Hot on the heels of its recent rebranding from ‘The Culinary Academy’ at the beginning of 2013, The Hurst Campushas received a prestigious international endorsement from the famous Institut Paul Bocuse. The Hurst Campus has been accepted as the newest member of their Worldwide Alliance, joining an elite group of the ‘best Hospitality Management and Culinary Arts schools and Universities across the world’.
The Hurst Campus is the first successful applicant from Africa and has also been granted exclusivity for the region of South Africa as a member of the Alliance. Institut Paul Bocuse has the world renowned Chef, Paul Bocuse, as the President of Honour, and the Chairman of the Board is Gérard Pélisson (Co-Founder of the leading Accor Hotel Group). The selection process of the Board of Directors of Institut Paul Bocuse includes many key educational and operational criteria that all members have to comply with. With the addition of The Hurst Campus as new member, the Alliance comprises 13 partners in 13 countries. Its aim is to encourage cross-cultural educational experience by sharing the historic French heritage of hospitality and culinary arts, and promoting both the traditions and the modern aspects of the trade.
The Director of The Hurst Campus, Rebecca Hurst says: ‘It is a great honour to be accepted as a member of this alliance of world-leading training institutions, and I am thrilled that it opens so many network opportunities and exchange programmes for both faculty members and students, to network globally and improve their skills to internationally accepted standards. Our membership of the Institut Paul Bocuse Worldwide Alliance underscores the fact that our training at The Hurst Campus meets the highest global standards, and our students will take with them a qualification that is recognised worldwide. More exciting news is that our most talented young people will have the opportunity to apply to the Institut Paul Bocuse to take part in their special 16 week culinary arts programme for exceptional alliance partner students, held in Lyon every year. This comprehensive programme includes practical classes in cuisine, pastry, purchasing department, training in the Institut restaurants, exposure to French wine and cheeses, and French language classes - all at a special rate. Students completing the programme will receive credits towards their diploma, as well as a certificate in Culinary Arts on completion, making this an international training opportunity of a lifetime!’
Sharing the Institut Paul Bocuse’s approach to teaching, The Hurst Campus actively seeks synergies with international training trends and fellow academies in different parts of the world. It mirrors the Institut Paul Bocuse’s method of integrating tradition, modernity, innovation and research to offer a training programme that equips students with the technical and managerial know-how necessary to take on key positions in the industry internationally - essentially creating future leaders. Courses offered here equally equip graduates to meet current and future challenges for a wide variety of careers within the hospitality industry.
With a solid reputation of 15 years as one of the best hospitality training institutes on the African continent, the Hurst Campus first started out in 1997 as The Culinary Academy, offering only a Food and Wine Diploma programme. Rebecca Hurst was a graduate here, and after completing her diploma in 1997, was offered a partnership in the business, finally taking over the Academy in 2002, and opening the campus doors on the Backsberg farm in 2007. She recently spearheaded the first phase of an exciting ‘Campus Evolution’, starting with the rebranding from The Culinary Academy to The Hurst Campus. Some of the major innovations in the pipeline include the revised Diploma in Hospitality Management - touted as the ‘ultimate industry qualification’, being extended into a 3-year, full time programme in 2014, to bring to the industry a qualification that will be even more sought after by employers world-wide. Plans are also in place for the campus to move to its own privately owned farm in the Cape winelands, where it will continue its unique ‘rural winelands campus’ concept, affording students the opportunity to enjoy a very special lifestyle.
