By Chris Roberts
Winner of a Judges’ Commendation for the 2023 15th Australia China Alumni Award for Contributions to the Australia China Relationship
General Manager | DoubleTree by Hilton Guangzhou
Support General Manager | Guangzhou & Heyuan
I began my studies at Tea Tree Gully TAFE studying Dining Room Management. A friend of mine had already joined Hotel Management at Regency College of TAFE and said he loved it, so I joined up for the Dining Room Management program. I immediately fell in love with the program, enjoying learning about hospitality. Following completion of the Dining Room course I entered into Hospitality Management at Regency College of TAFE where my friend was also studying.
Regency TAFE was simply amazing. I really enjoyed the Tea Tree Gully campus but Regency was so much bigger with so many more resources available. While at Regency TAFE I was fortunate to start my career with Hilton working in banqueting at the Hilton Adelaide. I also soon discovered that many of my lecturers were also ex Hilton Management, so this also struck a warm note with me. Over the coming years I learnt so much from the lecturers, not just from the course content but also from their own experiences and stories shared based on their own experiences. These stories often helped to make us understand the course content more deeply.
I particularly enjoyed having the opportunity to put my learnings directly into practice. Many times I could study topics during the day at TAFE and then place the learning directly into practice that evening or the next coming days when at work. What I really respected about the course content was the practicality of the topics and learning points and the way the lecturers were able to help us understand and able to put these points into practice.
It’s often said that one’s years in college will be reflected as some of the best years of one’s life. This is totally true for me. I honestly miss the days spend at Regency TAFE, the friendships made with both fellow students and lecturers alike. I highly recommend Regency College of TAFE to anyone interested to study Hospitality Management.