The chefs, licensees and hotel managers of the future have been given a boost with a new initiative to provide them with the best training available.
The skill shortage in the hospitality industry has been a problem for some time, but the new initiative, based in the Midlands, is hoping to reverse the trend.
The Hospitality and Tourism Academy, which will be known as THAT Academy, was launched last month in association with Dudley College.
The Academy will be based on a fully-functional working restaurant and hotel and will give students the chance to learn service and practical skills in a professional environment.
On-the-job training has been growing in popularity as a way of making sure new entrants to the industry can cope with all eventualities and are equipped to make a success of their career.
It is also hailed as a way of improving the image of the industry, which has suffered greatly from reports of long hours, low pay and few .
Hit television series Jamie's Kitchen, in which chef Jamie Oliver trained 15 unqualified youngsters to work in a kitchen, was praised throughout the hospitality industry for highlighting the benefits of practical training.
Now the new college will address the skills shortage in the industry in a similar, innovative way with training being provided by a team of experts including chefs and hotel managers.
"The industry desperately needs a vocational centre of excellence where the future generations of workers are empowered with the necessary skills to help secure the future of the UK's hospitality industry," said Garry Hawkes, chairman of contract caterer Aramark and chairman of the academy's trustees.
The THAT Academy will be in Dudley in the West Midlands and is part of a regeneration project that aims to improve students' skill levels. It is supported by Dudley College, Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council and the Black Country Learning and Skills Council.
Building work on the new college will begin later this year and the Academy is expected to open its doors to the first students in autumn 2004.
Meanwhile, government plpans to reform GCSEs have been welcomed by the industry. Training organisation Springboard UK has called for the introduction of a vocational hospitality GCSE.