By Lim Wei Chean

SINGAPORE'S oldest hospitality and tourism school is spreading its wings to Macau with plans to open a $1.9 million school in March.

It will be the first permanent school abroad for home-grown Shatec Institutes, and will focus on training veterans of the tourism industry in the Chinese gambling enclave.

Shatec has 1,800 students at its Bukit Batok campus, and down the road some will get a chance to attend programmes in Macau. School officials said the exchange will expose the students to the island's integrated resort (IR) businesses. Such an experience will be useful to them in Singapore, which has two casino complexes coming up.

Shatec Institutes president and chief executive Steven Chua signed a management agreement to operate Shatec Institutes Macau in the Chinese special administrative region yesterday.

Dr Chua told The Straits Times: 'Our presence in Macau puts us in a position to gain first-hand insight into the integrated resort sector and transfer the management know-how of such businesses back to Singapore.'

A former Shatec student himself, he did a one-year stint in Macau as the chief operating officer of a casino before returning in 2007 to head Shatec Institutes.

He said the aims of the school in Macau will be different from those of the one in Singapore.

The Singapore school - which is the education arm of the Singapore Hotel Association - is geared towards training youngsters gunning for a career in the hospitality and tourism sector. But the campus in Macau will focus on specialist training for people already in the industry.

Macau-based investment company Valeo Strategic Investments is pumping in 10 million patacas (S$1.9 million) to kick off the new facility.

Valeo Strategic chief executive officer Joseph Lo is confident there is demand for specialised training despite the economic slump.

He said Macau has been growing rapidly for the last five years and its human resources have been unable to cope with the demand.

'We have many beautiful buildings but the customer experience is not commensurate with the product offering.' He added that the company picked Shatec Institutes as a partner because the school has made a name for itself internationally.

Mr Lo said ambitious plans are in the pipeline to expand the centre to the rest of mainland China.

Dr Chua and Mr Lo said they expect the school to open by March.

Although Shatec has helped to establish specialist training facilities in Beijing and Bangkok, this is the first time the school has put its name behind an overseas school.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on January 15, 2009.