Shaping Future Talent Through Hospitality Education

My time at Sunway was pivotal in bridging theoretical management concepts with real-world execution. The rigorous academic environment fostered a disciplined, strategic approach to problem-solving and highlighted the importance of lifelong learning.
 

Experiencing a learning culture that prioritised academic excellence and practical industry relevance shaped my long-term goal of transitioning from corporate leadership into higher education and executive consulting. Today, I am a Hospitality, Tourism and Business Lecturer and a Restaurant Management (Fine Dining) Trainer at Laksamana College of Business, where I educate and mentor future professionals while developing impactful operational training programmes.

Modules in strategic leadership, organisational behaviour and service quality management left a lasting impression on my professional trajectory. I particularly benefited from faculty members, including Ms Mae Ho, Mr Fabian, Ms Rekha, Chef Busky, Ms May and many more, who brought real-world corporate and operational insights into the classroom rather than relying solely on textbook theories.

The student environment at Sunway was vibrant, collaborative, and intellectually stimulating. What stood out most was the accessibility of the faculty. Lecturers served as mentors, challenging our assumptions, encouraging debate and providing constructive feedback that went beyond grades to focus on professional readiness. The diverse student body also broadened my perspective on global business practices and cross-cultural communication while offering valuable networking opportunities.

The skills and values I gained at Sunway have remained instrumental throughout my career, particularly strategic decision-making, adaptive communication, cross-functional project management and structured analytical thinking. I also developed a strong appreciation for operational discipline, empathy, active listening, and continuous learning. This commitment eventually led me to earn a DBA, an Executive MBA and professional certifications in Digital Transformation (CDTP) and Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP).

After 15 years in corporate leadership across hospitality (HR and training), telecommunications (customer experience, sales and marketing) and banking (corporate affairs), I realised that my true passion lay in human capability development. I was drawn to hospitality education because it bridges academic theory with hands-on operational execution. Training young talent in areas ranging from front-of-house service standards and barista skills to event tourism and customer relationship management has been immensely rewarding.

Learning and development across higher education, corporate training and executive development have evolved from traditional lecture-based instruction towards experiential, technology-enabled learning. Classrooms, workshops and training spaces now function as  practical learning environments, incorporating interview panels, event management simulations, role-specific exercises and real-time leadership scenarios. Learners also track daily operational metrics, analyse transaction and inventory logs, evaluate performance data and measure outcomes using digital tools. Beyond technical standards, there is now a stronger emphasis on emotional intelligence, Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) techniques, cross-cultural agility and situational adaptability.

Looking ahead, my focus centres on three key pillars: expanding corporate and academic consultancy in leadership development, digital transformation and customer experience excellence; developing agile, practical learning modules in hospitality and tourism; and deepening my involvement in volunteerism and humanitarian first-aid network development across the region to help build structured leadership pipelines for young volunteers.

Irshad Ahamed
Diploma In Hospitality & Tourism Management (2007) 
Canadian International Matriculation Programme (CIMP) (2004)