ESHT Estoril: demand exceeds supply and employment rate is around 96 percent

An intense week at the Estoril Higher School of Hotel and Tourism facilities – distinguished for the second consecutive year with the award for Best Training in the sector – proved the high market interest in a scenario of almost full employment for students.

There were intense days at the Estoril Higher School of Hotel and Tourism facilities, between the 19th and 23rd of February, with several initiatives that prove the preparation of students for the challenges of the future and the high market interest in students trained at ESHTE, which has an employability rate of 95.9% and creates a scenario of almost full employment for the institution’s students, distinguished for the second consecutive year with the award for Best Training in Tourism at the Portugal Trade Awards by Publituris.

The ESHTE Internships and Careers Forum brought together 82 entities representing the sector and strengthened the link between academia and the job market. «The Forum began with a request from us to companies and, at the moment, we are already in the opposite position, that is, we have difficulty accepting everyone who wants to come here. In recent years, even more strongly, the business demand for ESHTE students is clearly higher than the supply», highlights the institution’s president, Carlos Brandão, in an analysis shared by João Pronto, assistant professor and internship coordinator at the institution.

“We don’t need to say where we want our students to go. I’ve been here since 1996 and I don’t remember having a student who hasn’t at least done an internship. It never happened”, adds João Pronto.

The presence of a considerable number of alumni from the Escola Superior de Hotelaria e Turismo do Estoril at the Internships and Careers Forum, representing a wide variety of companies, highlights the lasting impact of the training offered by the institution. On the other hand, the growing demand from abroad for recent graduates justifies deep reflection in Portugal.

“We were the first higher education institution dedicated exclusively to tourism in Portugal and ESHTE was created precisely out of a need to respond to higher-level qualifications for the tourism area. It is part of our strategy to always adapt to what the market needs, to new trends. There is a great demand for our students, but especially in the post-COVID period, there is some reluctance among these young people to stay in our country”, warns President Carlos Brandão.

Internships are a mandatory discipline at the educational institution, allowing direct interaction between students and the sector, before definitive entry into the job market. Seeking to dispel any doubts in the community, the institution promoted clarification sessions over the last few days.

After two sessions on curricular internships, the Mobilities and International Relations Office organized an ERASMUS+ information session for the entire community, with the collaboration of representatives from the Erasmus National Agency and the Erasmus Student Network Lisbon.

Past, present and future in the student training process

Between internship and career plans, ESHTE provides students with knowledge about the past and the future, essential for students’ full training. Last week, International Interpreter Guide Day was marked with a round table with the theme “The Carnation Revolution – changes in the practice of interpreter guides”.

With eyes set on the future, which in reality is already present, a seminar was held entitled “Robotics in Hospitality: will we be replaced by robots?”, organized by the Association of Hotel Directors of Portugal (ADHP Júnior), in collaboration with the Estoril Higher School of Hotel and Tourism.

“We always strive for this ambivalence: not only the academic world but also its materialization in terms of skills, which our students take to the job market. That’s why we have had this demand, and as such, we hardly respond to what the players ask of us”, highlights Pedro Moita, pro-president of ESHTE for the IT area.

Still, in the wake of an intense week, the institution does not slow down and moves forward to new fronts, such as opening registrations for master’s degrees. “We have new designs for master’s degrees, new designations, new content, very attractive. It was a very thoughtful change and we are going to make everyone feel that they can have here, in the second cycle, an excellent complement to the degrees”, concludes President Carlos Brandão.

About the Estoril Higher School of Hotel and Tourism:

Created in 1991, ESHTE is a Public Polytechnic Higher Education Institution, supervised by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education. The Statutes reaffirm its nature as a non-integrated polytechnic school and grant it responsibilities in the sense of creating, transmitting and disseminating knowledge related to the exercise of highly qualified professional activities, in the areas of Tourism, Hospitality and Catering.

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