adminTHE country’s leading hospitality and tourism training institution, Bulawayo’s School of Hospitality and Tourism (Scoto) has introduced a Bachelor of Technology Honours Degree in Hotel, Catering and Tourism Management (Btech) in a bid to enhance service provision in the country’s hospitality and tourism sector.
Scoto introduced the degree programme into its curriculum in September as an affiliate of Lupane State University.
“The programme started with 16 students and it was actually over-subscribed because our target was a small group of around 12 but we ended up with 25 applications. Over the years, Scoto has produced hundreds of students at Higher National Diploma level who could not proceed to degree level.
“For this industry it’s the first in the country. I know there are graduate programmes at universities but these are general education programmes but here we are talking about technical and vocational based degrees, which build on the basis of the Higher National Diploma which is based on technical and vocational skills that our students have,” Scoto director Mr Innocent Nezungai said.
He said the degree programme has received overwhelming post registration inquiries with players in the hospitality and tourism industry already asking about the prospects of upgrading culinary arts programmes as well. Culinary art entails the art of the preparation, cooking and presentation of food, usually in the form of meals.
“Already we have had an overwhelming post-registration inquiries to the effect that we are now in negotiations with our colleagues at LSU to have another enrolment early next year. It has also sparked another range of inquiries from our backlog in degree programmes for culinary arts.
“There is no college or university in the country that offers a degree in culinary arts and Scoto has been producing students to Higher National Diploma level and now we want to upgrade students to a higher level so that in line with Zim Asset they can become entrepreneurs and also start capacitating other institutions and students,” Mr Nezungai said.
He said the institution was looking forward to introducing a degree programme in culinary arts next year upon completing consultations with LSU and the Zimbabwe Council of Higher Education.
Scoto has over the years attracted and facilitated training of students from other countries on the continent such as Botswana, Malawi, Namibia and Equatorial Guinea.
“We were invited by operators in Botswana to look at the feasibility of capacitating their training efforts and we have been invited also by operators in Namibia to assist in setting up infrastructure. Through the Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality, I have been to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
“In that vein we are also looking at recruiting students from DRC and as we speak we have students from Equatorial Guinea because it is important for us to use our infrastructure not just for Zimbabwe but to demonstrate our Pan African nature, we continue to capacitate other countries if we can,” Mr Nezungai said.
To date, the school has grown its enrolment to over 600 students and 40 lecturers. It also has 15 employees on the operations side. The school offers conventional training in tourism and hospitality management, food and beverage management, professional cookery and bakery studies up to Higher National Diploma. Informal sector support programmes are also offered to those who do not possess the requisite qualifications. The school was established in 1963.
Scoto managed to construct a 15-bed hotel, Hotel St Patrick’s in Bulawayo in 2012 and this year it opened another smaller hotel in Glen Lorne in Harare. Zimbabwe Tourism Authority head of public relations, events and protocol, Mr Sugar Chagonda said the introduction of the Btech programme by Scoto would go a long way in enhancing service provision in the hospitality and tourism industry.
“The introduction of the programme is certainly good for the industry. It will lead to improved standards and quality in terms of service provision. It also means the level of education is now higher and the graduates will be more knowledgeable because they will have done more in terms of research but there is a need to ensure that they match or put their theoretical knowledge into practice,” Mr Chagonda said.
Online Reporter