Hospitality and Tourism Recovery Training Programme announced

A Hospitality and Tourism Recovery Programme opened, designed to use a skills-led approach in supporting managers in the industry as they move through the pandemic restrictions into recovery ahead.

Management and staff across the Hospitality and Tourism sector have been under huge strain, as the industry has dealt with lockdowns and been unable to resume full operations for the past year.

Funded by the Department for the Economy and delivered in partnership across the six Further Education Colleges in Northern Ireland, the free programme will help address the key challenges this sector faces, as identified by industry representatives,. The bespoke training is aimed at Hospitality and Tourism industry managers and technical specialists of all levels, with an Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) / Chartered Management Institute (CMI) Level 3 accredited qualification also on offer to eligible businesses.

Elaine Flynn, Commercial Contract Manager at SERC said, “The series of masterclasses is designed to meet the needs of the sector and will be delivered online in partnership across all six FE Colleges and will be fully contextualised, bite-size learning sessions."

Starting in May, the Technical Skills Series of masterclasses promote skills development in areas such as AR and VR Technologies (6 May), and Podcasting for the Tourism industry (3 June), as well as interactive specialist masterclasses in Butchery (10 May), Baking and Patisserie (12 May) Cocktail Making (19 May), Poultry (20 May) and Chocolatier Workshop (27 May) – the latter two delivered by SERC.

Supporting this initiative is the delivery of an ILM/CMI Level 3 Award in Leadership and Management that will have a specific focus on the required skills to boost recovery, as identified by sector representatives within the Hospitality and Tourism industry. The ILM/CMI Level 3 Leadership and Management courses will be available across all NI Colleges from April – June, commencing at SERC on 1 June,  running on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9.00am – 12.30pm, for 4 weeks.

Managers of all levels are encouraged to choose from the menu of free virtual support programmes on offer. Visit www.serc.ac.uk/business-services.

Caption: SERC Hospitality & Catering Lecturer, Ruth Doherty, who will host a Chocolatier Workshop on 27 May, part of a series of free Management webinars and Technical masterclasses being delivered across all six FE Colleges, funded by the Department for Economy, to support the tourism and hospitality sector. Visit www.serc.ac.uk/business-services for full details or contact dscott@serc.ac.uk to book.