Advanced wine course for hotel students
The Eastern Cape's drive to be a centre of excellence for the international hotel industry has received another boost with the addition of an advanced wine course.
Earlier this week, specialist hotel training group Stenden SA in Port Alfred said it had officially launched its advanced wine module, described as the “the only one of its kind in the world”.
“The course prepares graduate students with a thorough insight into the global business of wine, and exposes students to all facets of the wine industry,” a campus spokesman said.
The introduction of the course has boosted total numbers on the seven-year-old campus - in the former Grand Hotel overlooking the coastal town - to 130.
They range from more than 70 full-time South African and foreign students doing three-year and four-year degree courses through the Dutch- based Stenden University to more than 60 local and worldwide students studying various 20-week modules.
These range from lodge management to wildlife, and community development to the new wine course, which is presented by Prof Don Craig in association with the Cape Wine Academy.
A campus spokesman said that eight students from Europe were attending the first wine module, and word of it was already spreading quickly in the international hotel field, with the second course already filling up.
As part of the wine course, the first international students visited Port Elizabeth's five-star Shamwari Townhouse in Summerstrand, where they were hosted by Mantis hospitality group head Adrian Gardiner, who is also a governor of Stenden SA.
Source: The Herald
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