Path to high-flying career
Written by The Star Friday, 18 February 2011 00:00
SCHOOL leavers considering a high-flying career in tourism, hospitality or management should check out the Advanced Tourism International College (ATIC) which is waiving registration fees for diploma courses at Star Education Fair 2011 starting tomorrow.
Having built up an enviable reputation in just four years and boasting a 100% graduate employment rate, the college encompasses the Schools of Tourism, Hospitality, Management, Languages and Skills Development.
The college recently received the ‘One of the Best Authorised Training Centres’ award for the Asia Pacific region by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in recognition of it having the highest passing ratio in the IATA examination for two consecutive years in 2009 and 2010.
“We have the largest number of students registered for the new IATA courses, among them the internationally-acclaimed IATA Diploma — which are presently only available at ATIC,” said college CEO and principal A.A.P Vijayasegaran.
“All our courses are approved by the Higher Education Ministry and the Malaysian Qualifications Agency, and are recognised both locally and internationally,” he added.
He reasoned that one’s criteria in choosing a college for tertiary education would ultimately lie with its international standing, the number of accolades it had garnered and employability of its graduates.
Its School of Tourism is the largest training centre in Malaysia authorised by the International Air Transport Association and United Federation of Travel Agents Association (IATA/UFTAA).
Courses available are the IATA/UFTAA Foundation & Electronic Booking Tools (EBT) Diploma, Airline & Airport Management, Cargo Management and Certificate in Tour Guiding among others.
These pave the way to diverse job opportunities ranging from ticketing to travel writing, tourism marketing, research and reservations. Currently, there are over 100 industry partners with whom graduates have found rapid employment.
“Students are further exposed to the industry through a free four-day overseas practical training trip to either one of these destinations — Hong Kong, Bali, Medan, Bangkok or Singapore,” he said.
The college will also be introducing new courses under IATA/FIATA (Aviation Course) in Airline and Airport Management and Cargo Introductory soon.
The School of Hospitality offers the Diploma in Hotel Management, Diploma in Culinary Art and Certificate in Hotel and Catering Practice. Meanwhile, the School of Skill Development offers certificates in Pastry, Bakery and Cookery, Front Counter and Restaurant Service.
The Diploma in Business Management in Marketing and Certificate in Business are available from The School of Management. Those seeking to sharpen their linguistic skills may look up the School of Language whose offerings include certificate in Intensive English, as well as English Summer Camps and courses on Thai, Russian, Korean and Arabic languages.
The college has extended its counselling hours from 9am to 8pm on weekdays and until 5pm on weekends. It is also open on public holidays. For details, call 04-2266455 or log on to www.atic.edu.my.
Touted as the country’s biggest education extravaganza, the Star Education Fair will be held at the Penang International Sports Arena (PISA) in Relau tomorrow and Sunday.
The one-stop exhibition will feature 251 booths by 119 exhibitors from various local and foreign institutions offering undergraduate, postgraduate, twinning, diploma, certificates and distance learning programmes.
More than 25,000 people are expected to visit the two-day fair, which will be open to the public from 11am to 7pm. Admission is free.
Firefly, Dell, DiGi, Standard Charted and F&N are the main sponsors for the fair.
