Training workers for the growing meetings industry

The Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions industry - known as MICE - is growing in Thailand. The problem is the country still lacks qualified human resources to support this growth. That's why educational institutes are being engaged to help resolve the problem.

"MICE has annual income of Bt45 billion and an annual growth rate of around 20 per cent. However, entrepreneurs in related businesses have told me they have faced a serious shortage of qualified staff," Akapol Sorasuchart, president of the Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB), said recently.

TCEB is, thus, carrying out a study to determine the scope of this personnel shortage.

Akapol said there were not many people with MICE expertise in Thailand because most Thais still had no clear idea about the industry and education in the field was very limited.

To tackle the problem, TCEB has joined hands with Prince of Songkla University (PSU), Hat Yai Campus to creating a MICE tourism curriculum - a new specific hotel and tourism related curriculum. TCEB is considering signing another memorandum of understanding with Khon Kaen University to create another MICE curriculum too.

Director of MBA Tourism Management at PSU's Faculty of Management Sciences, Assist Prof Kaedsiri Jaroenwisan said TCEB and the university signed a memorandum of understanding on the curriculum in August. She has since then been working on drafting the bachelor's degree curriculum. She believed the course should be ready to launch in the 2012 academic year.

"Many universities have tourism curricula. But ours will be different. It's going to be specific. It's about MICE," she said.

Kaedsiri said the basic and core subjects may be similar but there would be special courses designed especially for the convention industry. She has prepared the curriculum in close consultation with MICE experts from TCEB.

Akapol said many hotels had MICE sections. Personnel in MICE tourism should be able to handle bigger groups of guests. For example, being a chef in MICE tourism, the chef would have to be able to cook for thousands of guests.

Kaedsiri said students graduating from the MICE tourism curriculum had to be equipped with English language and understand the industry, plus the different functions of services before, during and after events take place, as well as marketing and other factors linked to the industry. "We plan to teach 25-50 per cent in English. And we're considering if we'll provide other languages, like Chinese or German as a selective subject."

In addition, real work experience is important. So, Kaedsiri said she would try to have students intern under a partnership between the university and the private sector. "They should learn from internships at convention centres."

Kaedsiri said launching a MICE programme at university level alone would not be enough.

"How we will attract students to the MICE programme is a challenge given that school students do not know much about the industry," she pointed out.

"So, I have told TCEB that we should work with schools to make sure that their students know about the industry and its benefits."

The curriculum Kaedsiri is working on is one of several measures that TCEB is undertaking to handle the shortage of personnel and to improve employees' qualifications under its "Thailand MICE Education" push.

TCEB has organised roadshows in major provinces such as Chiang Mai, Khon Kaen, Chon Buri and Songkhla over the past two years before the official launch of the campaign in Nonthaburi province.

Akapol said the roadshows involved some 36 universities and vocational institutions with hundreds of students aiming at jobs in the MICE field or studying in educational fields related to the industry. They also sought to create partnerships with leading universities in different regions to train teachers and lecturers and create standard guidelines for the industry.

After the roadshows, TCEB will run its "Train the Trainer" project as part of the Thailand MICE Education project to provide MICE seminars and training to vocational teachers and university lecturers who will later pass on knowledge about the industry to students, as well as offer an opportunity for them to get work experience.

In addition to the educator training, TCEB plans to boost awareness about the industry to students via seminars and to career-specialised students, who will get to use their acquired skills in workplaces.