TORONTO — Centennial College has become the first educational institute in Canada to earn the United Nations’ World Tourism Organization certification, (UNWTO TedQual). Six of the college’s hospitality and tourism programs are now certified, validating the school’s work in revamping its education and training programs with the goals of enhancing quality, competitiveness and sustainability.
TedQual is the UNWTO’s quality-assurance system, which evaluates tourism-related education and training programs throughout the world.Evaluation criteria are designed to measure — among other criteria — the efficiency of an institution’s academic systems, as well as its propensity to incorporate elements of the tourism industry and students’s needs in those programs.
“I am delighted with the results; all six of the programs Centennial submitted for certification have been granted status,” says Shyam Ranganathan, Dean of Centennial’s School of Hospitality, Tourism & Culture, and of the Culture and Heritage Institute. “I am not surprised by our success as our faculty team had put in a lot of dedicated hours of hard work to see the audit through.”
The six Centennial College programs to receive certification are: Hospitality and Tourism Administration; Hospitality Management- Hotel and Resort; Event Management – Festival and Conference; Tourism Management – Culture and Heritage Tourism; Hospitality Management – Food and Beverage (Catering); and Tourism and Travel.
Centennial’s School of Hospitality, Tourism and Culture prepares students for careers in any of the five sectors of tourism: accommodation, food and beverage, transportation, travel services, and recreation and entertainment. Courses cover the full range of business practices in human resources, marketing, finance and industry operations as they relate to the hospitality and tourism sector, one of the world’s largest employers.
