The year 2009 brought a spirit of celebration for the ten year anniversary of the founding of IHM. On July 28, 1999, based on the positive resolution reached by the accreditation commission, the Czech Ministry of Education awarded state permission for the establishment of the school. IHM became one of the first three private universities accredited under the new laws regarding tertiary education, and one of the first private Czech universities to offer an accredited program in Hotel Management. IHM began instruction in the 1999/2000 academic year.

Ten years later, the school has more than 2,500 students in bachelor’s and integrated master’s programs, as well as MBA and pedagogical programs for professional subjects in the field of hotels, gastronomy and tourism. So far more than 3,000 students have successfully graduated from the school.

In the fall of last year, the IHM administration decided that in 2009 the school would celebrate ten years of its existence. Preparations for the celebration began at the start of this year when individuals were assigned to be responsible for each event. The main persons in charge were Ing. Pavel Attl, Ph.D, Chief Executive Officer at IHM, and Ing. Jan Nosek, Director of Operations at IHM.

Some of the main celebratory events were:

March: 

• 31.3.2009 - press conference for the 10th anniversary of IHM held in the Hotel Esplanade in Prague. 
  Person in charge: PhDr. Jaroslav Holoubek
• Presentation of the new internet web site (www.vsh.cz), developed in cooperation with the company Neofema.
  Person in charge: IHM administration

April:

• Publication of a special monothematic edition of the IHM journal for research and information, Czech Hospitality and Tourism Papers – Hotel, Spa, and Tourism Industries, which was dedicated to 10 years of activities at IHM. The edition was published in April 2009. Contents and article abstracts can be found at www.vsh.cz/chtp
  Person in charge: prof. Ing. Lenka Pražská, CSc.

May:

• Organization of the virtual international research conference on 10 years of private universities in the Czech Republic. A list of events can be found here.
  Person in charge: Ing. Jan Chromý, Ph.D.

September:

• Publication of the IHM Almanac 1999-2000, mapping ten years of history at IHM.
  Person in charge: PhDr. Jaroslav Holoubek

October:

• Organization of the 10 year reunion for graduates of IHM which took place at the symbolic time of 10:00 a.m. on 10.10.2009 on the IHM campus.
  Person in charge: RNDr. Jan Žufan, Ph.D., MBA
• Publication of the collection of peer-reviewed articles from the IHM conference.
  Person in charge: Ing. Petr Studnička
• 22.10.2009 - Organization of the international conference on Hospitality, Tourism, and Education Today and Tomorrow on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of IHM at the Hotel Ambassador in Prague
  Person in charge: prof. Ing. Jiří Jindra, CSc.

Thanks to the IHM employees, members of the Partners‘ Club, and the many other people who worked together on these events, the planning and implementation of the whole project was a success.

If you did not have the chance to participate in some of the events and are interested in further information, please contact the person in charge of the event.

For those who are interested, the IHM Almanac 1999-2000 can still be purchased for 99 Czech crowns in the IHM study room.

Finally, we would like to thank all the organizers, school partners and participants for their cooperation in arranging the 10 year anniversary of the Institute of Hospitality Management in Prague.