Strong partners in the Tourism Industry: ERSTE Group became official MU Gold sponsor

While some are discussing the need for new education offensives others are becoming active, particularly when it concerns such strong business partnerships as ERSTE Group and MODUL University Vienna. ERSTE Group will finance a total of 20 scholarships for employees of international partner companies. This week Rupert Dollinger, ERSTE Group’s HR Group Head, accepted the university’s official “Gold Sponsor” plaque, handed over by Alexander Bari (Business Development, MODUL University Vienna).

Christian Hoffmann, Managing Director of MODUL University Vienna, welcomes the strengthening of the partnership with ERSTE Group: “we look forward to being able to consolidate the cooperation with our partner in the long term. In our opinion through this initiative ERSTE Group is taking on a leading role, and with it the huge need for highly qualified senior management in the Tourism economy will be recognized. The times where a simply practical knowledge of tourism is enough are over. With respect to their peers in other fields the qualifications of today’s tourism managers are second to none.

This year the four people who received the scholarship all come from Croatia and are all, in a broader sense, employed in the tourism industry: Dario Kinkela (Hotel Manager of the Valamar Club Tamaris), Marija Sangulin (General Manager of Sangulin Tours), Magdalena Supan (Assistant Resident Manager of Hotel Baska) and Marija Tustonjic (Senior Account Manager/ Corporate Division of Erste Bank in Zagreb). “I am very satisfied with the quality, the intensity and the flexibility of the MBA study program at MODUL University Vienna. All the professors show internationally relevant teaching experience, which can be seen in the interactive structure of the seminars, the promotion of teamwork and the up-to-date teaching material, as well as the diverse case studies”, said Dario Kinkela, scholarship holder and Hotel Manager of the Valamar Club Tamaris.

The choice of who will receive the scholarships is a strategic decision. For ERSTE Group, an important finance partner of many Croatian tourism projects, it stands to reason to financially support the further education of employees of Croatian partner companies. Rupert Dollinger: “Tourism accounts for around one fifth of the GDP in Croatia and for this reason we are giving this sector of the economy a high priority. Key senior management members of our investment partners, who need to have a high degree of social expertise, a strategic understanding of complex tourism problems as well as strong business management know how, will gain the ideal ammunition to successfully face the dynamics of today’s tourism industry.”