Project summary
Culinary and foodservice bring benefit for local and national economies across Europe. They generate profit through tourism, boost other economic sectors and have strong employment-creation potential in a wide range of ‘first’ to high-skill jobs, including for youth. They are well suited for labour mobility due to the increasing importance of tourism (incl. cross- and trans-border) and commuting. Most popular culinary professions - cooks and chefs - are highly dependent on WBL and international experience for the quality of content and skill-building.
Yet obstacles remain: VET is predominantly confined to secondary education; the national education systems and SERs result in different qualifications and standards in the different member states; difficulties in validating the learning outcomes acquired abroad and low number of trainees engaged in mobilites.
The CULINART overall goal is ...
to enhance the quality and relevance of VET offer in culinary arts following the labour market needs and with view of increasing youth employability, trans-national mobility and career advancement.
Project Specific Objectives:
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O1: Identify the major skill needs in culinary arts and the resulting improvement implications for the VET qualifications in the project countries
Through juxtaposition of the existing VET offers, occupational profiles and skill requirements of business the frame for a new joint VET qualification shall be created. This shall outline the ways for recognition of the qualifications’ learning outcomes in each project country. The completion of O1 entails quality implementation of the two main project activities.
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O2: Develop a joint labour-market relevant VET qualification in culinary arts
The implementation of this objective is a milestone in the project. Through exchange of knowledge, expertise and collaboration, the partner organisations will develop a joint qualification profile, a modular WBL-based curriculum and assessment standards. International cooperation will ensure suitability for trans-national mobility while compliance with O1 – the prospect for recognition on the national level and access of the graduates to further education.
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O3: Create a sustainable cooperation structure to inaugurate the joint VET qualification in culinary arts
The joint delivery of the new qualification will be based on the conclusion of (1) a framework agreement through which the partners distribute among themselves the provision of the qualification modules and (2) an ECVET-based memorandum of understanding for mutual recognition of the modules’ learning outcomes. The involvement of employers’ and sectoral organisations as full-right and associate partners guarantees the sustained employability of the qualification’s graduates in the end.
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O4: Initiate the recognition of the joint qualification in the NQF systems of the partner countries
The successful implementation of O1, O2 and O3 (and the associated main activities) will target the accreditation of the joint qualification in the partner countries. The involvement of national VET authorities as associate partners will be instrumental for this. Since the process may require alteration of national SER’s or regulations the process may not be completed within the project lifetime.
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O5: Efficient project management
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O6: Increased attractiveness of VET
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O7: High-quality deliverables
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Target groups
CULINART target groups are VET providers, enterprises, sectoral and umbrella organisations in food, foodservice and tourism, VET learners – current and prospective, including youth, education and qualification regulation authorities in the partner countries as well as on a broader EU level. VET providers, sectoral and business organisations as well as education regulators from Bulgaria, Spain, France, Italy, Portugal and Turkey cooperate in CULINART. The extent and composition of the partnership provides for synergy between various types of institutions.
They will benefit from the project in view of:
improved relevance and attractiveness of VET education
improved opportunities for recognition of skills gained on the job and for trans-national mobility for work and study
established partnerships and gained expertise for better targeting and marketing of culinary arts programmes
showcasing transparency and comparability of culinary-arts VET across the EU
enhanced employment and career progression perspectives in the culinary professions.
Expected impact
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On the VET providers:
- improved practical skills for developing qualifications and curricula prioritizing WBL and transnational mobility;
- improved capacity to internationalize skill research and curricula-development work and to perform these in a multinational environment;
- improved capacity for LLL guidance and development of flexible learning pathways for transition between various forms and levels of VET, tailored to the specific needs of the trainees and the sector inquestion (in particular the culinary sector);
- established partnerships and gained expertise that will allow them to better target and market their culinary arts programmes;
- improved capacity to sustain partnerships and networking;
- improved qualification productivity. -
On the enterprises and their sectoral organisations:
- improved opportunities for recognition of skills gained on the job (WBL learning is an essential element in this profession and regardless of the education received, most new cooks start at alowest level and work their way up);
- more flexible learning pathways in support of achieving higher competencies;
- availability of (potential) professionals/employees with up-to-date competences - skills, knowledge andattitude in gastronomy (especially in the scientific and technical issues that only a few years ago hadnothing to do with cooking as a profession). -
On the VET trainees (and young people in general):
- access to a labour-market relevant qualification for a profession with a very high employment and entrepreneurship potential;
- recognition of the qualification across borders;
- pathway to further studies aligned with the career development prospects. -
On the qualification and education authorities:
- improved capacity for establishing workable partnerships between industry, education, planning and research in support of VET relevance, youth employability and employment, and of spillovers between the key employment sectors in the EU;
- improved comparability, transparency and recognition of VET learning outcomes and qualifications inculinary arts across borders;
- improved attractiveness and quality of VET.
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© Copyright 2018
Project Ref. No. 597848-EPP-1-2018-1-BG-EPPKA3-VET-JQ
CULINART: Designing a Joint VET Qualification in Culinary Arts and Pilot Pathways for Continuing Training is co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union.
The European Commission's support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.