Dear Students of the Silver Mountain School of Hotel Management,
As Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Queen Margaret University (QMU), Edinburgh, I cannot tell you how proud I am that, not only were we the first UK University to offer a British degree through face-to-face teaching in Nepal, but also that our partnership is now approaching its tenth year!
Since we began offering a BA in International Hospitality and Tourism Management (IHTM) in partnership with Silver Mountain in 2011, we’ve been delighted to play a part in the enhancement of educational provision for young people in Nepal, and in building the status of the hospitality and tourism sector within the country and beyond.
Indeed, Silver Mountain’s focus on Hospitality and Culinary Arts is a key reason why the partnership has been so successful. Queen Margaret University’s roots date back to 1875, with the establishment of the Edinburgh School of Cookery. In the period since then, we have continued to grow and expand our portfolio, but we have never lost sight of our commitment to improving people's lives and serving the community. We are a university that is modern in outlook but with a maturity built on a long history of serving the community, both locally and globally, and enhancing its wellbeing. We have established our position as a forward-thinking university that equips graduates with the skills required for meaningful careers that contribute to society. Our success in this has been recognized through numerous accolades, including being named as Scotland’s top modern university in the 2020 Times Good University Guide. Most recently, we achieved 96.15% student satisfaction in the 2020 National Student Survey among those completing our International Hospitality and Tourism Management degree program.
Silver Mountain’s commitment to empowering those less fortunate in the community, through the Ek Muskann initiative, strongly matches Queen Margaret University’s commitment to social justice and our commitment to recognizing and promoting equality and diversity in all that we do. Specifically, the IHTM program at Silver Mountain embodies and further promotes QMU’s values, with a strong focus on sustainability built into the degree.
The Queen Margaret Business School has a strong international focus. In addition to Nepal, we are proud to offer business courses with partner institutions in Greece, India, and Singapore, as well as a newly validated program in Luxembourg. At our Edinburgh campus, students from over 90 countries are studying towards our qualifications. In the 2018-2019 academic year, almost 40% of all our students undertook their studies with one of our international partners, and this proportion is likely to increase further.
Our students at the Silver Mountain School of Hotel Management are an essential part of the wider Queen Margaret University community, and along with my colleagues, I look forward to building on the success of our partnership in the future.
Sir Paul Grice, FRSE, FAcSS
Principal and Vice-Chancellor
Queen Margaret University
