American Educator to Lead Laureate College of Tourism & Hospitality in Saudi Arabia
01 February 2014
Robert Garlough’s goal is for graduates to become a source of intense pride to the Middle-Eastern kingdom’s foodservice and business communities and the college’s programs to be respected worldwide.
Laureate International Universities (LIU) announces longtime hospitality educator Robert Garlough, MS, HGT, has been appointed founding executive director of the new Laureate Tourism & Hospitality College of Excellence in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He was most recently president of The Culinary Group, a consulting firm to the foodservice and culinary-education community. Prior to that, Garlough served as the founding program director for the Hospitality Education Department (renamed the Secchia Institute for Culinary Education) at Grand Rapids Community College, where he worked for more than 30 years.
Garlough assumes his position during a time of great expansion and investment by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which has instituted a multi-billion-dollar plan to build and operate “Colleges of Excellence” for Saudis seeking vocational-technical educations in a variety of skill areas. The KSA is embarking on one of the largest vocational and technical education reforms in the world, increasing its capacity from currently 110,000 students to more than 400,000 students by 2020.
A multi-stage tender process has been launched to select the best training providers for setting up and operating 26 new colleges in the kingdom. These colleges will be independently run by international providers and regulated, funded and overseen by the Colleges of Excellence Corporation on behalf of the Saudi government. New college buildings are provided, built with state-of-the-art designs and providing space for up to 2,000 students.
In his role as founding executive director, Garlough’s responsibilities will be comprehensive and far-reaching. He will preside over all aspects of the new college, including facilities, curriculum, staffing, community relations, job placement and financial management. The Riyadh-based college, operated by LIU subsidiary Laureate Vocational Saudi Arabia, is currently under construction and teaching foundation courses in English, mathematics and computers to the initial cohort of students. It will be the first institution in the country to offer vocational-technical education programs in business administration and tourism & hospitality. Initial plans call for the college to offer two-year certificates and three-year diplomas in a dozen related majors. Other internationally based providers will likely offer similar programs in the future.
In regards to his new responsibilities, Garlough said, “I’m thrilled to be on the ground floor of such an exciting educational movement, and my goals for the college are clear: I want our graduates to become a source of intense pride to the country’s foodservice and business communities, for our faculty to be among the very best in the Middle East, and for our programs to be respected worldwide. My plan is to help the Saudis establish their culinary identity on the global stage.”