This fall UNLV is opening its first international campus. The Singapore campus, located in the heart of the city’s education hub, will offer degrees through the William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration. Its first classes will begin in September with UNLV professor Andy Nazarechuk serving as dean.
“Our timing could not have been better as Singapore is in the process of building two integrated resorts in 2009 with an expected price tag of more than $3 billion,” Nazarechuk says, referring to the casinobased properties aimed at boosting tourism in the country. “Many students and professionals in the area see the opportunity to enter the growing hotel and tourism industry and see the Harrah Hotel College as one pathway to their future success.”
The campus was designed to serve 350 students, Nazarechuk says. “Right now there are opportunities for people in fields such as manufacturing, engineering, and finance to change their career paths. The two new (casino-based) resorts are expected to create about 10,000 direct jobs and some 25,000 indirect jobs.”
Stuart Mann, dean of the Hotel College, said Singapore provides an ideal setting for the college’s first international campus. “As Asian tourism increases dramatically over the next 10 to 20 years, the proximity of Singapore to China and other Asian nations makes it the ideal place for our hospitality management programs,” he said.
The campus takes up the 10th and 11th floors of the National Library of Singapore, a prestigious institution comparable to the U.S. Library of Congress. The 16-story building opened in 2005.
The campus will offer a bachelor’s degree program in hotel administration and hospitality management as well as an executive master’s degree in hospitality. There will also be a variety of overseas internship programs, including some based in Las Vegas. UNLV faculty will teach at the Singapore campus on a rotating basis. In addition, resident faculty for Singapore will be hired as the campus grows over the next three to four years.
UNLV Singapore has achieved the Institute of Higher Learning designation from Singapore’s Ministry of Education.
