One-of-a-kind Hospitality Apprenticeship developed by local college

To encourage and highlight hospitality career development within Cornwall, a local College has worked with employers to redesign and launch a new management level Apprenticeship that is the first of its kind in the county.

Truro and Penwith College has relaunched the Level 4 Hospitality Manager Higher Apprenticeship with brand new content designed in partnership with highly-respected employers to support post pandemic recovery and the future of the industry.

The Level 4 Apprenticeship has been developed through the College and it’s ESF part-funded project Hospitality Table Cornwall (part of ESF Business Clusters) to encourage those of all ages to choose hospitality as a career in one of Cornwall’s largest and fast-growing industries.

Martin Tucker, Principal at Truro and Penwith College said: “We’re so proud to be the pioneers of this newly-relaunched Apprenticeship, which is the first of its kind in the county. Hospitality is one of Cornwall’s key industries and this Higher Apprenticeship provides a valued qualification to back up learners’ industry-relevant skills, as well as promoting career progression, whilst staying in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.”  

Alongside the Level 4 Hospitality Manager Apprenticeship, a Higher National Certificate (HNC) has been embedded. This combines the practical aspect of an Apprenticeship paired with an academic approach of the HNC. The Higher National Certificate gives added value to the apprenticeship which could naturally lead into the Level 5 Higher National Diploma; encouraging people in Cornwall to work in the industry while backing it up with theory-based knowledge.

The Level 4 Hospitality Manager Higher Apprenticeship also provides more practical industry-based insights and will have regular guest speakers and industry experts to help make the apprenticeship relevant to the sector. The transferable skills acquired upon completion would include leadership, management, finance, HR and marketing which would be transferable across many management roles.

To ensure the content is relevant and appliable between businesses, Truro and Penwith College and Hospitality Table Cornwall has worked with a diverse range of top hospitality employers across Cornwall, this includes The Headland Hotel.

Veryan Palmer, Director at the Headland Hotel said: “At The Headland we are excited to have excellent candidates to put forward for the new L4 Hospitality Manager Apprenticeship via Truro and Penwith College starting in January 2022. The opportunities that this gives us to help our young managers to gain the skills to progress forwards on their stellar career pathways is excellent.

 “We have a number of young team members joining us aged 16+, and to map out a development plan for their next five years that could include an accredited qualification with an embedded HNC (that gives a real opportunity to then progress onto a HND) is such a bonus for Cornish hospitality staff.

The 18-month course, with an additional 3-month End Point Assessment, will commence in September 2021.