The Hospitality Industry Trust, generally best known as HIT, delivered a record number of Scholarships at its recent Emerging Talent Conference. The outcome is that 213 people will now be able to further their careers through the help of the charity, which was originally set up to help needy widows and to help people learn.
Over the last 12 years more than 2,000 scholarships have been given out. Bringing the total number of students helped in the last 23 year to around 14,000.
David Cochrane, Chief Executive of the charity told Hotel Scotland, “Scholarships can help motivate staff and give them confidence and every year we get more and more scholars applying. Obviously every scholarship has a cost associated with it, sometimes it’s not a lot, other times it could be £10K, but my task is to keep the charity on track by ensuring we raise some £500K a year to enable scholars to benefit.”
He continues, “We get a lot of industry support and have more than 80 industry people on committees who help organise events around the country. But our main event is the Emerging Talent Conference which has gone from strength to strength, attracting high profile speakers, students and industry professionals alike. The recipients of the scholarships are named at the event, with scholarships ranging from Social Media to Pastry Masterclasses. Here are just some of the lucky 2017 recipients going to Lausanne: Adam McMaster of the Loch Ness Clansman Hotel, Beth Harding of Montpeliers, Kenneth Noble of Park Inn by Radisson Glasgow, Angie Miller of Principal Edinburgh, Dean McDonnell of Qhotels, Donna Moir of Gleneagles Hotel, Rhona Malcolm of the Waldorf Astoria Edinburgh, Stuart Chapman of the Blythswood Hotel, Brodie Stewart of the Golf View Hotel & Spa, Nils Kop of the Sheraton Grand Hotel & Spa, Laura Brennan of the Village Hotel, Jordan Williams of Crerar Hotels, Elinor Goater of Cromlix Hotel, Kirsty Laird of Crieff Hydro, Craig Harvie, of Lochgreen House Hotel, Fallon Cowley of Manorview and Steven Dobbin of East Haugh House Hotel.
Did you know?
Originally HIT was tasked with helping students to complete their studies so that they would go into the hospitality industry. Until 2005 the charity mainly supported colleges – in fact 42 colleges and thousands of students benefitted but HIT couldn’t guarantee that its support of these students would lead to the students actually going into hospitality. In 2005 the trustees decided that scholarships were the way forward, and they were for people who were either working within the industry or studying towards a career in hospitality. Says David, “The first year we had eight applicants… this year we had 729 and gave out 213!”
To find out more about HIT events checks their website www.hitscotland.co.uk