HRTA plans program in Singapore

by Sarah R. Buchholz, Chronicle staff

aking use of a new online degree program, the Department of Hotel, Restaurant and Travel Administration is finalizing an agreement with the Singapore Hotel and Tourism Education Centre (SHATEC) of the Republic of Singapore to offer a half-online, half-classroom HRTA bachelor's degree in Singapore through Continuing Education.

     The Singapore program is intended only for Southeast Asian students, according to HRTA head Frank Lattuca. Students will be admitted to the program through ordinary admissions channels and pay tuition through Continuing Education, he said. Continuing Education will manage the paperwork, handling such things as registration, said Harlan Sturm, interim director of the division. About half of the curriculum will be delivered "on-ground" at SHATEC's 65,000 square foot campus. The other half will be done via the Internet.

     The Southeast Asian program piggy-backs on HRTA's new strictly on-line degree, which is designed for professionals already working in the field. Admissions formally admitted a dozen students to that program this month, according to Chris Roberts, associate head of the department. Courses for the program have been running since last winter.

     "Online students will be able to complete the full B.S. program without ever having to physically come to the Amherst campus," Roberts said.

     "This is really for those that are in the field that are working," said Lattuca. "Instead of 16-week courses, people can work in shorter time periods that are more intense.

     "After being the owner of a business, I know: The employer who gets good employees doesn't want to lose them. Now people can still be in employment and get courses and improve and get their degree. If they don't want a degree, they can cluster courses and get a certificate."

     The department currently offers five or six courses online each semester, with more than 150 enrollees, Lattuca said. Course offerings will expand over the next few years, he said.

     Students in Singapore will be able to take the same online courses that working professionals in the U.S enroll in, but they also will take courses from UMass faculty on-ground, according to Lattuca.

     The majority of their on-line courses will be within the major, though some HRTA classes will happen on-ground, Roberts said, and most general education courses will be on-ground, with a few taken on-line.

     Because many general education courses will take place in Singapore, this presents an opportunity for UMass Amherst faculty in departments all over campus, Roberts said, because it will allow them to travel to Singa-pore to teach during January and summer terms with their expenses paid by SHATEC.

     "It doesn't cost us to do this," he said. "It's a faculty-development tool. It gives departments a chance to send faculty around the world and get paid for it."
Roberts said the arrangement with Singapore leaves open the possibility of even greater opportunity in the future.

     "There's a provision in the agreement, once we get up and running, for other departments to offer degrees," he said.

     HRTA associate professor Atul Sheel will direct the Singapore program.