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Stuart Mann William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration, UNLV___

TravelDailyNews: UNLV is expanding in Singapore. Why did you take this decision? What is your opinion for the Asian Market and the level of the tourism studies in Singapore?

Stuart Mann: The William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration at UNLV has about 2800 students with 25% from countries other than the U.S. The vast majority of those international students come from Asia. We have over 250 Korean students and over 150 Japanese students. We have been seeking the means to get our programs closer to where are students are located. The opportunity to create a campus in Singapore was provided to us by the Singaporean government. Within their “global schoolhouse” concept, we are able to use this international campus to reach out to all parts of Asia with our B.S. in Hotel Administration program and our Executive Masters degree program in hospitality administration.

With the dynamic growth of tourism in Asia we believe that the Asian market for tourism education will be booming for the foreseeable future. UNLV must be a part of this marketplace if it is to retain its prominent position among the world’s premier hospitality management education programs.

TDN: What are the differences between US and Asia in an educational level? What are your estimations for the future regarding the Asian tourism related schools?

S. M.: There are very few Asian schools that focus on hospitality management. The ones that do have programs in this area have signed MOU’s with us to work toward joint research and other academic endeavors. These have been signed with such universities as Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Macau University, Shanghai Normal University, Kyung Hee University, Youngsan University and Sanda University.

I believe that the growth of tourism in Asia will force more schools to offer hospitality management education programs. I believe the greatest opportunities for this to happen are in China.

TDN: Las Vegas is the entertainment capital of the world with major hotel chains. How this concept affects your hospitality management programs? How do you cooperate with these chains and what are the benefits for your scholars?

S. M.: There are many ways that our program faculty and students work with the Strip hotels. Our faculty engages in research with them. Their executives teach as adjunct faculty in our programs. Our students work in many capacities in the hotels and serve their internships their. The employees of the industry serve as mentors to our students in a formal program. These activities provide the students with an enriched program of study that is unavailable to a student in any other program. Las Vegas is the “world’s greatest laboratory” for hospitality management education.

TDN: What is the percentage of the domestic and international students in your university?

S. M.: The university has an international population of around 5% while the Harrah Hotel College has around 25% of its students from other countries. Around half of the international students at UNLV, study in the Harrah Hotel College.

TDN: What is your opinion for e-learning? Is it possible to replace the traditional methods of teaching?

S. M.: We offer almost all of our classes online. It will soon be possible to receive our baccalaureate degrees online. It is too early to suggest that an online degree is better or worse than the more traditional methods of education. We will need to collect data for a number of years to see if the recipients of these online degrees can have the same degree of success in the industry as do our more traditional students.

TDN: With many casinos and hotels in the area is it possible to see other products of the tourism industry to emerge? Does your university have plans for launching educational programs dedicated to other fields besides hospitality?

S. M.: There have been other areas to emerge that we have been able to foresee and develop educational programs for. For example, we now have a certified program in Professional Golf Management. This is certified by the PGA of America. The area of spa and fitness management has emerged as an important educational area within our sport and recreation management education program. The recognition of timeshare or vacation ownership as an integral component of hospitality offerings has led to the development of our educational concentration in this area. We expect to soon offer a major in timeshare management.