Centennial College hospitality programs earn two national SMART accreditations
TORONTO, May 10, 2017 /CNW/ - Centennial College is among the first colleges and universities in Canada to receive Tourism HR Canada's SMART accreditation – and the only one to have two programs recognized for demonstrating tourism-related programming that exceeds industry standards.
Centennial College's Hospitality – Hotel Operations Management two-year diploma program and its Hospitality and Tourism Administration three-year advanced diploma program have been honoured with the organization's SMART + Premium status, which means the programs exceed basic tourism industry standards.
The SMART Accreditation Program aims to provide an opportunity for post-secondary public or private institutions and corporate training providers to demonstrate that their programming meets or exceeds industry standards, but also provides benchmarks that tourism educators can use to assist them in continually improving their programs.
"There is a well documented skills shortage in the Canadian tourism industry. Tourism HR Canada is an innovative leader in providing informed labour market data critical to understand the workforce needs of the expansive tourism industry," says Joe Baker, Dean of Centennial's School of Hospitality, Tourism and Culinary Arts. "To be accredited by this organization is to demonstrate to the country and the world that Centennial College is preparing our graduates for flourishing careers in any of the sectors of this industry – locally and abroad."
Tourism in Canada is an $88.5-billion industry employing more than 1.7 million people, including over 500,000 youth. Tourism HR Canada works to improve the quality and mobility of the tourism workforce, and supply tourism businesses with the labour market intelligence they need to plan for and overcome their current and future human resource challenges.
Centennial's reinvented School of Hospitality, Tourism and Culinary Arts boasts a striking new 350,000-square-foot teaching facility at Progress Campus, incorporating eight classrooms, three culinary arts labs, two baking and pastry arts labs and a beverage tasting room. The school has also designed an experiential learning ecosystem comprised of four unique components: a 90-seat restaurant, a quick-service cafe, a 20,000-square-foot event centre and four hotel-style guest rooms.
SOURCE Centennial College
Media contact: Suzanne Caskie, Manager - Recruitment, Retention and Academic Operations, School of Hospitality, Tourism and Culinary Arts, 416-289-5000, ext. 3360, [email protected]
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