Kenjiro Shinno graduated with a BSc (Hons) in International Hospitality Management (BIHM) in 2017.

Kenjiro believes that the programme has equipped him for employment in many ways, especially in the hospitality industry. For instance, students were required to perform the actual serving and preparation of food during the examinations for the culinary, and food and beverage subjects. This enhances one’s skills in the restaurant and kitchen but more importantly in developing other soft skills as well. Students were also exposed to entrepreneurial projects, where they had the opportunity to develop and execute business plans within a simulated environment. During this project, students worked in teams to achieve a collective goal, thereby enhancing their leadership skills and putting their business creativity to the test.

During his internship, Kenjiro was placed at the Aloft Hotel Kuala Lumpur. He said, “At Aloft Hotel KL, one of the roles that I was assigned to was as the operator. This role may sound easy, but it requires professional English-speaking skills and thorough knowledge of hotel operations. It was then that I understood the importance of being proficient in speaking business English. Hence, I put in the effort by practising listening skills every day and eventually, I was able to carry out this duty and attend to customer inquiries with a breeze.”

“Upon graduating from Sunway University during my job search, I witnessed that a lot of job recruiters were pleased with the hospitality graduates for their knowledge and experiences in the fields of hospitality and management. In Japan, traditional Japanese companies evaluate new hires on their ability and proficiency in speaking English. Completing a hospitality programme at Sunway University gives graduates an edge as they are skilful in their area of work and would be able to speak more than 1 language”.

One of the concepts that Kenjiro is particularly interested in, which he was exposed to during his study at Sunway University is “Sustainable Tourism Development”. This area of study and research carefully reviews tourist activities and their consequences, rationalising tourism, and the impacts on the economic, socio-cultural, ecological and political environment. COVID-19 has surely raised the need for more responsible and careful consumption, particularly in the tourism industry. Moving forward, there should be significant collaborations between the government, tourism operators and local communities to enable tourism development that addresses the needs of host communities.

The delivery of modules in the BIHM programme also included a research project where students could gain analytical and critical thinking skills to make deductions and conclusions of data analysis.

The University is well-equipped with first-class and state-of-the-art facilities, which made campus life very comfortable for studies. Students also can participate in clubs and societies. Kenjiro was a Sunway International Student Ambassador, which he enjoyed tremendously as it increased his social networks and improved his knowledge in student management as well.

As a closing note, Kenjiro believes that being customer-focused is a very important attribute that one should possess in the field of hospitality. His favourite quote is by Peter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal, who said “Customers won’t care about any particular technology unless it solves a particular problem in a superior way”.

Kenjiro Shinno currently works as a Sales Development Representative at Snowflake Japan K.K., a cloud computing-based data warehousing company.