UNLV Singapore graduates charter class

June 15, 2009 by Tessie Perkins 

International campus sees 41 students receive diplomas

UNLV’s first international campus accomplished a major milestone on June 6 with its first commencement ceremony. Forty-one students received their degrees from the UNLV Singapore campus during the inaugural commencement.

According to Gaylene Levesque, director of marketing and communications for UNLV Singapore, President David B. Ashley, Dean Stuart Mann of the William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration and Dean
Andrew Nazarechuk of the UNLV Singapore campus awarded 34 bachelor of science degrees and seven master of hospitality administration degrees.

“UNLV Singapore is the leading provider of hospitality education in the country,” Levesque said.

Mann, who explained that the graduation is a mark of the new prospects available to UNLV and its students, delivered the commencement keynote speech. “As we continue to develop new opportunities around the globe to deliver our world-renowned curriculum, UNLV has positioned itself to become the global leader in hospitality management education,” he said.

Lee Yi Shyan, minister of state for trade and industry in Singapore, and Nazarechuk also spoke. Nazarechuk commented on the importance of hospitality education in the region. “It has been an amazing experience to see the internationalization of [the] hotel college and to provide quality hospitality education in an area where it was not readily available,” he said. “The hospitality industry in Singapore is expanding quickly and Southeast Asia is becoming a more sophisticated travel destination. As the hospitality industry here continues to grow, so will UNLV Singapore.”

There are currently more than 200 undergraduate students in the program, 15 master’s candidates and more than 300 part-time students in the Continuing Education Training Center professional development programs.

“We work closely with various government departments in Singapore,” Levesque said, “and although there are more than 57 universities in Singapore, we are one of only seven foreign universities officially recognized by the Singapore Ministry of Education. That is a great honor.”

Mann believes that the future of UNLV Singapore is exceptionally bright. “We are very proud of our international efforts and are looking forward to continued success in Singapore and to exporting the UNLV brand to other countries in the very near future,” he said.

Mann said the brand of services and degrees UNLV’s Hotel College offers are necessary tools for people around the world. He said he hopes this will be the starting point for greater export of UNLV’s campuses.

“The success of our Singapore campus speaks volumes about the need for this kind of education beyond the main campus in Las Vegas,” Mann said.

According to its Web site, UNLV’s Singapore campus is designed to serve small groups of high caliber students who have a passion to enter the hospitality and tourism industries.

The campus opened its doors in 2006. It is housed inside of Singapore’s National Library Building.

The Singapore campus works closely with its sister campus in Las Vegas to provide internship opportunities to its students.

Executive master’s candidates also travel to Las Vegas to attend a special seminar and to complete a research or operational project.