12th April 2013
August 2007: Southern hospitality
The University of Brighton is driving forward its education programme with a number of initiatives that mix learning with fun
There is a growing passion for food in Eastbourne in East Sussex and at its centre, doing its utmost to promote this passion, is the University of Brighton.
The university has just announced that it is the first in Britain to offer an MA in culinary arts; it is one of the sponsors of Feastbourne 2007, the local food and drink festival; its culinary arts studio is becoming a magnet for would be entrants into the culinary world; and its involvement in knowledge transfer partnerships are producing good results for food businesses.
The MA in culinary arts is its latest initiative – an industry specific masters degree for anyone wanting to move into the hospitality, food and culinary arts sectors that will be launched in October 2007. Full time intensive study can lead to graduation in one year, while part time study taken over a period of up to six years can achieve the same result.
The final element of the degree programme offers three choices: the academically traditional Dissertation; a Culinary Arts Project for the more practically focused; or, for those who intend to set up a food business after graduating, a Culinary Arts Enterprise Plan. However any number of individual modules can also be studied to accumulate credits towards a postgraduate certificate or postgraduate diploma in culinary arts.
It will be mainly online tuition plus attendance of no more than three two day tutor led study blocks per 12 week module at the culinary arts studio on the university's Eastbourne campus.
When celebrity chef Rick Stein received his honorary doctorate from the University of Brighton, it coincided with plans to launch the studio, and he opened it last October. Thanks to investment to the tune of £400K, what was once a classic kitchen and restaurant is now a spacious, interactive learning environment that is open to all and can seat 30 comfortably. Five Apple Mac computers are sited along one side for students to use, while on the other side a development kitchen runs the full length of the studio. Two cameras strategically placed in the ceiling can be used to focus on any part of the kitchen and there is programmable interactive mood lighting.
During the first two terms level one students run it as a restaurant and kitchen and it is then when it is open to the public with a basic table d'hote menu. But the potential is there to use it even more.
Principal lecturer Chris Dutton, who runs the commercial side, says: “Going our own way helped us choose exactly what we wanted for our students and our clients. A lot of money was spent on air extraction. There are also coloured lights for mood lighting, overhead lighting and cameras, and we have a two way observation room to see people and how they react to food. It's about research.”
“Part of the remit of the university is not just education but enjoying being more social. We want more people to grow their businesses,” he says. “The funding came from the government for the capital investment. It pays for this as it does for sports and laboratories. We're self funding now.”
One gap in the studio's repertoire that the university has filled is the need for master classes. Dutton says these got off the ground last year and four are planned for October to coincide with Feastbourne 2007, which runs from October 4-13. Now in its second year, it is aimed at promoting local produce, restaurants and food businesses.
The master class experts are Craft Guild members Matt Owens, executive pastry chef for Zuidam UK, and Services training manager Geoff Acott, along with Alan Whatley, chairman of the Association of Pastry Chefs and lecturer at Brooklands College in Weybridge, Surrey, and Pemba Lama, who retired as a chef with the Brigade of Gurkhas from the British Army after 23 years in the services, plus Keith Mitchell, executive chef at the Grand Hotel in Eastbourne.
The relationship with Rick Stein has also continued with the university's involvement in the chef's business in Padstow, Cornwall. “We were invited by Rick Stein to go to Padstow to advise on his retail operation,” explains Dutton, adding that the retail business included the deli, mail order, retail shops, etc, and was part of a scheme known as the Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP), a partnership between a company, the university and a graduate, which is government funded.
Dutton says these partnerships were worth £240m last year and the university had been running them for many years. It currently has around 20 of them. “We design a two year programme and place a graduate, and this is monitored by two academics remotely and by visiting once a month,” says Dutton.
The university has just placed in Stein's business Filip Jicinski from the Czech Republic, who has just completed his third year as a retail undergraduate. He will be with Stein for two years. “We transfer the knowledge down there to Filip and he will professionalise the operation that needs retail know how. Usually after two years they will be retained. It's also a route to a Masters degree,” says Dutton, who adds that as part of the KTP programme, studying for the Masters degree is free due to a very good personal training allowance.
The university has just announced that it is the first in Britain to offer an MA in culinary arts; it is one of the sponsors of Feastbourne 2007, the local food and drink festival; its culinary arts studio is becoming a magnet for would be entrants into the culinary world; and its involvement in knowledge transfer partnerships are producing good results for food businesses.
The MA in culinary arts is its latest initiative – an industry specific masters degree for anyone wanting to move into the hospitality, food and culinary arts sectors that will be launched in October 2007. Full time intensive study can lead to graduation in one year, while part time study taken over a period of up to six years can achieve the same result.
The final element of the degree programme offers three choices: the academically traditional Dissertation; a Culinary Arts Project for the more practically focused; or, for those who intend to set up a food business after graduating, a Culinary Arts Enterprise Plan. However any number of individual modules can also be studied to accumulate credits towards a postgraduate certificate or postgraduate diploma in culinary arts.
It will be mainly online tuition plus attendance of no more than three two day tutor led study blocks per 12 week module at the culinary arts studio on the university's Eastbourne campus.
When celebrity chef Rick Stein received his honorary doctorate from the University of Brighton, it coincided with plans to launch the studio, and he opened it last October. Thanks to investment to the tune of £400K, what was once a classic kitchen and restaurant is now a spacious, interactive learning environment that is open to all and can seat 30 comfortably. Five Apple Mac computers are sited along one side for students to use, while on the other side a development kitchen runs the full length of the studio. Two cameras strategically placed in the ceiling can be used to focus on any part of the kitchen and there is programmable interactive mood lighting.
During the first two terms level one students run it as a restaurant and kitchen and it is then when it is open to the public with a basic table d'hote menu. But the potential is there to use it even more.
Principal lecturer Chris Dutton, who runs the commercial side, says: “Going our own way helped us choose exactly what we wanted for our students and our clients. A lot of money was spent on air extraction. There are also coloured lights for mood lighting, overhead lighting and cameras, and we have a two way observation room to see people and how they react to food. It's about research.”
“Part of the remit of the university is not just education but enjoying being more social. We want more people to grow their businesses,” he says. “The funding came from the government for the capital investment. It pays for this as it does for sports and laboratories. We're self funding now.”
One gap in the studio's repertoire that the university has filled is the need for master classes. Dutton says these got off the ground last year and four are planned for October to coincide with Feastbourne 2007, which runs from October 4-13. Now in its second year, it is aimed at promoting local produce, restaurants and food businesses.
The master class experts are Craft Guild members Matt Owens, executive pastry chef for Zuidam UK, and Services training manager Geoff Acott, along with Alan Whatley, chairman of the Association of Pastry Chefs and lecturer at Brooklands College in Weybridge, Surrey, and Pemba Lama, who retired as a chef with the Brigade of Gurkhas from the British Army after 23 years in the services, plus Keith Mitchell, executive chef at the Grand Hotel in Eastbourne.
The relationship with Rick Stein has also continued with the university's involvement in the chef's business in Padstow, Cornwall. “We were invited by Rick Stein to go to Padstow to advise on his retail operation,” explains Dutton, adding that the retail business included the deli, mail order, retail shops, etc, and was part of a scheme known as the Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP), a partnership between a company, the university and a graduate, which is government funded.
Dutton says these partnerships were worth £240m last year and the university had been running them for many years. It currently has around 20 of them. “We design a two year programme and place a graduate, and this is monitored by two academics remotely and by visiting once a month,” says Dutton.
The university has just placed in Stein's business Filip Jicinski from the Czech Republic, who has just completed his third year as a retail undergraduate. He will be with Stein for two years. “We transfer the knowledge down there to Filip and he will professionalise the operation that needs retail know how. Usually after two years they will be retained. It's also a route to a Masters degree,” says Dutton, who adds that as part of the KTP programme, studying for the Masters degree is free due to a very good personal training allowance.