In 1998, the government of Taiwan (Republic of China) adopted the two-day leave of absence policy. In the year 2002, Taiwan (Republic of China) joined the World Trade Organization and opened its doors to tourists from Mainland China. Over a million visitors from Mainland China have visited Taiwan. Because of a booming tourism economy rebound from previous years, the hospitality industry has become one of the leading industries in Taiwan. Furthermore, the government of Taiwan intends to globally promote Chinese and Taiwanese cuisine in order to attract more international tourists to Taiwan. Job opportunities in the hospitality industry for qualified culinary professionals are available worldwide. Globally educated and fully-trained culinary professionals are in great demand in hotels and the food service industry.
Currently, many four-year and two-year colleges in Taiwan offer hospitality, tourism, and foodservice management-related programs. However, none of these programs offer specific culinary technical training with a focus on managerial approaches and global perspectives. This lack of focus could become a harmful issue for culinary professionals in Taiwan who cannot be connected with western culinary education trends without emphasizing global perspectives.
Due to the high demand for tourism and hospitality positions, in 2007, I-Shou University established the Department of Hospitality Management, the Department of Tourism, and the Department of Leisure. In 2011, both the Department of Culinary Arts Management and the College of Hospitality and Tourism Management were established. After becoming one of the four departments in the College of Hospitality and Tourism at ISU in 2011, the Department of Culinary Arts Management has continued to offer hospitality and culinary arts courses for the industry. The department strives to cultivate international culinary professionals in hospitality education, which may elevate the standard of culinary arts in Taiwan.
The Department of Culinary Arts Management has followed the traditions of ISU by educating the students to combine theory and practice. The Department of Culinary Arts Management prepares future leaders for the hospitality and foodservice industry by providing students with education about Western culinary arts, Chinese culinary arts, baking and pastry arts, beverage management, foodservice operations, as well as other culinary specialty areas. The curriculum focuses on culinary technical, managerial, and operational skills and promotes both the collaboration of the front-of-house knowledge and leadership skills.
The foodservice and culinary teaching facilities include a Chinese culinary arts kitchen laboratory, Western culinary arts laboratory, baking and pastry laboratory, and dining and foodservice laboratory, beverage mixology laboratory, and a computer laboratory. These facilities aim at providing a real-life working environment for culinary students to put what they have learnt into practice.
To meet industry needs, all culinary students are required to complete Work-Integrated education, in which they take on industry placements as part of the program’s studies. The Department is fully supported by the E-United Group, with hospitality and leisure facilities next to the University. Two international hotels, E-Da Royal Hotel and the E-Da Skylark Hotel, as well as the E-Da World Shopping Mall and the E-Da Theme Park, serve as practical training sites for students to gain valuable work experience while studying in the program.
These facilities serve as internship working sites for culinary arts and hospitality students to gain well-rounded hands-on work experience. Culinary students gain industry experience during the time and they study in the program with full-fledged and solid theoretical development, which allows them to update their skills and broaden their knowledge in college. This is one of the greatest advantages of the culinary arts program at ISU, which gives it an edge over other hospitality programs in Taiwan. These advantages coupled with its state-of-the-art kitchen lab facilities staffed with professors and chef instructors who have both academic and on-the-job credentials at leading hotels in both Taiwan and the U.S. make the Department of Culinary Arts Management at I-Shou University a leader in hospitality education in Taiwan.
The career opportunities for foodservice and culinary employment are bountiful. The Department of Culinary Arts Management prepares graduates for entering the diverse hospitality and foodservice industry, from fine dining, casual dining, banquet, catering, institutional foodservice establishments, and corporate hotels, to chain bakeries. Graduates with progressive experience and appropriate culinary training are expected to take on all the managerial and administrative responsibilities of operating daily foodservice establishments, including hotel and restaurant kitchens, catering, and banquet operations for the positions such as chef, sous chef, kitchen manager, research and development chef, food production supervisor, purchasing buyer, restaurant entrepreneur (chef-owner) food account analyst, culinary consultant, culinary educator, and in-flight catering kitchen manager. With all these career paths available, the career opportunities in culinary fields are endless.