Last October 15, 2012, SFU welcomed the presence of an esteemed guest.

Mr. Gerald Lipman, the Chief Executive of ICHM, SFU’s partner school in Hospitality Management imparted his wisdom to the students at an afternoon talk, held at the Gym 1 of the SISC campus. He started off with a little bit of history about SFU and its first intake of students, and how ICHM has first partnered with Southville.

Mr. Lipman then went on to describe the opportunities of working abroad, using Australia as example of a growing economy full of opportunity. The Australian economy, being a service economy and including the hospitality industry offered a lot of opportunity for students studying in SFU as opposed to a manufacturing economy. The trends and steady growth of Australia and the kind of career opportunities there open a lot of possibilities for our students. 

Developing several skills become an advantage, according to Mr. Lipman, such as the answering the high need for good English speakers and developing potential for being a good service professional. He mentioned how some SFU students are currently working there and enjoying their stay.

Mr. Lipman spoke of the bright future of this generation’s HCIM students and how they could possibly improve the state of the hotel industry and solve the recurring problems experienced by current hotel managers and other service industry managers. He mentioned because of the good nature of Filipinos, they become popular and in-demand and through hard work, can rise very quickly through the ranks. 

Mr. Lipman was honest about the experience, however, and sympathized with the challenges of living in Australia such as high cost of living and studying there but he assured that the experience is worth it as Australia is diverse and cultured as well as a much more active economy than the US and UK at the moment.