International Culinary Studio, a leading New Zealand online culinary school, has become the first educator in the country to offer Global Hospitality Certification. The new global skills framework allows those in hospitality to gain professional recognition for their skills and experience against an international benchmark, in the form of a digital badge.
Created by City & Guilds in partnership with Worldchefs and employers, Global Hospitality Certification is believed to be the first and only professional hospitality skills framework in the world. Certification is available at key career stages across four main areas within hospitality: Food and Beverage, Front of House, House Keeping and Culinary Arts.
Certification is achieved through the issuing of digital badges, which provide a secure way to showcase achievements online, using social media. They can be used by employers to reward hard-working staff, retain talent and even recruit better – as they are given an instant online view of the skills and experience of people applying for jobs. From the individual’s perspective, they can make their skills visible and accessible, opening up new opportunities for work and personal growth.
International Culinary Studio has had a number of its training programmes mapped to the digital badges, including the Commis Chef and Chef de Partie digital certificates. These can be accessed by Kiwi students studying the New Zealand Certificate in Cookery Level 4 (for the Commis Chef digital badge) and the New Zealand Advanced Diploma in Cookery/Patisserie Level 5 (Chef de Partie digital badge).
The school is also able to offer digital badges to international students studying offshore, including those taking their Certificate in Professional Cookery (Commis Chef digital badge) and those taking the school’s Diploma in Professional Cookery (for a Chef de Partie digital badge).
Cheryl Cordier, founder of International Culinary Studio said:
“We are the only private education provider with approval for Global Hospitality Certification in New Zealand and the only online culinary provider that has that approval globally for two programmes – so it is hugely exciting. We are delighted to be able to provide students both in New Zealand and overseas with these prestigious digital badges. The badges can be shared online and via social media, allowing potential employers to click through and access rich data on what has been done to achieve it. We can also fast-track those already in the industry with RPL (Recognition for Prior Learning), providing them with a valuable professional development tool, ” says Cheryl Cordier, founder of International Culinary Studio.
“The hospitality industry has struggled with attracting and retaining high-quality, experienced employees – and that is often to do with negative perceptions around career development opportunities. It is fantastic to see innovations like these digital badges, which celebrate the skills and experience of those in the industry, as well as giving people a clearer view of the many pathways that they can take with a career in hospitality. We can’t wait to start awarding them to our students. We’ve had significant interest from some of the larger hotel groups and other hospitality employers as well, which is very encouraging.”
The digital badges from International Culinary Studio are stamped with the International Culinary Studio logo, along with the City & Guilds and Worldchefs logos. Each one states what the individual has achieved (for example, Certified Chef de Partie).
Worldchefs is a global network of chefs associations first founded in October 1928 at the Sorbonne in Paris. Today, this global body has over 90 official member chefs associations that represent 10 million professionals worldwide.
Founded in 1878, City & Guilds is a world leader in designing qualifications, work-based learning and innovative skills solutions that build competency to create better prospects for people, organisations and wider society.
A proudly New Zealand based culinary school, International Culinary Studio is the first blended learning culinary school to offer professional qualifications online to New Zealand students. From their kitchens at home, school or working in culinary arts.
International Culinary Studio allows students to complete their studies using a world leading learning platform which can be translated into over 104 languages, including Te Reo Māori.
