Hospitality awards given in memory of BU students who have passed away

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Hospitality students at BU who have overcome adversity and made the most progress have received awards in memory of previous students who have passed away.

The parents of three former Hospitality students at Bournemouth University, who have since sadly passed away, gave the annual awards to current students in their memories on Friday.

The Mark Phillips Award has been running for the past 16 years, and is given to a student who has overcome adversity.

Mark had Type 1 diabetes, and died in February 1996, aged 22 – just three months after he graduated with a Hospitality Management degree from BU.

His parents, John and Heather Phillips, said that they enjoyed coming to the university and meeting the students who won the award.

“It is nice,” said Heather. “We use it now as a celebration.”

John added: “Mark thoroughly enjoyed himself at university. He loved every hour that he spent in Bournemouth, and we wanted to support the university.

“We decided that it would be nice to have an award each year to a student in the School of Tourism, who has overcome personal adversity. It can be anything.”

The winner of this year’s award was unable to make the awards ceremony and lunch, and so was represented by fourth year Hospitality Management student Cara McElroy, who is a hospitality ambassador for the course.

Also at the ceremony were Win and Derek Bristow.

Their son Paul graduated from the Hospitality Management degree in 1996, and was working in the SoHo area of New York.

He had organised a conference event at the World Trade Centre, and was in the North Tower when it was hit on 9/11. He was 27 when he died in the attacks.

The Paul Bristow Award is given to the student who has made the most progress specifically in the Finance subject, and this year was given to Karolina Tarnauskaite, a second year Hospitality Management student, who is from Lithuania.

The 20-year-old said: “I felt really special when I found out I was going to get the award. I like the fact that it isn’t just who has done the best, but has made the best progress over the year.”

Derek said that the award was a fitting tribute to his son.

“When Paul came here, he did what I guess a lot of students do and partied, and struggled in his first year and only just made it. But he pulled his socks in the end and he loved it down here.”

Peter and Mary Tozer have been giving an award in memory of their daughter Karen, for the past 12 years. Karen had cystic fibrosis, and passed away in 2000, aged 20, while doing her second year of a Hospitality degree.

While studying at BU, Karen was awarded the Mark Phillips Award, and her father Peter said he thought it would be nice to do something similar in her memory.

“She really enjoyed it here, even though she had to spend a third of her time in hospital and a third of her time at home. Her lecturer used to call her Little Miss Dynamite and she won the Mark Phillips Award in her first year.

“We just wanted to give something back really.”

Mary added: “It is nice to get together with the other parents and it does make a lot of difference.”

The Karen Tozer Award, which includes book tokens, is given to the group of Hospitality students who put on the best theme and experience in BU staff restaurant The Retreat, as part of their course.

Viktorija Kotova, 21, who is in her fourth year of the Hospitality Management degree, accepted the award on behalf of her group.

One of the 13 members of the group died before the task, and they decided to theme it in his memory.

“We did a menu with his name on and we put donation boxes out for people to give donations in his memory,” said Viktorija.

“We changed the menu as well, so it wasn’t just the normal menu. It is nice to win the award and it has been very nice to sit here and meet the parents.”

Crispin Farbrother, programme leader for hospitality at BU, said the awards made a difference to both the students and the parents.

“For the present students, it is a reward, a motivation and a recognition of excellence, but then it is also a way of recognising past students’ success and for the families, it allows them to continue that relationship.

“Hospitality is a community and that is key to keeping these awards going.”

Jo Hawkes has been asked to be a Chance to Shine Ambassador for the National Osteoporosis Society

Posted . Filed under News, Research.

Last month saw the launch of an exciting new strategic partnership between the National Osteoporosis Society and the Cricket Foundation’s ‘Chance to Shine’ programme. Jo Hawkes, due to her own personal experiences and research into premenopausal osteoporosis has been asked to become a Chance to Shine Ambassador for the National Osteoporosis Society collaboration with the England Cricket Foundation.

At the launch event, Jo and the other new partnership ambassadors were able to meet with the invited audience.

In the following months Jo will be working with the foundation in helping to reach out to thousands of School Children about exercise and healthy lifestyles.  

Jo used to work as a practitioner in Sports Rehabilitation and did her MSc is in Sports Medicine. Jo is an Associate Lecture in Sport and Coaching Science at the School of Tourism. She is currently working on her PhD entitled “‘My Bones Won’t Break Me:  An auto-ethnographical exploration of premenopausal osteoporosis in a physically active female.”

Jo has also been asked to go to Clarence House to meet with Camilla Parker-Bowles for the International Osteoporosis Foundation ‘Unbreakable Embrace’ campaign.

We will be bringing you news of Jo’s visit to Clarence House next week.

To read Jo’s blog please see www.myboneswontbreakme.wordpress.com

Dress for Success Fashion Show: Models Needed

Posted . Filed under Student Experience.

On November 21st Bournemouth University is hosting one of its many career events at the Talbot Campus.

 Students will be invited to come and meet with potential employees and get the opportunity to network within in their chosen industry.

 Part of the day will include a “Dress for Success” Fashion Show showcasing the newest professional looks available on the high street. Currently clothes will be provided by New Look and Marks and Spencer.

 The aim of the show is to show students that work wear can still be fashionable and doesn’t have to all be about stuffy suits.

We are currently looking for Male and Female models to take part in the show. Due the clothes were are receiving from the sponsors we are looking for females size 10-12 and males size small – medium.

 The show will be around lunchtime on the 21st but you will be needed for most of the morning due to rehearsals.

 If you would like to take part please email Anna Jones on ajones@bournemouth.ac.uk with a recent picture of you.

 

Adele Ladkin secures Fusion Investment Funding to visit the United Nations World Tourism Organisation in Andorra

Posted . Filed under News, Research.

Taken from the Bournemouth University Research Blog:

Professor Adele Ladkin has received funding from the FIF staff mobility strand to undertake two week long visits to the UNWTO Themis Foundation Headquarters in Andorra.

As part of its Capacity Building Programme, the UNWTO.Themis Foundation provides educational courses and workshops for tourism industry experts.  These are in a range of subjects, for example tourism marketing, adventure tourism and sustainable tourism.  Because of the nature of these courses and the demand for different topics, subject experts from the tourism industry and public sectors are recruited as tutors to deliver the courses.

Adele and Ms Sònia Figueras, the UNWTO. Capacity Programme manager at the UNWTO Themis Foundation are engaged in collaborative work to produce a teaching guide and intensive training course for tutors responsible for delivering tourism capacity building courses and workshops as part of the UNWTO. Capacity Programme.  The Themis Foundation enables UNWTO Member States to devise and implement education, training and capacity building policies, plans and tools that fully harness the employment potential of their tourism sector and effectively enhance its competitiveness and sustainability. Working with Ms Figueras, Adele will provide input into teaching methodologies commonly used in tourism programmes.

The collaboration has arisen as the School of Tourism is part of the Themis TedQual Network and aims to support activities undertaken in the areas of education, training and tourism capacity building. The impact of the collaboration will be practical through the dissemination and use of the teachers guide and the training course by highly experienced tourism subject experts. The collaboration and pedagogic approach will also be presented at an appropriate tourism educator’s conference. This knowledge exchange opportunity demonstrates the Schools commitment to supporting tourism education initiatives.

Adele will be spending time in Andorra at the headquarters of the Themis Foundation to work directly on the course materials as well as on-line collaborative working. The visits will enable Adele to spend a concentrated period of time working on the project, and will also give her further insight into the activities of the Themis Foundation.  She plans to undertake the first visit later this year – weather permitting as the mountain roads into Andorra are often covered in snow!

For more information the Fusion Investment Fund please see www.bournemouth.ac.uk/FIF

Professors Dimitrios Buhalis and Roman Egger were invited to contribute at their 2nd HHE Hoteliers’ Meeting from 7th to 9th October 2012 in Ireland

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Taken from: http://buhalis.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/BuhalisatHistoricHotelsEurope.html#!/2012/10/BuhalisatHistoricHotelsEurope.html

Professors Dimitrios Buhalis and Roman Egger were invited to contribute at their 2nd HHE Hoteliers’ Meeting from 7th to 9th October 2012 in Ireland

Very glad to work with Historic Hotels of Europe  www.historichotelsofeurope.com/and explaining how to create experiences, manage social media, develop cocreation opportunities and start using augmenting reality for tourism and hotel marketing. 
                                                                   
The Historic Hotels of Europe association started with eight founding member organisations, and has grown up in its ten years of existence. It now numbers 19 hotel groups as its member organisations. With 650 properties, HHE is without doubt one of the largest hotel organisations in Europe. The immediate priority is to increase the growth of the HHE, especially through more partnerships in the new EU member states. The hosts of Historic Hotels of Europe consider themselves as custodians of historic cultural assets. They provide a precious contribution to quality tourism through their efforts in maintaining the originality of their properties.

Historic Hotels of Europe was created with the objective of promoting global awareness for the 19 finest historic hotels associations through a co-operative marketing strategy. The hotels in the association represent their countries’ national cultural traditions, historic heritage and architecture. Every property within the Historic Hotels has its own distinctive style and character, and guests will be sure to enjoy a variety of experiences when travelling from country to country and staying at our member hotels.

Professors Dimitrios Buhalis and Roman Egger were invited to do a key note presentation on how these wonderful hotels can take advantage of social media, manage tripadvisor and online reputation, develop cocreation and use augmented reality for their strategic marketing. The group interacted with the professors and a number of initiatives are being planned for the future.

School of Tourism Staff Travel Across the Globe to Increase International Student Recruitment:

Posted . Filed under News, Research, Student Experience.

David Kilburn and Chris Hall are both travelling internationally to work with local contacts in order to increase international student recruitment.

David Kilburn will shortly be travelling to Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro to attend the British Council Exhibitions. David’s aim is to increase student recruitment from Brazil but also work with local contacts to develop new partnerships.

David Kilburn commented “In the past I have recruited international students from Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia and Brazil. Speaking Spanish and Portuguese is a definite plus point. However, also important is an empathy with international students and to recognise that their parents are also a big part of the decision making process. I am working in Sao Paolo and Rio do Janeiro at two large recruitment fairs and representing all the Schools at BU. We have lots of interesting courses to promote and also our location on the South Coast with rapid links to London is also a key selling point along with the cosmopolitan feel of BU.”

Chris Hall will also be travelling internationally with the same purpose. Chris is travelling to Bangkok, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Phnom Penh.

Chris Hall commented ”International student recruitment is really about networking with fellow academics, the British Council and recruitment agents to make sure that5 BU and, in particular, the School of Tourism, stay in the forefront of their minds when counselling students that want to study in the UK. We are really proud of the fact that our postgraduate intakes are so ‘international’. For example this September we have 137 students from 31 different countries. Our alumni now come from over 70 countries and this adds to the richness and reputation of our programmes.”

As well as meeting with potential students whilst they are out there, both Chris and David would love to meet with Alumni as well.

If you would like to contact either Chris or David please contact them on their email addresses: cahall@bournemouth.ac.uk dkilburn@bournemouth.ac.uk

For more information about British Council events abroad please see their website  http://www.educationuk.org/UK/Events

The School of Tourism recruits a Graduate & Professional Engagement Associate

Posted . Filed under News, Student Experience.

The School of Tourism has recently recruited Maria Nas to the new HEIF post of Graduate & Professional Engagement Associate (GPEA).

Maria has just finished her Msc Events Management degree so is already familiar with Bournemouth and the University.

The aim of Maria’s role is to develop, implement and monitor relationship marketing activities with graduates, placement students, employers and academics in the Events & Leisure Academic Group (E&LAG) within the BU Knowledge Exchange Strategy funded by HEIF.

Maria will be responsible for using social media and for organising events to develop and enhance relationships with graduates, placement students, employers and academics.

Maria gave us a brief comment on her background “I have recently finished my MSc Events Management at BU following a BSc in Business Administration at Jonkoping International Business School in Sweden. I have an international background having studied in Sweden, the US, Australia, Canada, China and the UK. I carry with me several years of experience working in co-ordinating and managing roles in a range of industries such as Brand Experience, Event and Communication, Entertainment, 3D Animation, Steel, Health Care and Retail. My interest lies in experiential marketing, brand engagement and events management.”

I am truly excited about this new role and happy to continue my journey with School of Tourism and BU now as a member of staff. I look forward to developing and nourishing the relationships and engagement of graduates and professionals in the Events & Leisure Academic Group. My aim is to develop a strategy and structure for networking which includes a range of communications and activities that adds value to all parties involved.”

Maria will be working closely with Mary Beth Gouthro who, as our outgoing BA (Hons) Events Management Leader is taking on the role of growing our links with graduates and employers in the Events & Leisure professions.

Maria will be initially started her project with just the Events and Leisure academic group. However, if successful, there is potential for this project to be rolled out as a model across School of Tourism.

Congratulations again to Maria.

Pamela Watson is appointed to the Board of Trustees of the Priest’s House Museum

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Pamela Watson has recently been appointed to the Board of Trustees of the Priest’s House Museum in Wimborne.

The Priest’s House Museum and Garden is located in the heart of the beautiful market town of Wimborne Minster.

Using collections rich in archaeology and costume, and childhood and local history material, the museum tells the story of East Dorset. Period rooms, from a 17th century hall to the working Victorian kitchen, show how life and work has changed in this historic townhouse. There are 10 galleries to explore. Displays include audio descriptions and children’s activities. A beautiful walled garden, gift shop and tearoom complete any visit.

The museum works closely with the local community. They participate in the museum through volunteering, learning and family activity programmes, exhibitions, community projects and reminiscence workshops.

Pamela has a long history with the museum as her level c tourism management students have annually worked with the curators Emma Ayling and James Webb to create marketing plans for the museum.

The students often come up with fresh and exciting ideas for the museum to put into practice. The students had previously identified that the museum needed to update its look to appeal to younger people. As a result of this, Pamela was asked to give input into the new logo designs with the museum’s creative agency.

Pamela is replacing Brian James on the Board as he has now retired. Brian worked within the School of Applied Sciences at Bournemouth University. The museum still has strong contacts with the School of Applied Sciences regarding Archaeology.

Congratulations to Pamela on this news!

Pamela’s appointment will be confirmed at the museum annual meeting in June next year. For information on the Museum please see http://www.priest-house.co.uk/

Hospitality Management Lecturer Crispin Farbrother stays at Channel 4’s Hotel GB

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Last week, Hospitality Management lecturer Crispin Farbrother got the opportunity to stay in Channel 4’s Hotel GB. We asked him for his response on staying at the hotel and here is his response:

SO here it is, my final reflective comment about Hotel GB following my stay there and watching the series on TV.

I would give it high marks for what appears to be honourable intentions in raising the issue of getting unemployed youngsters into work and the variety of opportunities that hotels can offer. I would offer high marks for the attempt to raise money for two very good charities. Springboard in particular has little presence outside of the hospitality industry.

Hosting the programme inside a real hotel in London ensured that that there was realism for the trainees chosen and having core staff behind the scenes helped the hotel keep running for the benefit of the guests staying there.  I appear to be saying that all is good so far and I am.  I was looking forward to staying at Hotel GB and had in mind Michel Roux’s very successful programme Service.  Having celebrities involved appeared to be positive as they can pull in viewers and Gordon Ramsey and Gok Wan have some credibility in our industry. I was looking forward to eating in a Ramsey Kitchen.

So what went wrong?  Having Ramsey claim that the youngsters were going to get a year’s experience in one week was a bizarre statement to make.  I do not know of anyone who would support this claim.  Intensive? It certainly was.  This is also called dropping them in the deep end, and some of the youngsters certainly were dropped in the deep end. I saw very little training in action in the hotel and on TV.  After a few days some of the trainees did start to shine with Emily and Gun recognised early on as having natural skills in their areas.

The programme did highlight many issues that arise when working within or running hotels though the programme missed many opportunities to go into these in more detail.   Some examples are perhaps with Tom and Rory and Phil Spencer. Tom was struggling with his customer service skills on reception and he was asked to clean a room in ten minutes. What a strange request and to prove the point fifty minutes later the room was still not clean. It showed that hard work, efficiency and attention to detail are required in our industry.  Phil Spencer is not a trained Maitre D and putting him in charge resulted in chaos on more than one evening.  My own experience of Phil showed him to be a nice guy, but he needs a few weeks in our training restaurant here at Bournemouth University before he should be let loose again. It also showed that Will could do a far better job, however he also needs training.  A suit and tie does not make a man a manager!   Experience, technical knowledge and management skills are needed here.  This was further evidenced when Rory was thrown into the restaurant.   This was nothing less than cruelty.  Gordon and Mary then showed their own lack of management skills in the way they dealt with the issue. This same poor management was mirrored by Kim when talking to Kerry and Patrick who wanted more experience and responsibility. On more than one occasion the manager’s communication or lack of it put the trainees under more pressure than was really necessary. The programme, for me, highlighted the fact that well trained hospitality graduates are need in our industry. 

It is clear that the programme was trying to be too many things…. Either it was about hospitality apprentices, the celebrities who had most airtime or it was about the charities.  However with the cameras there it also became a programme about celebrity or wealthy guests who were happy to “tip” £1,000. Good for Springboard and The Prince’s Youth Trust but in no way realistic.

In summary I am disappointed to have spent a few hundred pounds and 5 evenings of my life involved in what resulted in a complete fiasco adding little to no value to our industry’s needs to employ good enthusiastic young people.

Bournemouth Research Chronicle: Green Tourism

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Today we are bringing you the final article that was published in the latest edition of the Bournemouth Rsearch Chronicle: Dr Janet Dickinson and Dr Viachaslau Filimonau article on Green Tourism:

Each year our desire to get away from it all contributes to around 5% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions. Ignoring the impact of tourism on the environment would be equivalent to ignoring the carbon emissions of a developed industrialised nation.

This is why Dr Janet Dickinson and Dr Viachaslau Filimonau from BU’s School of Tourism are working on ways to reduce the carbon footprint of holidaymakers. Rather than developing punitive taxes or penalties, the research is looking at how to give people good incentives and strategies to cut down on unnecessary travel.

The BU team is starting close to home by studying the behaviour of holidaymakers at a Dorset campsite, where up to 300 people stay each week during the summer peak season. “The aim is to try to revolutionise the travel decision making process,” says Dr Janet Dickinson, senior lecturer in BU’s School of Tourism.

“The idea is to give people visibility of transport options in their immediate future through social networking and through smart phones so they can see there are opportunities to share transport, or opportunities to avoid making journeys,” she says.

The study is part of a wider Sixth Sense Transport Project – a collaboration between BU and colleagues from the Universities of Southampton, Lancaster, Edinburgh and Salford.

“We are looking at a campsite, but the same approach could be used in any holiday community – a hotel, group of cottages or caravan park,” Dr Dickinson explains.

“You have a community in the same place often all doing things at the same time and there’s a huge potential for people to make better use of travel resources. You have an awful lot of congestion in the areas linked to tourism.”

The idea is to use social networks so people can reveal anonymously to their fellow campers where they are and what they are doing. At the same time they can see what everyone else on the campsite is up to, what their immediate plans are, and what the weather and travel conditions are like.

“If you are heading to the beach tomorrow, and you know 50 other people are too, it allows you to make contact and share travel – or find out about bus routes – or warn of congestion. You might need just one item from the shops – and this could allow you to ask someone already at the shops or heading off there to pick it up for you,” suggests Dr Dickinson.

The project is first assessing holidaymaker’s attitudes to sharing. The team are finding out more about holidaymaker’s habits, what sort of information they are willing to share and how prepared they are to join forces. Then they will experiment with real life holidaymakers at the campsite, inviting them to try out smart phone applications designed to help them on their break.

Other parts of the project are looking at social networking in schools to help parents share transport and promote ‘walking buses’, which would see supervised groups of children walking to school on predetermined routes. Another is looking at reducing the carbon footprint of the logistics industry – the moving around of goods by lorry and train.

“The project is not about developing an application for a smart phone, but finding out about people’s travel decision making and whether their behaviour can be changed if they realise 200 other people living alongside them are about to make the same journey,” Dr Dickinson explains.

To read the full BRC please see http://buresearchchronicle.org.uk/