Newsflash!

We’re delighted to announce that QRC has won the medium business category (10-50 employees) of Queenstown’s Business Excellence Awards! The award was presented on Friday night (27 November) at a black tie gala dinner.

QRC was one of nine finalists and judges said that they admired QRC’s forward-thinking approach.

"QRC has put a lot of investment into the region, particularly with the purchase of QRC Lodge which will provide accommodation for their students. It’s hard creating a new learning institution outside of a large city but QRC’s strategy has worked and they’re going full steam ahead in the market," says awards judge Mike Sutherland.

CEO Charlie Phillips is delighted with the result and says the win reinforces the fact that tertiary study is a now a serious option in Queenstown.

"QRC is committed to ensuring the region becomes known as an outstanding place to gain a high level education and we’re proud to have introduced a totally new way of attracting people to the region."

Major infrastructure investment

It’s been an exciting month for all of us at QRC – after more than a year we finally found the perfect site for a Halls of Residence for our students! Last month we bought Queenstown Lodge, a former hotel 1.5km from downtown Queenstown, and now we’re converting it into 61-room accommodation and opening in time for our January 2010 intake. ‘QRC Lodge’, as it’s now called, marks the first step toward our long term vision of creating a campus in Queenstown and is a major investment in the future of tertiary education in the Southern Lakes region.

CEO Charlie Phillips believes that owning our own accommodation gives us control over intake numbers and allows us to reduce costs of living in Queenstown.

“It will be a real drawcard in attracting national and international students and will mean we’ll be comparable to any other tertiary education institution in New Zealand,” he says. “It also gives us the opportunity to use the Lodge as a practical training ground for our hospitality students and hold functions there.”

Scholarships bring star students to Queenstown

A nationwide search for future hospitality and adventure tourism stars has resulted in two high school students each winning a $25,000 scholarship to study at QRC.

Seventeen-year-old Anthony Metcalve from St Andrew’s College in Christchurch was selected as the recipient of QRC’s Diploma of Hospitality Management Scholarship for 2010. Cambridge High School student Shelley Lugtigheid, also 17, was the judges’ pick for the 2010 QRC Diploma of Adventure Tourism Management Scholarship. The scholarships cover full tuition fees for the duration of the two-year programmes.

Congratulations to Anthony and Shelley – we look forward to seeing you in 2010!

Second intake for 2010 Diploma intakes

QRC’s Hospitality Management diploma is now so popular we’ve introduced a second intake for April 2010. This means that instead of having to wait-list students until July or October next year, particularly high school leavers, we can now guarantee more places earlier on.

Domestic Marketing & Recruitment Manager Sarah Cairns says introducing larger intakes has always been on the cards but now it’s been fast-tracked due to demand and the calibre of students on the list.

“Until now we’ve selected a maximum of 24 students for each intake but with January and April already full by last month, it was obvious we needed to review things. We’re delighted to be able to offer more spaces but I’d encourage people to get their applications in quickly to avoid disappointment,” she says.

Internships

It’s that time again - our Hospitality Management diploma students are heading out on their nine-month paid internships to companies throughout Australasia. Positions and properties range from front office reception positions at the likes of The Spire Queenstown and five-star Millbrook resort, to a spa receptionist at the Hyatt Regency in Auckland and food and beverage attendant at the Marriott Resort and Spa on Australia’s Gold Coast.

Graduates abroad

Harvey Bourne, our head of school for Hospitality & Tourism, recently headed to Sydney for our partner ICMS college (International College of Management Sydney) graduation. While there he caught up on the recent movements of Emma Walker, QRC’s first graduate to complete her degree. Emma graduated from Macquarie University with a Bachelor of Business Administration majoring in Hospitality Management and is now heading for Wellington to help open a new restaurant.

Harvey also checked up on seven other QRC graduates currently completing their degree through ICMS and Macquarie University. He says many students are finding the partnership programme very attractive and are keen to head to Australia.

“The programme we’ve set up with ICMS and Macquarie Uni is fantastic - for just one extra year our students can go from a diploma to a degree. Feedback from the industry is very positive and there are some fantastic intern and job opportunities for our graduates.”

The world’s her oyster

Lucy Gain reckons her QRC hospitality and tourism diploma gave her the edge in landing the coveted Chief Stewardess position on a 65-metre Royal yacht in the south of France.

The 20-year old Queenstowner’s responsibilities on the yacht (owned by a Middle Eastern royal family) ranged from staff and guest organisation to food shopping, cleaning, and organizing events and activities each day. Although the yacht was based in Cannes, Lucy got to spend time in Monaco, St Tropez and Italy, and was in Cannes for the Film Festival and Monaco for the Grand Prix.

“Being qualified in hospitality and tourism certainly gave me a significant advantage over the many hundreds of other job seekers from around the world, especially as my QRC qualification is internationally recognised,” she says.

New programme manager, new developments

It was with great sadness that we recently waved goodbye to Dr John Cossens who has headed off to Abu Dhabi. However we’re delighted to welcome our new Adventure Tourism Programme Manager John Cushen who has a huge amount of adventure tourism knowledge and experience to share with our students.

John has already launched some great new ‘hard skills’ initiatives and qualifications which will give our students a big advantage when seeking internships or permanent employment.

In association with the NZ Transport Agency, John has already implemented our first ‘P’ (Passenger) Licence course which was a huge success. Having a ‘P’ endorsement enables students to drive small and large passenger vehicles for commercial service, such as ski shuttles or driving a shuttle for a guiding company. Feedback we’ve had shows having a ‘P’ class licence is highly valuable and will help with opportunities for future QRC interns and graduates. We think the course is a ‘must do’ and will offer it to students every year.

John has also launched an optional qualification in Guiding / Interpretation which gives students the opportunity to learn the principles of guiding and how to interpret or ‘tell’ a story, giving meaning to tourists’ experiences while gaining a National Certificate. They also learn more about health and safety, managing risk and tourism office practices.

Optional short courses such as Kayak and Outdoor Leadership are also in the pipeline.

Exciting new developments for degree pathway

We’re delighted to announce that our Adventure Tourism Management graduates will soon have more graduate study options available to them. From 2010, diploma graduates will be able to continue on to Sydney’s International College of Management (ICMS) for a final year of study to gain a Bachelor of International Tourism Management or head to Macquarie University for a year and a term (3 months) to complete a Bachelor of Business Administration majoring in tourism. Final details to be announced shortly.

Adventure Tourism Management Interns

Our Adventure Tourism Management students will soon be scattered around the world for their six-month paid internships.

Adventure Tourism organisations around the world are recognising the calibre of our students and more and more are coming on board to offer internships which are simply the opportunity of a lifetime.

The range of intern positions this October and December include boat hosts, cave guides and track guides for iconic New Zealand tourism company Real Journeys, sales and operations for Gold Coast Skydive, working on ski rental, snowmaking and at the snowsports school at Sun Valley USA, and sales and marketing for True North Cruises in Western Australia.

Graduate zips up a new career

The future’s looking bright for recent QRC graduate Kate James who’s just landed a job at Ziptrek, one of Queenstown’s newest and most exciting adventure tourism operations.

With a two-year Diploma in Adventure Tourism Management under her belt, Kate’s now working behind the scenes to help launch Ziptrek this summer. The flying fox-type eco adventure is already popular overseas and Queenstown will be its first New Zealand operation.

It was Kate’s passion for the adventure tourism industry which led her to study at Queenstown Resort College.

“Queenstown’s such a fantastic place – if you’re going to study adventure tourism anywhere then it should definitely be in the adventure capital of the world! I wanted to build a career in the industry and QRC’s diploma offered the perfect combination of practical and management skills.”

Melbourne Cup

It was posh frocks and ties all the way for students and staff as we christened our newly acquired Halls of Residence in style on Melbourne Cup day. We all enjoyed a relaxed sunny afternoon on the deck overlooking the lake and mountains complete with drinks, BBQ, Melbourne Cup sweepstake and fashion parade run by the student council.

Prizes were awarded for best dressed female and male student, best dressed female and male staff and best dressed couple.

It was a great afternoon and we were thrilled with the feedback we received from students about our new Halls of Residence - many wished they were staying longer so they could live in the new property! They all felt it would really contribute to the overall student culture and experience of QRC.

Photo: Soaking up the sun with stunning views- QRC Hospitality management students Dee Lennox, Brittany Walsh and Sarah Cashmore.

New professional development programme for tourism sector

QRC launched an innovative professional development and staff coaching programme last month designed specifically for the tourism sector. Individual programmes on offer include:

• ‘Coach the trainer’ programme designed around the specifically stated needs of the participating business
• Advanced people engagement skills - people do business with people they like!!
• Maximising opportunities - understanding yield; maximizing the experience and value at every point of contact
• Creating extraordinary visitor experiences - embracing interpretation. Customised for marine, aviation, and land-based tourism experiences.

All QRC are courses tailored to deliver to specific business requirements. QRC Trainers are highly regarded facilitators & trainers and specialists in the tourism sector.

For more information on QRC industry training please phone Fiona Boyer on 03 409 0500 or fiona.boyer@qrc.ac.nz.

QRC passes recent NZQA audit with flying colours

QRC’s recent audit from NZQA came back all thumbs up and we’ve been issued a three year review cycle which is the most optimum result you can gain. The audit is a compliance measure of what the institute promises in terms of its qualifications, how it is delivered and the outcomes. NZQA audits measure the quality of the education provided by QRC and usually a one or two year audit cycle is granted. A maximum audit cycle of three years shows the highest level of confidence in the education quality.

You can download the recent audit from www.nzpa.govt.nz.

Fresh, new look website

Check out our new-look website which we’ve been working on for the past few months. It has everything you need to know about QRC - our courses, facilities, location and what our students say about us.