CDU expands hospitality offerings by acquiring ICHM

Charles Darwin University has acquired the Adelaide-based International College of Hotel Management (ICHM) from the founding Lipman family.

ICHM’s Chief Executive, Mr Gerald Lipman said he was delighted with the development.

“While ICHM has been growing as a private provider, ownership by a university of CDU’s stature will help tremendously going forward. CDU will provide ICHM with enhanced engagement in higher education, continuity and the potential for growth and development in its educational offerings,” Mr Lipman said.

The Vice-Chancellor of CDU, Professor Simon Maddocks, said he welcomed the addition of ICHM to the university, which currently comprised 11 campuses and centres located across the Northern Territory and in Sydney and Melbourne.

“We are delighted that ICHM has joined our operations,” Professor Maddocks said.

“ICHM has a great reputation within the tourism and hospitality industry, which is a sector that is important not only in the Northern Territory, but also in the greater Australasian region that the university serves.”

He said ICHM would continue to function under its current management and all existing staff would remain including Mr Lipman, who would continue in his role as Chief Executive. CDU would have representation on ICHM’s College Council and Academic Board.

“CDU’s strengths in hospitality and tourism mean we have obvious synergies with ICHM, and our online capacity in business and management programs add new opportunities to develop capability for these sectors,” Professor Maddocks said.

ICHM is one of the leading hotel schools in Australia, and has graduated more than 2000 students from 88 countries. It is a Swiss Hotel Association affiliated school with links to the oldest Swiss hotel school, Ecole hotelier de Lausanne.

Established in 1992 by the late Rex Lipman in partnership with the South Australian Government, ICHM operates independently, with a long-term lease over facilities at its Regency Park campus located 8km north-west of Adelaide. ICHM has been managed by Gerald Lipman since 1998.

CDU, which has its headquarters in Darwin, retained its position among the world’s top 300 universities in Times Higher Education’s 2016 World University Rankings. Times Higher Education also placed CDU in joint 31st position in its 2016 rankings of the best 150 universities in the world aged less than 50 years.