Forty-one students from UNLV Singapore received their degrees June 6 during the first commencement ceremony held since the campus opened in August 2006. The event marks a major milestone for UNLV's first international campus and strengthens the university's effort to create a global network of campuses that can deliver UNLV's world-renowned brand of hospitality management education.

During the ceremony, UNLV President David B. Ashley conferred 34 bachelor's degrees in hotel administration and seven executive master's degrees in hospitality administration. The commencement keynote speech was delivered by UNLV Harrah Hotel College Dean Stuart Mann, with additional remarks by Andy Nazarechuk, dean of UNLV Singapore, and Lee Yi Shyan, minister of state, Ministry of Trade and Industry and Ministry of Manpower for Singapore.

"It has been an amazing experience to see the internationalization of UNLV's hotel college and to provide quality hospitality education in an area where it was not readily available," said Nazarechuk. "The hospitality industry in Singapore is expanding quickly and Southeast Asia is becoming a more sophisticated travel destination. As the hospitality industry here continues to grow, so will UNLV Singapore."

Opened in August 2006, the 12,000 square foot campus is housed on the 10th and 11th floors of the National Library of Singapore, a building comparable to the United States Library of Congress. There are more than 200 students currently enrolled in the undergraduate and graduate programs, and the campus will likely reach its capacity by the end of the year.

UNLV Singapore has been such a success that the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) recently designated the campus as a center for Continuing Education and Training (CET). Under this partnership, UNLV Singapore provides workforce skills to individuals seeking employment or advancement in several sectors of Singapore's hospitality industry. UNLV Singapore now offers Workforce Skills Qualifications (WSQ) diploma programs in three areas of focus: tourism, with an emphasis on hospitality; food and beverage service; and meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions.

Despite the rapid growth in the hospitality sector in Singapore in recent years, the area has not been immune to the global economic downturn. As a result, the Singapore WDA has also partnered with UNLV to offer scholarships to professionals and managers recently laid off in other industries to upgrade their skills at the UNLV Singapore campus. The graduate-level program is designed to help these individuals make an easier transition from their former positions to new leadership roles in Singapore's growing hospitality industry.

UNLV's success in Singapore is helping bolster the hotel college's effort to expand into other areas overseas, particularly those with growing hospitality sectors. UNLV is currently in discussion with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to become the anchor tenant of a new 100-acre hospitality education campus in the emirate of Ras al Khaimah, located approximately 60 miles north of Dubai. Once that project is completed, students seeking a bachelor's degree in hotel administration from UNLV will have the opportunity to study and gain significant international hospitality experience in three distinctly different cultures.

"As we continue to develop new opportunities around the globe to deliver our world-renowned curriculum, UNLV has positioned itself to become the global leader in hospitality management education," said Stuart Mann, dean of UNLV's hotel college. "The success of our Singapore campus speaks volumes about the need for this kind of education beyond the main campus in Las Vegas. We are very proud of our international efforts and are looking forward to continued success in Singapore and to exporting the UNLV brand to other countries in the very near future."

The William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration at UNLV consistently ranks among the top hotel and hospitality colleges in the nation. Located just 1.5 miles from the famous Las Vegas strip, the college provides students access to one of the largest and most demanding educational laboratories in the field. The hotel college now boasts more than 10,500 alumni, many of whom have gone on to become leaders in the hotel and hospitality management industries.