This was announced on Wednesday at the its anniversary celebrations, which also unveiled a new logo.

Half of that money will go towards new premises, which is expected to be ready by 2011. A site has yet to be found.

The other half will go towards revamping the curriculum, securing intellectual property rights for their curriculum, funding scholarly and research endeavours, and staff enrichment.

The current three colleges have been rebranded as six specialised institutes: Leisure and Tourism, Restaurants and Bars, Wine and Spirits, Lodging, Culinary Arts and Pastry and Baking.

When the new curriculum starts in January, each institute will offer more targetted and niche programmes taught by industry specialists.

About 40 per cent of the modules - courses like restaurant showmanship and banquet operations - have become outdated ad will be replaced by new ones such as event management, wine tasting and arts appreciation.

A seventh new institute, the Centre for Hosting - said to be the first here - will be added, and will become the cornerstone of the Shatec experience, said its chief executive Dr Steven Chua.

A mandatory part of every Shatec's student education, it will teach them hosting skills, guest communication, and cultivate in them refined tastes in classical music and luxury labels.

The hope is that they cultivate people-oriented students who not only hold such skills but are instinctively caring about guests.

'To be a thriving tourism hub we need to be distinguished through our people. So let's tackle and understand what's lacking and fill roles besides those that need specialised skills,' said Dr Chua.

This holistic approach is what Dr Chua is banking on as Shatec's competitive edge in an increasingly crowded market.

While Shatec was the sole institute of its kind for many years, ITEs and polytechnics in recent years have started offering hospitality and tourism courses.

Shatec is in the process of raising the $70 million. Dr Chua said that funds will most probably come from the Singapore Hotel Association, the parent organisation for the school, and its members. The rest would come from bank loans, and 'maybe even an IPO'.

School fees will likely to go up because of increasing costs. The last fee hike early this year was about 10 per cent.