Salzburg Hotel School doubles scholarships for SLITHM students

Selected students of 2017 batch with SLITHM administration before departure for ITH Salzburg. From left: Deputy Director General Prabodh Kulatunga, Principal Saman Hathurusingha, SLITHM Chairman Sunil Dissanayake, SLITHM Student (Bandarawela) E.M.T.S. Ekanayaka, SLITHM Student (Bandarawela) W.G.V.M. Raveendra, SLITHM Student (Colombo) P.D.G.S Kumaratunga, SLITHM Student (Colombo) D.D.S.P. Dharmarathna, SLITHM Student (Colombo) V.P. Nanayakkara, DG Buddhika Hewawasam, German Language Lecturer N. Damayanthi Sudasinghe and Faculty Colombo Namal Muhandiramage

One of the world’s leading hospitality training institutions, the Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management in Salzburg, Austria has doubled its annual quota of scholarships for SLITHM students due to ‘high performance and commitment’.

With this development Sri Lanka’s premier hospitality industry trainer, Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management (SLITHM) continues to lead the way in holistic hospitality training and education through its liaisons with leading foreign institutions.

These international connections which have been nurtured over a long period of time have opened up unique opportunities for SLITHM students to receive training in reputed foreign institutions. As a result, SLITHM’s foreign scholarship programme for high performers has spawned many well rounded hospitality professionals who today serve the country with distinction. SLITHM has had a longstanding relationship with the Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management (ITH) Salzburg, Austria. Being one of the leading hospitality educational institutions in Europe, its programmes are highly sought after and have won world acclaim.

ITH which is based in Salzburg, Austria offers 30 scholarships annually to Asian and African countries, allocating two scholarships for each country. ITH first made available these year-long scholarships to SLITHM way back in 2005 and since then many Sri Lankan students have benefitted from the experience and expertise gathered from one of Europe’s top hotel schools.

This year ITH has doubled its scholarship offering to four seats in consideration of the high performance and commitment displayed by SLITHM students and on a personal request made by SLITHM German Language Lecturer Damayanthi Sudasinghe. According to SLITHM Chairman Sunil Dissanayake: “Our aim is to increase the Austrian scholarship quota up to 10 seats next year.” This year SLITHM has selected four of its top students to avail of this unique opportunity. Based on performance criteria these students have been selected from the main campus in Colombo and in Bandarawela. The ITH programme  consists of theoretical sessions (eight months), teacher training (one month) followed by industrial training (three months) in reputed star class hotels in Austria.