Top hospitality school ICHM grows to cope with skills shortage

A multimillion-dollar expansion of Adelaide’s leading hospitality, tourism and hotel school is designed to address dire staff shortages.

ICHM, previously based in Regency Park, has moved to a newly renovated, three-level building on Currie Street.

The new CBD campus is twice the size of its previous headquarters and will allow for a major increase in the number of students, from 250 to about 600, including 70 percent from overseas.

The new campus features 10 collaborative teaching studios, a wellbeing hub, and a training cocktail bar and wine room for students to practise mixology and wine-tasting.

ICHM has also partnered with Celebrity Chef Callum Hann and Themis Chryssidis’s Sprout Cooking School, allowing them to deliver their culinary courses at their nearby Hilton site, with Hann set to be a guest lecturer.

Kellie Lumsden, Head of ICHM, said the hospitality industry had bounced back since the easing of COVID-19 restrictions but businesses around the country were still struggling to find quality staff.

She said ICHM students, who started on-the-job training after six months, would help fill that shortage as early as next year.

“We would get a phone call probably every week asking for students,” says Kellie.

“We just don’t have enough … the hospitality industry is hurting. It’s dire.”

“There really is much more that needs to be done.

“We can do a lot from the higher-education sector and make sure they’re ready and fit for work from day one.”

Kellie said up to 70 percent of students next semester would come from overseas, up from 40 percent earlier this year.

“International students are a really strong part of the hospitality industry and without them, the economy just isn’t the same.”

“They bring a wealth of knowledge and experience and the will to want to work in that industry. We’re glad to have them back.”

Thirty years ago, ICHM was founded by the Lipman family. Since its conception, ICHM has continuously challenged the status quo and evolved its operations and qualifications to match the high standards of the global hotel and hospitality industry.

Now, ICHM is expanding its offering to include new degrees in marketing and entrepreneurship, starting in September.

“Students want to be in the thick of things.”

“They see Adelaide as one of the best places to live in the world and they want to be in the heart (of the city).”

This article was sourced from The Advertiser.