Costa supporting academy for cooks, pastry-makers, bakers and customer service representatives
By
Rebecca Gibson |
Italy’s first academy dedicated to training people to provide hospitality services onboard passenger ships has opened at the Villa Figoli Des Geneys in Arenzano, Italy.
Opened on 11 November, the Accademia di Alta Formazione per l’Hôtellerie di Bordo (Academy for Advanced Training in On-Board Hospitality) has been developed by the Liguria Region, the Municipality of Arenzano and Italian Merchant Marine Academy ITS Foundation. The latter organisation will run the school.
The new academy offers training for cooks, pastry-makers, bakers, customer service representatives, and other positions related to onboard hospitality and entertainment. The facility offers nine classrooms, a library, a tea room/exhibition hall, a multi-purpose Tapestry Room, a refreshment area, a bar, and a kitchen for classroom use. It also has a dormitory that can accommodate up to 50 students off-site.
Italy-based cruise line Costa Cruises is supporting the initiative and has committed to hiring successful students from the four available courses.
The Superior Technical Institutes course (ITS) for training onboard pastry-makers and bakers is financed by the Ministry of Education, Universities and Research. The course is open to 22 European Union (EU) students and will last around 18 months, allowing students to alternate between classroom-based training and onboard internships. Costa will hire at least 70% of the students who successfully complete the training course.
Three other courses, financed by the Liguria Region through the European Social Fund, are designed to train tourism entertainers, customer service representatives and cooks. There are 20 places on each course, which will be reserved for EU students aged over 24. Courses will last 300 to 415 hours and Costa has guaranteed that 60% of qualified students will be hired.
“We are delighted to be a partner in this truly unique training project in Italy, which will offer many new career opportunities, guaranteeing an absolutely excellent education,” said Neil Palomba, president of Costa Cruises. “Costa Cruises is an Italian company that brings Italy’s finest to the world by investing in new Italian talent: suffice it to consider that from 2006 to 2015 we hired over 1,600 people. Thanks to the Accademia Ospitalità Italiana Crociere, which was established at Villa Figoli, we will be able to further increase our commitment to train and hire Italian and EU onboard staff, as we are also planning to expand our fleet.”