Alumni to sponsor 2 LASPOTECH lecturers on overseas studies

The Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH) Alumni Association says it would sponsor two lecturers of the institution to study Hotel Management Software (HMS) in Morocco or Canada.

Dr Wasiu Babalola, Chief Executive, Africa Continent Hotel and Resort, Turkey and a LASPOTECH Alumni, announced the sponsorship at the institution’s 4th International Conference on Science and Technology on Tuesday in Lagos.

The conference, organised by the School of Technology, is tagged: ““Innovation for Sustainable Development: The Technology Challenges’’.

Babalola said the sponsorship was a collaboration between the Alumni and the Turkey based Africa Continent Hotel and Resort.

He said the beneficiary lecturers would come from the Hospitality Management and the Computer Science Departments of the institution.

According to him, the objective of the sponsorship is to empower the lecturers with the technical know-how and knowledge-based skill on HMS.

He said the sponsorship was also an initiative to help develop hospitality business in Nigeria.

Babalola remarked that there was a great expectation in the hospitality industry and that “the academics “is an avenue to raise the innovative advancement of the industry’’.

He said that through the foreign study, innovations in hotel management and hospitality would be domesticated in Nigeria.

The alumnus said polytechnic education provided the largest workforce of the industry and urged lecturers to keep abreast and teach innovations that would make their graduates become marketable in hospitality.

He called for an overhaul of the curriculum for tourism and hospitality courses to keep pace with trend in the industry.

“’There is no need feeding the students, who will constitute the workforce in hospitality, with primitive knowledge,’’ he said.

Also speaking, the Rector of the institution, Mr Samuel Sogunro, praised the Alumni for the gesture.

He said the polytechnic would continue to partner with the hospitality industry to develop the curriculum for the courses.