Kuching, 15 February 2012 - As the country looks ahead to the unfolding of the government's Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) to develop Malaysia into a high-income nation by 2020, UCSI University is well on its way to achieving Entry Point Project 10 (EPP10) – Hospitality and Tourism Education Clusters.In August 2011, the University together with the Ministry of Higher Education, Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Human Resource launched Malaysia Centre for Tourism and Hospitality Education (MyCenTHE) to create high-value jobs, career pathways and business opportunities in the tourism and hospitality industry to support the national agenda of building a high-income nation. This is achieved through the innovative pedagogy of work-based learning.

One of the key deliverables of EPP 10, is to train 50,000 skilled workforces annually, and to accelerate the progress,the Centre of Excellence for Tourism and Hospitality Education (CenTHE) at UCSI University Sarawak Campus has introduced the Work-Based Learning (WBL) approach for its Diploma programmes in 2011.Through this innovative learning approach, the university has engaged many key industry partners such as Pullman Hotel, Riverside Majestic, Grand Margherita, Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) and Sarawak Cultural Village. The core concept of the approach is to train the students to be skillful through experiential learning in the real working environment instead of the traditional industrial training at the end of a programme of study. Students enrolled to the programme will see that the programme is completely innovative, unique and different from the conventional approach where they could not only work while studying but earning some pocket money while being coached by their lecturers and industry experts.

As part of its efforts in creating a pool of skilled manpower to meet the growing demand in the tourism and hospitality industry in the country, UCSI University Sarawak Campushas laid down a public recruitment plan in several towns all over Sarawak in the month of February.Studentsor parentscould now meet up with the UCSI University counsellors at these roadshows for more information on the work-based learning as well as the career pathways in tourism and hospitality industry. Besides that, the course counsellors will also provide information on the scholarship or financial assistance available at UCSI University.

UCSI University established a Centre of Excellence for Tourism and Hospitality Education (CenTHE) in its Sarawak Campus to support the national initiative of ETP.CenTHE is part of UCSI University's commitment to the nation, to develop tourism and hospitality program and teaching pedagogy that meet the demand for qualified manpower in the Tourism and Hospitality industry.

For more information on courses available at Sarawak Campusor the roadshow venues, please call +6082-455 255 or log on to www.ucsiuniversity.edu.my

The UCSI University counsellors will be available at: