PARIS: Upon landing at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris on Nov 8, students from Taylor’s University School of Hospitality and Tourism took a 10-hour bus trip to Toulouse, situated in the south of France, to embark on a much anticipated management game at the University of Toulouse (UoT)-Jean Jaures.
Toulouse, the capital of Midi-Pyrenees, is France’s second largest 'university city’ after Paris, and has more than 100,000 student residents, most of them from the UoT-Jean Jaures.
Despite being tired, jet-lagged and sleepy, the students were determined to give their best shot as they have already signed up for this management game when they entered their final year.
With an enthusiasm to win the game, they put aside communication barriers to get their messages across as well as cracking their heads for ideas.
A total of 140 bachelor’s students in their final year programmes — Culinary Arts and Food Service Management; International Hospitality Management; International Tourism Management (Event Management); and International Tourism Management (Tourism and Recreation Management) — took part in the French Residency Programme in partnership between Taylor’s University and UoT-Jean Jaures.
They included students from Malaysia (79), China (25), Indonesia (16), Korea (4), Pakistan (4), France (4), Maldives (2), Sri Lanka (1), United Kingdom (1), India (1), Vietnam (1), Kazakhstan (1) and Swaziland (1).
The residency programme, which was introduced five years ago, is aimed at giving students a chance to visit their degree-awarding institution, and to experience French culture, cuisine and history.
The highlight was the three-day Marc Combes Challenge Management Game (named after the late professor who devised it) which took place at Toulouse School of Tourism, Hospitality Management and Food Studies (or ISTHIA, the French acronym).
Simulating a real business environment, students were divided into groups of seven, with one French student from UoT-Jean Jaures per group. After reading the company report of a restaurant located in a virtual town, they were required to manage it.
Learning Curve writer ZULITA MUSTAFA gives a first-hand account of the management game during her recent trip to University of Toulouse-Jean Jaures in France. Read this exclusively in the print edition of the New Sunday Times on Nov 29.