Villa College x Universal Foundation, Restarts Their Discover Hospitality Program!
Villa College Maldives in association with Universal Foundation signs a Memorandum of Understanding where they renew their inspiring, Discover Hospitality Program. The training program as part of the Universal Foundation's social duty, the initiative has been running since 2017. The program's major goal is to train Maldivian youngsters interested in working in the tourism industry and then give them the opportunity to kick-start their career.
After a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the program will resume in 2022. The Universal Foundation hopes to train 50 students under the Discover Hospitality program this year, as the Maldives celebrates its 50th year of tourism. Universal Foundation and Villa College will work together to carry out the program. Villa College was chosen by the Universal Foundation to run the program because it is regarded as one of the most qualified higher education institutions in the Maldives to do so.
In 2017, the Discover Hospitality Program was launched. Three groups of students have completed the course and received certificates so far.
• 15 participants completed the course in 2017.
• 22 participants completed the course in 2018.
• 28 participants completed the course in 2019.
• 50 participants will take part in the course in 2022.
On June 14th, 2022, applications for the 4th batch course, which begins in September 2022, opened. The deadline for application submissions is August 11th, 2022. The completed application form can also be mailed to Villa College or Universal Enterprises' Head Office reception. Villa College also accepts online applications. Training will take place at Universal resorts, while classes will be held at Villa College.
During the course, the resort will provide each participant with a monthly allowance of MVR 3,000. So far, the model has been a huge success. Approximately 85 percent of students who completed the course are now working in the tourism industry.