STUDENT SENATE

The Student Senate is made up of IHM students seeking to enrich student life with their thoughts, ideas and events and to also participate in creating a pleasant environment for the learning and personal development of all students.

The Student Senate, as we know it today, was formed about three years ago. After a successful first year, the main leaders of the Senate gave up their roles to their young, promising colleagues. In the second year of operation, the Student Senate continued working, organized and co-organized several lectures and arranged internships for IHM students, and cooperated with senior management at the school. Now in its third year of operation, the Student Senate continues to develop and introduce new ideas.

What we, as the Student Senate, have accomplished so far:

Gourmet club

We have established a traditional Gourmet club on the IHM campus. The original "Gourmand’s club" in the 2010/2011 academic year was renamed the "Gourmet club", and is held every semester in the culinary classroom. A certain theme is declared, and a variety of dishes and drinks from all over the world are prepared. We have had topics such as: preparation of salmon, Japanese cuisine, and many others. The Gourmet club is designed to give its members a chance to prepare various dishes themselves, eat well, drink good wine and sit with friends.

Interest in the continuous improvement of meals in the school restaurant

Since its inception, the Student Senate has sought to systematically improve and enrich the catering possibilities for students in the school restaurant, study room and bar. The Student Senate takes action based on the requests and comments of students and works with the heads of the gastronomic unit of the school. The Student Senate would also like to thank the leadership of the gastronomic unit for their effort and willingness to make necessary changes.

Changes that have been made:

Salads (everyone can now order salads in addition to the two ready-made meals and one quick dish already on the menu. Don’t hesitate to take this opportunity to have something healthy! Please always order salads at least one day ahead.)
Baguettes (new kinds of baguettes, a larger selection of pastries, light or dark bread, etc.)
Kaiser rolls (newly introduced last academic year and very popular among students)
Coffee to go (we have also introduced coffee in "to-go" cups, which you can take with you to a lecture for example)
Pastry (with coffee or just as a snack, various sweets such as donuts, etc. have been prepared for you)
Specials at the bar in the school restaurant (occasionally offered specialties such as sushi, etc.)
Baked toast (also since last year is the possibility to choose from an offer of toasts with melted cheese, ham and ketchup)
The possibility to now add credit to the lunch card starting at CZK 200 (instead of the original CZK 500)

Excursions

Each year the Student Senate organizes several interesting excursions for the students of IHM. In the past, it was an interesting trip to the Prague airport, which because of its popularity was certainly not the last. In addition, the Student Senate has helped with the promotion and co-organization of various trips and other excursions. Each year, the IHM students take a field trip to Lake Geneva in Switzerland to visit the famous hotel school in Lausanne and the luxury five-star Swiss hotel RoyAlp. The program also includes trips to chocolate factories, wine and cheese tastings, and much more. Students may also participate in all kinds of excursions in the Czech Republic. During this academic year, with the Department of Tourism, we visited the Spa Triangle (Karlsbad, Marienbad and Franzenbad), and ski trips to the mountains, etc. have also been organized.

Lectures

Each year on the IHM campus, we organize or co-organize a number of interesting presentations by those working in the field. We have already had a very interesting visit, "The Magic of Helena", where we talked about fashion trends, proper attire in the hotel industry, how to combine colors, tie a tie, how to choose the right glasses, and how to choose a men’s suit. We have also had several presentations from managers of hotels who spoke about their careers. In the future we would like to form a traditional lecture-based managers’ club, where we regularly invite successful managers to the school to share with us their experiences and the ways they moved up in their careers.

A phenomenal student party!

Several times a year we organize grand parties for students, which are very popular. A number of such parties have already taken place at clubs such as Tat Bar, Techtle Mechtle, La Fuente and Phenomenon. The whole club is always reserved just for us, offering all kinds of drinks, snacks, well-known DJs, theme events, presenters, gifts, a free welcome drink for the first few arrivals and much more. Thank you for your participation!

Involvement of the Student Senate with the Council of Higher Education Institutions of the Czech Republic

Since 2010 the Student Senate has also been actively involved in SK RVŠ (Council of Higher Education Institutions). They represent IHM in the hotel section of private schools and on the commission for socio-economic issues.

IHM Student Senate and the Czech Student Union

Our Student Senate has also become a member of the Czech Student Union, which represents and brings together students of Czech universities. The IHM Student Senate has attended conferences in Ostrava and Mladá Boleslav.

Looking for work?

Watch the bulletin boards and Internet sites where the Student Senate regularly updates a range of employment opportunities, volunteer work and opportunities for study or training abroad. Some of you found jobs this way last year. Our motto: "Try with your thoughts, ideas and actions to enrich and enhance student life, create a pleasant learning environment, and represent IHM well among students."

Contact us

Our vision is to create a Student Senate working together with the body of people who are not indifferent to their school and who wish to participate in its steady growth. We welcome anyone who would like to help us in our efforts. If you have any ideas for improvement, or articles for the magazine, we would be pleased if you would share them, either by sending an e-mail to: senat@vsh.cz or by dropping a note with ideas and suggestions in the Student Senate mailbox, located opposite the building manager’s office on the ground floor.

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