Pioneering Dusit Thani Hotel School integrates technology to be paperless and enable digital and distance learning
BANGKOK, 2 March 2015 – Microsoft Thailand and Dusit International today announced a partnership to develop and nurture a strong hospitality workforce with 21st Century skills that will be vital to the growth of Thailand’s tourism industry. The partnership also aims to further support Thailand’s tourism industry by supplying a sufficient hospitality workforce to meet increasing tourism demands, provide career opportunities in the industry to students in remote, rural areas, and raise the standards in hospitality education.
From January to December 2014, Thailand recorded a total of 24.77 million tourist arrivals. Consistently listed as one of the world’s top tourist destinations, Thailand’s tourism industry aims to receive 28 million visitors in 2015 and generate an estimate 1.35 trillion.[1]
The partnership will see the upcoming Dusit Thani Hotel School, which will open in August 2015, equip its educators and students with Microsoft’s cloud-based productivity tool, Office 365 for Education, and Windows tablets that will enhance the classroom experience.
Office 365 for Education services are designed to support the school’s e-learning system, with features such as Microsoft Office Online (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Calendar, Outlook etc. – that can be accessed, edited, saved and shared online), as well as Skype and Lync for virtual class and group meetings.
OneDrive for Business also allows academicians to save their intellectual work in the cloud with unlimited storage capacity and superior security features. All of these features can be enjoyed and managed by one administrator through the unified administrator experience by Office 365 for Education.
Through the integration of Office 365 for Education and Windows tablets in both the teaching and learning processes, the Dusit Thani Hotel School aims to empower budding tourism and hospitality professionals with technology skills that are relevant in the 21st Century and essential to compete in the AEC.
The new Dusit Thani Hotel School, Thailand’s first hospitality school based on ASEAN Common Competency Standards for Tourism Professionals, will be able to accommodate up to 4,000 students per year at its state-of-the-art facility. Enabled by technology, the school will focus on three concepts namely creating a paperless, sustainable environment, digital learning, and distance learning.
To create a paperless, sustainable environment, students and educators will utilize e-books, OneNote for electronic note-taking, Microsoft PowerPoint presentations of lectures with digital ink, as well as electronic assignments and examinations.
On the digital learning front, Office 365 for Education will encourage greater collaboration amongst students and educators through the use of OneNote, SharePoint and Yammer; and enable knowledge transfer where students will have opportunities to learn from the best in industry through Microsoft Lync’s video conferencing function. Students and educators will also be encouraged to present concepts and ideas through animations and simulations via Sway.
Students in remote, rural areas will have opportunities to enhance their employability and develop a career in the tourism industry through technology-enabled vocational and theoretical classes. Specifically, students will have access to online education materials and view recorded training classes and demonstrations via OneDrive for Business and SharePoint.
Chanin Donavanik, CEO, Dusit International, said, “2015 marks a significant year for Thailand’s tourism industry and it is crucial that we develop and nurture homegrown hospitality talent to support the growth of one of Thailand’s key economic drivers. Through the extension of our partnership with Microsoft, one that traces back to over 20 years, we are integrating Microsoft’s technology in the teaching and learning processes at the Dusit Thani Hotel School. This partnership will raise the standards in hospitality education, enable aspiring hospitality professionals throughout Thailand to pursue a career in the hospitality industry, and build world-class hospitality talent with 21st Century skills.”
Haresh Khoobchandani, Managing Director, Microsoft Thailand, said, “The partnership with Dusit International brings to life our shared vision to use technology as an enabler in education, and through the Dusit Thani Hotel School, our joint efforts will build a skilled hospitality workforce for an increasingly mobile and dynamic world and support the growth of one of Thailand’s core industries. Today’s announcement speaks volume in terms of the trust Dusit International has in the quality of solutions and services that Microsoft delivers, and the level of privacy and security that Microsoft is able to ensure.”
In addition to enabling productivity and collaboration in education at the Dusit Thani Hotel School, Microsoft Office 365 is also preferred for its world-class security and privacy standards including ISO 27001 and European Union certifications. Microsoft is also among the first group of companies to sign the K-12 Student Privacy Pledge, committing to never sell student information, never behaviorally target advertising, and to use student data for authorized education purposes alone. Microsoft is the first major cloud provider to adopt the world’s first international standard for the protection of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) in the public cloud, ISO/IEC 27018, which prohibits the use of PII for advertising.
Microsoft Office 365 is also used by 1,000 Dusit International employees across its chain of 24 hotels around the world, enabling Dusit International employees to be productive, responsive and collaborative anytime, anywhere and on any device. In addition to Office 365, Dusit International also utilizes Microsoft’s database management solution SQL Server to enable its chain of hotels and resorts to securely store guest information, while the ERP (enterprise resource planning) software Dynamics NAV provides a data-driven operations platform that keep the group abreast of every situation.
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About Microsoft
Established in 1993, Microsoft (Thailand) Limited aims to Make 70 Million Lives Better by enabling Thai people and businesses to realize their full potential through technology that transforms the way people work, play, and communicate. We offer software, services, and devices that deliver new opportunities, greater convenience, and enhanced value to people’s lives. Working with communities and the Thai government, Microsoft and its partners are committed to working closely with organizations and people across Thailand to fully harness the power of technology and innovation.
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For further information, (press) please contact:
Pornravee Suramool or Cheryl Yab
Hill+Knowlton Strategies Thailand
Tel: 0-2627-3501 ext. 110, 206 or 081-735-9213, 098-272-4077
E-mail: [email protected], [email protected]