WELCOME TO THE HTM DEPARTMENT!

TRIP TO MEMORY LANE OF BSHM

Pangasinan State University Alaminos City Campus, Bachelor of Science in Hospitality Management started as a program in 2009 with Dr. Arnold Ancheta and Dr. Jim L. Aleta as pioneer faculty members with only two sections. The program is under the College of Management and Technology which includes the BS Business Administration and BS Information Technology (CMT).

The HTM Department has its state-of-the-art laboratory and classroom facilities in its BCRD building with eight competitive faculty members. The LGU of Alaminos City helped actualized the vision to have a high-class university in the city with the hope of strengthening the tourism and hospitality industry in the town. This is a clear indication of a strong school-community relationship. Currently, the department has more than 500 BSHM students and caters to the first batch of K-12 graduates. The college offers different subjects that enhance students’ bartending, cooking, baking, and housekeeping skills. Capable and capacitated teachers teach these subjects with one goal of producing students with skills needed for international and local employment.

In the upcoming academic year, PSU-ACC will offer a new curricular program, the BS Tourism Management. This is in support to the tourism industry of Alaminos City and the entire Western Pangasinan since it is one of the best hotspots in the province because of its awe-inspiring nature and cordial people. Since tourism and hospitality industry is one of the significant sources of income of people in Western Pangasinan, PSU-ACC believes that the BSHM and BSTM program will enhance and boost the locality’s economy.

Gearing to the new normal, gearing to a more strategic plan

The COVID-19 pandemic has raised many challenges to our education systems. Yet, it also presents an opportunity to reconsider the delivery of education by those in educational leadership positions. School leadership teams play a vital role in creating the environment that supports faculty, staff, students, and their families to continue to be connected and continue learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, whether in school or at home. In times of uncertainty, they can build community, coherence, and equity around schools. In line with this, the Hospitality and Tourism Management (HTM) Department planned and geared toward the new normal to continue and imbibed the PSU’s mission to produce quality individuals. In addition, faculty members are trained and empowered through learning technology-driven techniques and strategies relevant to the new normal education. Innovations have been made fitting and available for both faculty and the learner. 

To be responsive and relevant to the industry’s current demand, faculty members creatively implemented innovative strategies and interventions to teach essential learning experiences. With the concerted effort and blazing commitment of everyone, the program is able to overcome the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Teaching strategies, learning activities, and skills development programs are calibrated. The program uses Microsoft Teams as a teaching-learning platform. This online application is used to conduct discussions, perform class activities, and even group performances. Consequently, the student’s enthusiasm to actively participate in the online hands-on activities and virtually experience the teaching and learning process are very much evident in their academic performance ratings.

Furthermore, facilities such as laboratories and classrooms are retrofitted in accordance with the guidelines of the IATF to accommodate students for the limited face-to-face mode. All faculty and students are guided by necessary health and safety measures and protocols inside the campus. Online mode of learning is still provided simultaneously with the limited face-to-face classes during the second semester of A.Y. 2021-2022 to respond to the needs of the majority of the students. Indeed, the new normal challenged the faculty in honing and instilling the PSUnian image among the hospitality students. 

Additionally, PSU ACC responds to parents’ requests to expose their children to the cruise industry. The Hospitality Management Parents Association drafted a letter to the Campus Executive Director in 2018, Dr. Armando D. Junio, and the program Adviser Dr. Jim L. Aleta, stipulating their intention and request to expose their children to the said industry. The administration tapped a service provider for the said request and created a proposal for one-week immersion composed of round-trip actual cruise training from Manila to Boracay to Manila. The immersion enabled the students to experience real work in the cruise line industry. The activity also included hotel operation exposure in one of the hotels in Boracay which provided Hospitality management students a bounty of learning experiences.

Through the initiative of the parents and the support of the administration and faculty, student-interns gained opportunities and relevant experiences in leadership, administration, program development, facility operation, event management, and extramural activities. Both human and financial resources are maximized in terms of the different activities being carried out in relation to the partnership of the university. 

INNOVATIVE ENVIRONMENT: ENCOUNTER REAL-WORLD EXPERIENCES IN HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT FACILITIES

The most qualified, innovative, well-trained, competent, and committed faculty are selected to serve and support the Bachelor of Science in Hospitality Management (BSHM) program at Pangasinan State University-Alaminos City Campus (PSU-ACC). It seeks to provide a standard body of knowledge in hospitality management in innovative, functional facilities and an authentic education environment that offers awareness of skills and attitudes which will prepare students for responsible leadership roles in the hospitality industry. On that account, hospitality management provides an innovative and renovated building known as Bayanihan Center for Rural Development Building (BCRD), equipped with hospitality management laboratories to improve a hospitality management student’s skills and training simulations.

To promote the PSU mission to develop globally competent individuals, the administrators prepared the different facilities needed by the students. Some of these are top-notch facilities composed of the kitchen laboratory where students learn and express their culinary activities. There are also mock rooms with a simulated front office patterned after a hotel room set up for housekeeping students to practice room attendant operations. There is also the function room, which serves as a training ground for events management students. Also, the HM laboratories have two storage rooms where kitchenware, banquet equipment, and clearing material are stored. With this, as expected, PSU-ACC is firm in its conviction that the laboratories are an important avenue that equips the students’ competencies needed to execute operational tasks and management functions in food production, accommodation, food, and beverage service, tourism planning and product development, events planning, and tourism industry. The facilities not only satisfy the facility requirement, but it is the best way to offer all students practical “real-world” learning experiences that is highly significant in their chosen profession.

Indeed, to be responsive and relevant to the industry’s demand, hospitality management brings the real-life touch of industry inside the campus.

ACCREDITED

AACCUP LEVEL II