed Mostafa Rasoolimanesh from International E-Content Development Competition 2021 (e-ConDev 2021) for Open Education Resources (OER) category with the product title "Research methodology for all" . The product provides a free platform for all to learn research methodology using YouTube channel. Those uploaded videos were also categorized under various playlist to make it easy to follow and learn specific topics. At the moment, this YouTube channel has more than 1.34K subscribers and there are several positive comments and feedback. This free YouTube channel is a significant source for students, including postgraduate and undergraduate as well as researchers to learn about various topics of research methodology.