Studying in the Netherlands

He has his roots in Iceland & France and grew up in Luxembourg. She comes from Andorra. Now Leo and Nerea are both studying Hotel and Event Management at Tio.

Leo came to the Netherlands three years ago and found his way to Tio Amsterdam via HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht. Nerea is an exchange student from the University of Barcelona. We talk about why they chose Tio and their experiences.

Learning by doing

Studying at Tio has its advantages. One of them is practice-oriented education. Leo tells us: “One of the reasons why I chose Tio was the Hotel and Event Week. You take over a hotel together with your fellow students and it’s completely ours! It’s a learning experience you can’t get anywhere else."

Nerea also sees this hands-on approach as a big advantage. The first time I saw the practice rooms, such as the restaurant and hotel reception, I was impressed. It is so cool to be able to actually do it, check in guests or serve in the restaurant. When you learn these things from a book, you read it and then you just forget about it."

“The old-fashioned way of teaching involves learning things by heart”, Leo explains. “However, it is far more effective to learn the theory and then apply it in practice. That way, you retain the knowledge in your head. It’s a better way of teaching, and we get that here at Tio.”

Small classes and self-development

Nerea also sees the small class sizes as an advantage compared to her university in Barcelona. “I recommend Tio to all my friends. It’s such a big difference. Here there are only thirteen people in my class. In Barcelona there were more than a hundred. The lecturers at Tio actually know my name. I’m used to lecturers who read a PowerPoint and don’t interact with their students. That’s totally different at Tio."

Leo: “What’s great is that at Tio we learn how to present ourselves and focus on our social and people skills. Before I never saw the point of the professional development lessons we are given. But now that I am busy building my own network, I understand their importance."

What do they think of the Netherlands?

Even though these two students have seen quite a bit of the Netherlands, moving to a new country is always exciting. Nerea did not come alone, she brought her dog Baloo. She found it easy to adapt. “I noticed that people here are a bit closed, but very direct. In Barcelona, people are more social. I’m starting to get used to it." Leo has lived in several countries before and quickly found his way around. Living on your own in different countries makes you flexible. Something that certainly comes in handy in his desire to work in the ever-changing events industry.

What’s next after Tio?

Nerea has no definite plans yet but staying in Amsterdam for a year or two is certainly an option. “Here there are many more job opportunities for students. In Spain you have to start from the bottom. In the Netherlands you can start immediately at a higher level after graduating." Laughing, she adds: “And the salaries here are better!”

As for Leo, he will definitely be staying in Amsterdam for the next few years. “I want to pursue a career in events, being part of an event team at various hotels in the Netherlands or maybe the UK sounds amazing!” •

I want to pursue a career in events, being part of an event team at various hotels in the Netherlands or maybe the UK sounds amazing!

European Mise en Place Cup (EMCup)

On 24 and 25 April, it was time once again for the EMCup! The EMCup is a competition amongst the best European Hotel Management Schools. This year, Georgina, Latascha, Mika, Pien and Sem represented Tio under the team name ‘Dutch DyNAmites’.

The first day focused on getting to know the other teams and networking with people from the hotel industry. The day started with a kick-off featuring an inspiring speech from successful entrepreneur Mark Livings. After that, the candidates took part in various training sessions and the day was capped off with a networking dinner. All the candidates, coaches and businesses attended this dinner, making it an ideal opportunity for networking.

The competition itself was held on day two. The teams were given a case study, for which they had to find a solution and then pitch their idea to several jury members. The top 14 pitches were selected to battle it out with one another in a debate round. Tio also advanced to the next round and won the debate against a team from Barcelona! The winning teams then had to prepare a final case study to be pitched in front of all students and jury members – around 300 people. The winner was announced during the gala dinner.

Even though Tio's team is not victorious this year, we can look back at our amazing team’s results with a great deal of pride. Fantastic work, guys! •

If you have the chance to take part in the EMCup, do it! It’s a special event and incredibly good for your network!

Mika, Hotel and Event Management student

Lecturer Margôt: “My goal is to help students get off to a flying start”

After twenty years in the sky as a Purser and five years in an office as an Executive Assistant at KLM, Margôt Koch-Noorlander became a lecturer at Tio in 2019. At the moment, she is combining her teaching duties with a business of her own, Happy2Organize. “Keeping one foot in professional practice means you always have new real-world examples that you can use during the lessons,” Margôt says.

Making amazing trips with KLM

In 1991, after earning a Master’s in Business from Erasmus University Rotterdam, Margôt took a job as Account Manager with ABN AMRO bank. After several years, she found that a nine-to-five job wasn’t right for her and decided to turn her travel hobby into a job – so she took to the air as a flight attendant with KLM. “I’ve had the privilege and great pleasure of working at KLM for 25 years. After spending twenty years at a job high in the sky, I’ve been working at a figuratively high level as an Executive Assistant in the KLM office for five years.”

Her journey to Tio

After leaving KLM, Margôt started a business of her own, in which she helps other business owners with their financial administration. Margôt explains: “When I saw an ad for lecturers in the Aviation courses at Tio, everything fell into place for me. Teaching had always seemed fun to me, especially in subjects with which I have 25 years’ experience. That’s how I started working at Tio.”

Helping students get off to a flying start

After two years of teaching Aviation courses in the vocational programme Stewardess Receptionist Hostess, Margôt switched to teaching financial courses. “Now I teach Business and Finance & Accounting classes to first-year students at Tio.”

Stories from real-world practice

When asked about the qualities a lecturer needs to teach at Tio, Margôt says: “If you want to work at Tio, really, the most important thing is practical experience. It is crucial that you, as a lecturer, are really capable of linking the material with real-world practice.” For her part, Margôt uses a lot of examples from her career with KLM. “One fun example I use in my lessons is when KLM and Air France joined together. Was that a merger or an acquisition? And what is the difference between the two terms? Then, for example, I talk about the Air France KLM holding company and how the merger affected KLM stock.”

Margôt also uses many examples from current events. “In class, I often pull out the economics section of the newspaper and talk about something like the rising price of gas, for example. It’s a way for me to help students think about what that means for business owners. That is how I try to break down the sometimes dry business-course material into something they can easily grasp.”

Advantages of Tio

As for the advantages of being a Tio lecturer, Margôt mentions the small-scale nature of the study programmes and the personal approach to students. “Thanks to the small classes of around ten to twelve students, I can get a good idea of each student’s individual learning style. One student might need extra practice and another might benefit from hearing the material explained a few more times. That lets me adjust the material to meet the needs of individual students. I really like that personalised approach. Every time a student earns a good mark on an exam, it makes me happy.” •

A kick-start to her career: Imke is working toward an Associate degree

After earning a vocational education diploma, Imke was eager to continue her studies. But what was she looking for in a further study programme? “I couldn’t see myself spending four more years as a student and I wanted a fast-track programme to earning a higher education degree."

Her road to Tio

After completing her vocational programme, Imke enrolled in the Facility Management Bachelor programme at the HAN University of Applied Sciences. Her programme coincided with the pandemic, however, which made it hard for Imke to feel motivated about her studies. As a result, she did not earn enough credits and eventually decided to look around for other study programme options. Imke explains: “My mother came up with the suggestion of enrolling at Tio, and right away, I liked the idea. I felt like a four-year programme was too long, and at Tio, I could earn an Associate degree in Hotel and Event Management in two years. That was exactly what I was looking for.”

Subject matter that sparks your imagination

Imke is enjoying her studies at Tio: “The first semester was a nice mix of practical courses, like Cooking, and theorybased courses like Marketing, Sales and Finance. That combination of practical and theoretical instruction really makes me feel like I’m learning a lot and am better able to understand the material. Most of the lecturers are professionals in the field themselves, so they always have interesting stories from real-world practice. That really sparks your imagination.”

The company visits that were organised helped me get a good picture of the future professional field as well. “We have already visited several different hotels, which I really liked!” Imke’s favourite activity took place during the Hotel and Event week. “I was part of a group of students that was assigned a Stayokay location, which we then had to run as a full-fledged hotel for a week, all by ourselves. Not only did we learn a lot, it was just really fun, too!”

Internship abroad

For Tio students, the summer months are all about internships. Imke, for instance, is dreaming about doing an internship on Ibiza next summer: “I’ve heard good things about it, and I like the fact that it’s still in Europe – that way, it’s easy for my friends to come visit me.” Imke will be staying in the Netherlands for her internship this summer, when she’ll be working at Mercure Hotel in Nijmegen. •

Tio laid the foundation for my career

Kelly Kooij grew up with the hotel and catering industry; as a teenager, Kelly could often be found working in one of her parents’ hospitality businesses. It was the obvious choice for her to enrol in the Hotel and Event Management programme at Tio University of Applied Sciences. Since her time at Tio, Kelly has taken exciting steps in her career. She currently leads the marketing and communication team at Team Alert. In our conversation with Tio alumna Kelly, she explains how Tio laid the foundation for her career.

Fast track to a bachelor degree

After finishing a vocational hotel management school, Kelly was eager to earn a bachelor's degree degree as well. She quickly decided that Tio was the place, she says, because it was well-aligned with her previous education. At the time, what was her main reason for choosing Tio? “It was because it offered a fast track to a bachelor's degree. Plus I think Event Management is a really exciting subject, too. I also found the Nima courses, like Marketing, Sales and Communication, particularly appealing. So in that sense, Tio is not a traditional hotel school, because it offers you quite broad training with a variety of courses.”

A broad foundation provides opportunities

After graduating from Tio, Kelly’s career progressed at lightning speed. “After earning my bachelor's degree. I first worked at an ad agency for a number of years. After that, I found myself itching to return to the hospitality industry so I took a job in the hotel sector.” Most of her tasks there had to do with organising events for successful hotel chains such as Holiday Inn and NH Group. “Events are an effective means of communication and, in that light, the work I was doing at the time was a nice combination of my love of marketing and hospitality,” Kelly says with enthusiasm.

After several years, Kelly took the next step in her career. “The broad range of courses I took at Tio, including Marketing, Communication, Sales and Management, provided me with a solid foundation for taking good career steps in marketing as well. My broad knowledge, interest in marketing and background in the hospitality industry all worked to open new doors for me. In other words, your future after graduation is in no way set in stone; you can go in pretty much any direction.”

Now, some fifteen years later, Kelly works at Team Alert, an organisation that strives to reduce the number of young people involved in traffic accidents. There, she manages a multidisciplinary marketing and communication team that was developed in consultation with the research team for nationwide campaigns. She is also in charge of the transition to a data-driven organisation.

The love of hospitality never ends

Kelly explains with a smile: “The fact that I now work in marketing, and have grown to love a different profession, doesn’t mean that my love for hospitality has faded. Not in the least!”

Tip: expand your network

When asked if she has any other tips for students, she says: “Start networking the day your study programme begins. Both within Tio and outside. Establishing connections with people can really help you move forward. Expanding your network is always a good thing.” •

Paul proudly explains the different varieties of wine grapes, what is needed for a successful harvest and the great deal of work that is required throughout the entire year.

Unique wine trip to the South of France

In May, students in the wine study elective in Rotterdam had a very special event week: a wine trip to Château de l’Horte in Montbrun des Corbières, in the South of France. This fantastic trip was organised in cooperation with International Tourism Management student Senna and his father Paul. Their family opened their vineyard château and luxury wine villas to the class and made every effort to ensure the trip was an unforgettable experience. And they succeeded. In a word: amazing!

Interesting, fun and jam-packed programme

The students participated in a jam-packed programme of activities. That included walks through the vast vineyards and visiting the château to take in a fascinating presentation by Paul about what growing grapes involves and how wine production has changed over the years. Plus, of course, the obligatory wine tasting as well. We visited the fortress city of Carcassonne, experienced the silence in Father Theo’s church and enjoyed mouth-watering meals from Omar in restaurant L’Oasis every evening. After dinner, there was always a fun activity: bingo, a pub quiz, karaoke and – why not – another wine tasting. There were opportunities for sports, dancing and of course lazing about the swimming pools and jacuzzis at the wine villas. But the students also worked hard in groups to complete the event week assignment: to come up with a workable communication/marketing plan for Paul, in order to strengthen the link between wine production at the château and the wine villas as rental properties. Paul was impressed by the final presentations and the creative input from the students. He plans to put their ideas into practice soon!

For those interested in tasting Château de l’Horte’s wines themselves, they are available in Plus and Jumbo supermarkets. •

Party time with karaoke!