Founder says ATI College owes its success to former tourism minister Bernard Dompok
It was a poignant moment for Wong Khen Thau, the founder of ATI College at its 26th convocation on February 29 at the Magellan Sutera Resort in Kota Kinabalu. Twenty-eight years ago, the hotel industry didn’t think much of his tourism school founded in 1996 which was offering short courses in food and beverage, housekeeping and front office operations. But one man had faith in him: Bernard Dompok, then Sabah tourism minister. His instinct as a trained property valuer told him Mr Wong would succeed. He despatched the first batch of 40 government sponsored students to the Asian Tourism Institute as it was then known. From that small start, the ATI College has produced more than 12,000 skilled workers for the hotel industry.
And so it was no surprise that Mr Dompok was the guest of honour at the college’s convocation which saw 250 graduates receiving their scrolls. Among them were 20 handicapped students. Thirteen of them are from the Cheshire Home. The rest are from the welfare department.
“I’ve always believed that we should show gratitude to the people who have helped us,” Mr Wong said, adding that his school might not have succeeded if not for Mr Dompok. By inviting Mr Dompok as its most important guest, Mr Wong said his college was breaking with the convention of inviting state ministers to grace his college convocations. “We should recognise those who have been working with us from the very beginning,” Mr Wong said, adding, “In future you will see more and more of these people being invited as our guests of honour.”
This change heralds the beginning of a new era for ATI College which aims to become a university college. It is partnering China’s Beijing Future Society Technology Company Limited in offering artificial intelligence courses believing that “digitalization is the way forward” which was the motto of its convocation. ATI College plans to conduct master degree courses for Miri’s Curtin University Malaysia. Details are not available yet.
This year’s best student is Iman Maryam who wins the principal award. Students take either a two-year diploma course covering eight areas of tourism, hotel management, business management and accountancy or the one-and-a-half year certificate courses that equip them with skills of the trade.
Sabah Insights 