The Hotel School Sydney is a unique partnership between Southern Cross University and Mulpha Australia, whose hotel portfolio includes InterContinental Sydney, Hayman Great Barrier Reef, Sanctuary Cove, Hyatt at Sanctuary Cove, Hilton Melbourne and Bimbadgen Estate Wines.

The Hotel School Sydney is a specialist provider of tourism and hospitality education, and offers a three-year tiered programme. After year one, students can exit with a Diploma of Hotel Management; after year two, with an Associate Degree. Successful completion of the full three year course leads to the award of Bachelor of Business in Hotel Management.

Paid internships are just one of the attractive features of studying at the Hotel School Sydney. Another is its location, by the InterContinental Sydney on Macquarie Street. The Hotel School Sydney’s administration and admissions centres are within the InterContinental Sydney, while the teaching and learning campus operates from Phillip Street. Both locations are perfectly positioned in the heart of Sydney, with Sydney Harbour, the Opera House and the Royal Botanic Gardens nearby.

At its inception in 1989, the Hotel School Sydney ran as an integral part of InterContinental Sydney. Due to growth and demand, however, the School now has close working relationships with many leading tourism and hospitality organisations in Australia and around the world.

The Bachelor of Business in Hotel Management programme focuses on hotel operational skills, management practice in the hospitality and tourism industry and the skills needed for continued learning in a changing global business environment.

The Hotel School Sydney is renowned for:
 
Providing paid work placements integrated with university level education
 
Providing high potential graduates for employment
 
Teaching and learning excellence
 
Academic rigour
 
Strong industry links
 
Graduate success

The Hotel School Sydney has approximately 450 students. Around 350 are from Australia, while over 100 are international students from more than 30 different countries. Places to study at the School are competitive; and the selection process includes an interview.

The Hotel School Gold Coast is due to open in 2012 as part of Southern Cross University Gold Coast. It will offer undergraduate and masters degrees.

Ben Grimshaw is a mature student from the UK. He’s currently in his final year at the Hotel School Sydney and is hoping to graduate with a Bachelor of Business in Hotel Management, to go with the law degree he already holds.

Having spent more than ten years working in the airline industry, in a variety of roles from customer service through to revenue management and operations, Ben’s original long term goal was to own and operate his own boutique guest house in Australia. When choosing his study destination, Ben weighed up the structure and content of courses offered by various institutions in the UK and overseas; the lifestyle he wanted to lead while studying and also his own strengths and weaknesses, and what he felt could be improved upon by choosing
the right course.

The variety of individual topics within the Bachelor of Business degree at the Hotel School Sydney gives a broad insight into not only the hotel industry, but into any industry, and has opened up new avenues for Ben which he can now decide whether or not to pursue, such as environmental and sustainability policies within the hospitality industry.

Encouraged to combine study with work within his course, Ben has been able to adapt the skills he has learnt at the Hotel School directly into his role as duty manager at the Hilton Sydney, where he has re-initiated and chairs the hotel’s Environmental Committee and also sits on its Occupational Health and Safety Committee.