The International Hotel School’s merger with Uniskills Africa to form the new IHS Training Division, will expand its offering by providing education to all levels of hospitality, not just school leavers. 
This new division will be headed up by Uniskills Africa MD, Stuart Blackburn, and his team, and will offer internationally accredited in-depth training courses that aim to improve and develop skills of current industry employees and then benchmark them through internationally recognised certification programmes. 
CEO of IHS, Mike Lambert, said the vision for the company was to offer an education and training solution to everyone interested in joining the industry, as well as to those who were keen to improve on their existing skills and development within the industry.
“Travel and tourism worldwide is expected to grow by 4% per annum between 2013 and 2023. With this in mind, it’s imperative that South Africans have access to a specialist hospitality training solution so that our industry has the qualified personnel to offer a great experience here in South Africa or abroad. As part of the strategic objectives for IHS, we feel that we have achieved a unique offering with the merger of Uniskills, as we are now able to offer not only solid hospitality education, but exceptional training and skills development under one umbrella,” said Lambert.
Blackburn said: “Never before has a hospitality education and training solution been so widely available and easy to access in South Africa. IHS’s footprint in South Africa and Africa is exceptional. 
“It’s a very exciting time to be in the hospitality industry and we’re here to make a valuable difference by offering ongoing training and development to span the career or lifetime of hospitality individuals. Improve your own skills or improve the skills of your employees – either way, the benefits of training have a very positive impact on any company’s bottom line,” he said.