The Big Reveal: CTIA's New Training Programme Rollout
SA Chefs Training and Innovation Academy Announces New Training Strategy
Situated in Centurion Mall, Centurion, the reasonably new SA Chefs Training and Innovation Academy (CTIA), had reassessed their training strategy and courses on offer and had decided to realign all their training to what is realistically expected and required by the hospitality industry presently. Not only will present training be industry-specific realigned, but CTIA is in the process of developing and finalising new pioneering course material that they believe should be included in modern South African culinary training.
Redeveloping and recalibrating the entire range of CTIA’s training programme was not undertaken lightly, says CTIA’s Vice-Principal, Chef Morné Ströh. Speaking at CTIA’s New Course Roll-out function on the 14th Of September, Chef Morné had this to say, “We had obviously consulted with the industry on this, getting feedback from a wide range of Executive Chefs and other key stakeholders from many different types of hospitality and catering establishments, and had used their feedback and feedback extracted from a survey we ran in conjunction with all our industry training partners to assist us in formulating our strategy. It is extremely important for CTIA to develop a product (the student) that is as close as possible aligned to what is actually, and realistically, required by the industry.”
CTIA aims with the new course roll-outs, that their training will be a lot more industry-specific, more in-depth, more encompassing, with a broader knowledge and character attribute framework, and equip their learners with better and more refined hard and soft skills that will sustain them in the industry indefinitely. Apart from the learners’ practical industry placement periods that will be extended, many new training components will also be introduced. A strong emphasis is placed on predictable industry paradigm shifts, for example on conscious cooking and environmental and sustainable issues, but also on other local industry requirements, like culinary entrepreneurship and Work Readiness Programmes. Actual feedback from Executive Chefs that translated over into real course content include Chef Lifestyle Orientation, Time & Personal Organisation, new and innovative cooking techniques, food styling and presentation, ingredient knowledge, basic to advanced food costing and waste control, to name but a few. “Of course there are many other training elements planned”, says Chef Morné, and adds, “And a few new courses altogether, like the Professional Culinary Lecturers course”. He was however quick to point out that CTIA will only host and facilitate this course and that it is wholly presented by external industry professionals through a series of intense workshops varying in a wide range of qualities and attributes that a professional lecturer should possess.
Another of CTIA’s new courses presently being developed is the one year, innovative Advanced Patisserie Programme. This course will teach the learners advanced and complex patisserie techniques and equip the learner with the necessary skills, knowledge- and culinary- capacities to successfully enter the industry as a well-equipped and well-rounded true patisserie professional. The programme is incomparable in South Africa in the sense that it is a 100% industry based programme where actual pastry skills are taught daily in a realistic industry establishment by one of South Africa’s leading Pastry Chefs, Chef Dilene Boyd. Due to the personalised nature of this course, the course is also very exclusive and all students will undergo a rigorous selection process before being accepted.
In addition to the new course roll-out, CTIA has also announced their Brand Ambassador and Learner Mentorship Programme where learners who wishes to partake in the programme is paired off with a reputable industry professional to receive personalised mentorship during his training, and well beyond, it is hoped. It is CTIA’s aspiration that this programme will not only bring about true culinary permeation and professional pride, but will also actively promote a professional culinary legacy being passed on to the next generation, before those skills are lost. Four such industry professionals have already agreed to this programme with several chefs showing keen interest. The fours chefs are Chefs Martin Kobald, Michelle de Silva, and Trevor and Dilene Boyd.
In closing, Chef Morne summarises CTIA’s intent with their new course strategy as follows, “The South African culinary training environment is at a unique crossroads presently where we all have to make a choice whether to carry on business as usual, or whether to accept the exponential national and international growth and developments in the hospitality industry, and provide for it. Past training programmes do not necessarily provide for these changes, that is why most culinary schools are considering, or have already introduced additional value-added programmes to supplement or fill the vacuum. Remember, as far as culinary training in South Africa is concerned, we have no yet fully matured. There is still a lot to be done. In order to facilitate the present quality and challenges of the global culinary sphere, we need to force innovations in training to accelerate our capacity to cope with the growth in the global food industry. Otherwise we might as well quit because we’d be teaching the wrong things altogether. This is our believe.”
To bring matters to a close at the function, CTIA ended the evening with another announcement, and perhaps the most grand of them all. CTIA is opening three more branches or Learner Innovation Centres (LIC) in Bloemfontein, Nelspruit and Cape Town in 2013, with LIC Pretoria duel functioning as the CTIA Principal Innovation Centre.
For more information, visit www.cheftraining.co.za.
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