AEC Business School

His family has been in the hotel business in India for more than 40 years.

Recently, they gave him the task of setting up a hotel in Australia.

But it was to Singapore that Pablagurminder Singh (far left, right picture) turned to in order to expand his knowledge of the hospitality business.

Pablagurminder, 27, said: "I wanted to get a different perspective and some new ideas before going to Australia."

Through a friend, he found out about the Diploma in Hospitality Management course offered by AEC Business School.

Pablagurminder, whose family owns two mid-sized hotels in Gujarat, has a commerce degree from Gujarat University.

After graduating at the age of 22, he worked at a family hotel.

The six-month intensive diploma course here was an eye-opener for him, he said.

"I picked up many tips on how to start and run a business. We were also taught customer service as well as hands-on skills like bartending and how to flambe," added Pablagurminder.

His stay here also gave him a chance to visit some hotels to gather ideas for his new hotel in Sydney.

As required by the course, he is now on a six-month attachment at a hotel here.

Pablagurminder said another factor that attracted him was the affordability of the course, which costs $5,370.

Upon completing the diploma course, students can enrol in the advanced diploma course, which also takes six months.

They can then go on to study for a degree awarded by Nottingham Trent University.

As students would have gathered enough credits through their diploma and advanced diploma courses, they would be eligible to enter the final year of the degree course.

There are more than 300 students in the diploma course which was launched in September 2005 in light of the booming hospitality and tourism industries.

There have been 23 batches of students, mostly from overseas, as there are intakes every two months.

Attractive

Mr Leslie Sim, principal of AEC's hospitality (travel & tourism) school, said it has taught students from countries like China, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Nepal, India and Vietnam.

But going forward, he said the school hopes to attract more locals.

He said it could be an attractive option for an O-level student as he can go from diploma to degree in 21/2 years; much faster than other routes.

"The guys can get a degree even before they enlist for national service," he quipped.

Students need three O-level passes or five N-level passes to enrol in the diploma course.

There is little down time as classes stretch over six hours, five days a week.

Mr Sim said the school has arranged for its students to do their attachments in major hotel chains in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and the UK.

He said AEC will also offer scholarships to 20 local O-level students this year.

Myanmar national Maung Hla Myo Kyaw (far right, right picture), 25, was given a full scholarship halfway through the diploma course last year for his outstanding results.

The scholarship covered the cost of his tuition fees.

"I chose to study here because Singapore is a cosmopolitan city," he said. He majored in English at Dagon University in Yangon.

The former national cricket player and part-time actor hopes to open a hotel in his country in future.

He will go on to do the advanced diploma course.

For Guo Nannan (center, right picture), 26, who completed the advanced diploma course, this programme is the first step towards getting her dream job.

"I have always wanted to be a manager in a hotel," said the China national.