Cultural diversity on menu for Hospitality

Cultural diversity on menu for Hospitality conference

The National Food and Beverage Tutors’ Conference to be held at UCOL this month is perfectly timed to coincide with Palmerston North’s Festival of Cultures.

The conference has cultural diversity in hospitality as a theme so organiser Sharon Mann says the timing couldn’t be better.

“This year the Palmerston North Festival will include a Taste of Culture Cuisine Show on Sunday 28 March. We intend to use that and other aspects to highlight what the region has to offer in hospitality.”

Thirty delegates from polytechnics and private providers from all over New Zealand will attend the three day conference which will also focus on on-line learning in hospitality education.

The conference will include a live conference link with an expert from the UK, Dave Sugden, who was a chef lecturer before moving into web technology and the development of e-learning materials. UCOL’s own eLearning advisor Kevin Brennan will deliver a session on how the use of hand-held devices, including Smart Phones and video recorders, has proved to be popular with learners.

Sharon says using educational technology plays an important role in hospitality education. “For example, the use of cameras and wide screens can show the detail of a chopping technique being demonstrated by a chef lecturer.”

Professional Cookery and Hospitality programmes offered by UCOL’s School of Tourism, Hospitality and Continuing Education have been popular with students this year, with waiting lists for most programmes.

The school has a national reputation: Palmerston North UCOL’s team won Gold Medals in both the kitchen and the restaurant event in the Toque d’Or competition at last year’s National Culinary Fare in Auckland.

ENDS

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