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UCHC wishes to specialise in today's emerging and cutting
edge business sectors, such as Hotel, Travel, Tours, Care Home
with emphasis on today's cornerstone issues of ethics and
professionalism. UCHC will make all the efforts in Working in
collaboration with more than fifteen hundred leading
international organisations to offer the most extensive and
comprehensive university placement programme available today.
Its mission is the formation of a generation of young
entrepreneurs and managers of international stature, with the
culture, abilities and moral qualities sought for in the modern
world of economy and business. For the wide scope of its vision
and for the modernity of its didactic conception, the UCHC
represents the ideal of a non-concentric University offering
comprehensive international undergraduate and graduate
programmes in Hospitality and Care Management.
In today’s evolution of every business, from the
multinational company to the local corner shop, is to become
consciously a Training Intuition for the future transformation
of aspiration and personal improvement where the real business
objective will be the evolution of the men and women
participating. Even the most remote cells of the business
corporation should be cared for in order to evolve and
accelerate its progress.
If working professionals are able to "dream", to form a
vision of their future and how to work towards it, they will
become focused, inner-directed and motivated to achieve their
objective.
UCHC does not merely as a facilitator of offering hospitality
degree qualification or Diploma programmes, but to be the heart
of the driving philosophy of the Professional and Vocational
Qualification awarder with the commitment to supporting every
individual to realise their potential in its fullest expression.
The question of the provision of opportunities for access to
Vocational Higher Education for mature candidate is a highly
topical and relevant issue. But firstly we should be clear what
we mean by "mature" candidates. Many people in this age group
would have chosen to participate in third level education if
they had the opportunity.
The general definition of mature candidates covers all those
candidates who are 23 years of age or over. However within this
broad category, there is a more detailed typology, which is
widely recognised by policy-makers, practitioners and
researchers. For example, the Review Committee on Post Secondary
Education and Training Places (1999) also known as the "De
Buitléir" report refers to that there were approximately 107,000
"mature" candidates in 1997 in various categories of education.
However, the total number in full-time higher education was just
5,000 with another 22,000 in part-time higher education. While
the numbers in full-time higher education are relatively small,
the total pool of mature candidates engaged in educational
activity is very substantial. It must be stated also that
international comparisons can be difficult as in some countries,
like the UK, the cut-off age is 21 so the participation of
mature candidates would appear to be significantly better than
other countries as a result.
Mature and part-time candidates are not a homogeneous group.
They include candidates and learners involved in second-chance
or "catch-up" education as well as individuals who have already
secured third level qualifications who are taking further
courses either for professional reasons or for personal
development. These groups start off from different positions. In
addition, a greater proportion maybe parents, have had a long
gap since they last were in a formal educational setting, may
have had poor educational experiences and yet they bring a
wealth of life experiences to their courses.
Mature candidates also have different requirements and face
different constraints but they share one common feature. Their
needs will not be addressed efficiently by an inflexible model
of daytime teaching based on the traditional academic year.
Institutions need to be geared to deal with the different
expectations and problems of mature candidates – it is not
sufficient to just admit them. System wide policies are needed
that address the needs of mature candidates in a holistic way.
This "demographic dividend" will provide an opportunity to
increase participation rates among underrepresented target
groups including mature candidates.
There are a number of reasons why UCHC founders focus on the
mature candidates to higher vocational education is a salient
issue.
Mature candidates belong to one of the underrepresented
categories of candidates currently participating in higher
education. Another reason of crucial importance is the issue of
the current shortage of skills in a variety of industries.
To sustain the economic growth rates of recent years we have
to ensure that we have the people with the required skills to
meet that demand.
Mature candidates represent a major sector where education,
retraining, up-skilling and continuing professional education as
part of a lifelong learning process are going to be key
requirements.
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