A Hospitality Management Service Learning programme has received a thumbs-up from the City of Cape Town.

The programme, a collaboration between CPUT and the City, sees Hospitality Management students train owners of Bed and Breakfast(B&B) establishments, in a bid to improve service delivery in the local tourism industry.

The initiative, which is in its third year, has proved to be such a success that the City is now urging CPUT to roll out a large-scale Service Learning programme in order to train more B&B staff members.

LEARNING: Students show participants how to properly set up a table for a meal

“This programme should be taken to new heights,” said Manager of Local Area Tourism Development, Mthetheleli Hugo.

The programme currently runs over a week at the Hotel School in Granger Bay and has a limited number of participants. However, Hugo said he would like the programme to run over three weeks a year and see more people participate.

“In this business, there is money to be made. But you can’t do this if you don’t have passion for people or the skills to present your product,” he said.

During the week stint, owners attended several practical and theoretical workshops, organised by second-year Hospitality Management students. The workshops covered areas such as food preparation, accommodation and beverage management.

Natasha St Clair, owner of Bonani B&B in Thornton, said the programme was excellent and she will be able to implement what she learnt in the daily operations of her business.

SKILLS: A student casts a watchful eye over a participant during a cooking lesson

But it was not only the B&B owners that benefitted from this programme.

Student Gian Devey said the programme allowed students to interact with individuals in the industry, who in turn shared their knowledge.

Head of Department at the Hotel School, Rianne Voigt said they are looking forward to running the programme in 2012 and extend the training to more individuals.

By Candes Keating

Photos by Shawn Uys

Written by CPUT News
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The Hospitality Management students who excelled academically in 2017 walked away with a total of R1 478 100 in bursaries, vouchers and prizes during the Hotel School Awards.

The glitzy ceremony was held at the Cape Town Hotel School this week and saw the school’s academic giants bagging bursaries to the value of R1 445 550, as well as R32 550 in vouchers for books and weekend getaways at local hotels.

The bursaries are funded by successful establishments in the industry including Tsogo Sun Hotels, Cape Liquor and Catering Trade Educational Trust as well as Protea Hotels by Marriot.

Thembisile Molose, the hotel school’s director, said the monetary value of the bursaries is a vote of confidence in the school’s work by industry captains and expressed his gratitude to the school’s advisory board.

Prof Paul Green, Dean of Faculty of Business and Management Sciences, said other departments should take a leaf from the school’s management and learn how to attract such financial and other support from industry.

The biggest winner of the evening was a third-year student, Jonathan Prithiviraj, who was awarded a scholarship to study abroad.

Jonathan clinched the very prestigious University College Birmingham Scholarship to complete his fourth year of study at the college in Birmingham. Valued at approximately R350 000, the scholarship is awarded to the best academic student that can succeed in the overseas environment.

Jonathan will commence his studies in Birmingham in September and he says he is nervous and excited about his upcoming stay overseas.

“I hope to learn and develop personal skills,” he said.

He added that since hearing about the scholarship during his first year, it had been a goal that he had been aiming to achieve.

“I was Head Student Representative for three years, which I used as a stepping stone to craft my leadership skills as I worked as liaison between the lecturers and staff,” he said. “I always gave 100% of what I could in whatever I did.”

The school’s alumnus Prince Chirwa, who is now Guest Experience Manager at the Twelve Apostles Hotel, advised the students to be alert to the opportunities presented to them by the industry and make most of them.

Written by Kwanele Butana
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