First bachelor-level course in Chinese food launched

The Vocational Training Council will launch its first bachelor-level course in Chinese food – covering everything from cooking to managing a restaurant – next September, a council executive said on Tuesday.

Leung Yam-shing, the VTC’s senior assistant executive director, said: “There has been a need for systemic management expertise in the field. The industry has been looking for highly trained, highly educated people to enter the field, [but] there is no such supply at the moment.”

He said the full-time programme was developed to meet the growing need for a more modern approach in enterprises traditionally run as family business and small kitchens. The demand for practical and administrative skills – and better-run restaurants – is worldwide, as the cuisine’s popularity continues to grow.

The four-year programme will be the VTC’s first full-time degree course specialising in Chinese cuisine. Some of the courses will be taught at the school’s International Cuisine College in Pok Fu Lam, when its construction is completed.

The course will be taught mainly in English.  The school has been faulted in the past for teaching only in Chinese. 

The school expects to accept 30 to 60 students in the first enrolment exercise, which began at the beginning of this month.