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Attitude, not aptitude, determines one’s altitude
Necessary tools offered The Hotel School of the Central University of Technology, Free State (CUT), is an academic department which aims to prepare young people for a vibrant, crazy industry. We are proud to say that we do that, and we do it very well. This is lamented in the sense that our graduates get jobs very quickly. While they are on work-integrated learning already, they receive appointments for when they finish with their learning. And hospitality is not just about cooking or restaurant service or front desk checking in a guest - it really is a lot more. There are so many facets to hospitality management and if you really think of the word hospitality, we all need to be hospitable. Every business on this earth needs people in the front line who know what service is, what hospitality is, who know what it is to let somebody feel welcome, and to let somebody feel seen and heard. That is what hospitality management is about. Our focus (deeper focus) is on any business or establishment that has to do with food, events, and accommodation. So along with our diploma - if you graduate with our diploma at the end of the three-year course - we must also offer an extended curriculum programme (ECP), which extends the course to four years, empowering you
Dr Dalene Crowther
to start your own business. In the last few years we have infused entrepreneurship more and more into our curriculum as well, so that our students do not feel limited to only becoming employees but become employers themselves. We even teach them those skills; the entrepreneurial skills to create a business plan and how to incorporate the creativity from hospitality into that business plan. We hold entrepreneur-
ship days for our students where they come and sell the products that they make, completely on their own. Afterwards, when they have attained a diploma from us, they can walk into any business that has anything to do with food, beverage, and accommodation and start anywhere because we offer a wide encompassing qualification that really prepares students for all aspects of the industry. What else can be said: the school
offers a huge work-integrated learning component for a whole year, so we have our students with us for two years for theory and practical classes here on campus, after which they are placed at four and five-star establishments all over South Africa. It is at this stage where these establishments start quarreling over who gets to hold onto the students, which is always flattering. Students are then placed all over
South Africa where they are coached and supervised. It is during this period, as employees, that they are taken out of their comfort zone and show their mettle as workin adults. Although a daunting experience at first, this is also when the Hotel School gets so much feedback from alumni and from students, giving their thanks for the programme and its teachings, allowing them to flourish in the industry. And that is another area that the Hotel School focuses on and instils in its students - evaluating one’s attitude. I always say that with the right attitude, you can do and be taught anything. With the right mindset and approach, you can have knowledge or skills imparted to you that can only benefit you in the long run - especially if it helps fuel your passion.
CENTRAL UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, FREE STATE. Our primary focus is on the priority fields of Science, Engineering, Technology, and Mathematics (STEM). CYN0810-EX081025