Education in Les Roches and flying Boeing

Irecently met with Mano Soler, a family friend from Malaga, Spain. Mano visited Manila to recruit qualified students to the famed Les Roches International School of Hotel Management where he is director. Les Roches is originally based in Switzerland but has a campus in Marbella, Spain. Mano heads the Marbella campus. Older Filipinos will recognize the school by its original name, École des Roches.

Experience has made me a believer in foreign education. After high school, I sent my daughter to the Universidad de Navarra in Spain where she took International Relations and Diplomacy. What the experience did for her confidence, outlook and independence is something that cannot be gained in local schools. I highly recommend it for those able to send their kids abroad.

Les Roches in Marbella follows the renowned Swiss curriculum. It offers a wide range of Bachelors, Master and Postgraduate degrees. The courses range from hospitality management, to entrepreneurship, to marketing & management of luxury tourism, to sports & events management, among many others. Les Roches is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE), the same accreditation exclusively obtained by ivy league universities.

The mode of instruction is English and Spanish/ French; German and Mandarin are offered as second languages. The student body of 1,100 students is composed of 96 nationalities, ten of whom are Filipino. Exposure to different nationalities is a vital part of the learning experience.

The Malaga campus is a full immersion experience where students study, work and live in the campus. The school is built like a village with numerous hotels and restaurants within. Tuition fees are approximately 140,000 euros per year for an undergraduate course and 30,000 euros for master’s degrees.

During the course, Les Roches offers internship programs in prestigious institutions across 150 countries. The students get to choose the establishment and city in which to fulfill their internship program, based on their interests and specialities.

Les Roche boast a hiring rate of 97 percent after graduation. Every year, some 100 hospitality companies from around the world come to the campus to recruit the graduating class. Les Roches graduates are paid a premium compared to others, hence, graduates are able recoup their tuition fees in as early as 24 months. Graduates are hired not only by hotels but also by luxury brands and consumer goods. After all, any industry that interfaces directly with customers involves hospitality.

Those interested to know more about the Les Roches program can email my friend, Mano Soler at jsoler@lesroches.es. For more information, log-on to www.lesroches.edu

* * * Philippine Airlines recently made an order for nine Airbus A350-1000 aircraft to replace its ageing fleet of Boeing 777s. I am happy that PAL chose Airbus.

Boeing is no longer the reliable aircraft manufacturer it used to be. Product defects are alarmingly common, particularly on the 787 Dreamliner and the 737 Max.

We recall the Lion Air crash of October 2019 where 189 people perished. We also recall the Ethiopian Airline crash just five months later where 157 people died. Both incidents involved brand new 737-Max aircraft. The investigation showed the cause of both crashes to be a new software called the MCAS or Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System.

Note that before it was determined that MCAS was the cause of both crashes, Boeing executives tried to pin the blame on Indonesian and Ethiopian pilots. Official transcripts quoted Boeing executives calling the pilots “stupid” and saying that American pilots would never make the same mistakes.

The MCAS system is meant to solve imbalances in the aircraft brought about by the use of heavier engines installed further forward on the wing. Boeing concealed the MCAS system, making it a mere footnote in its operations manual. They did this apparently to avoid having to retrain pilots. The absence of the training requirement allowed Boeing to sell the aircraft faster.

But the MCAS changed the behavior of the plane, forcing it to nosedive in certain conditions. Pilots were not trained to deal with such a situation.

Boeing’s quality problems remain prevalent today. Last January, an Alaskan Airlines’ door panel blew off midflight. It was found that Boeing failed to install four bolts on the door.

A few weeks ago, a United Airlines Boeing 777 made an emergency landing after suffering a mid-air hydraulic leak.

And let us not forget the Air Nippon 787 whose battery mysteriously caught fire and another 787 randomly bursting into flames in Boston’s airport back in 2013.

The Federal Aviation Administration of America revealed that Boeing failed 33 out of 89 quality control checkpoints in its safety audit. This is unacceptable for an aircraft manufacturer in whose quality our lives depend.

Last March 10, John Barnette, a quality control officer of Boeing turned whistle-blower, was set to testify before an investigative committee. He was found dead in his car in what appeared to be a suicide the night before he was scheduled to testify. Ongoing investigations will determine if foul play was involved.

As a result of the series of mishaps, Boeing is undergoing a management shakeup. CEO David Calhoun will step down at the end of the year. The president and CEO of Boeing’s commercial airplanes unit Stan Deal will retire immediately, while board chairman Lawrence Kellner said he will not seek reelection in May.

Until Boeing gets its act together, we will all do well to avoid traveling on Boeing airplanes. * * * Email: andrew_rs6@yahoo.com. Follow him on Twitter @aj_masigan