The major of Culinary Arts and Nutrition was one of the three earliest majors opened when Nanjing Institute of Tourism & Hospitality was founded in 1978, and it was also the first major of higher culinary vocational education opened in Jiangsu Province. More than 70% of middle and senior management talents, who hold important positions such as executive chefs and catering directors in Nanjing's 21 five-star hotels, graduated from this major. It is known as the Whampoa Military Academy for tourism and cooking professionals in the industry. This major has now become an influential major in China. It is a specialty of Jiangsu Province's higher education, a key major supported by the central government, a major of Jiangsu Province's key major group, and the training base of the School of Culinary Arts and Nutrition has been selected as the key training base of Jiangsu Province.
Talent training: In order to meet the needs of Jiangsu and the Yangtze River Delta region, strengthen the deep cooperation with brand enterprise, innovate the school-enterprise co-education model based on the integration of production and education, and the alternate work-study talent training model. Actively promote the modern apprenticeship reform pilot. Develop training programs based on the requirements of corporate positions, attract industry companies to participate in talent training and evaluation, comprehensively improve the quality of talent training, highlight innovation and entrepreneurship, and establish a talent training model of integration of production and education, alternation of work and learning, and progressive ability. The academy is based on the cultivation of strong professional skills, high innovation quality, great development potential, and has a certain management ability, international vision of compound cooking skills talents. According to the development needs of the industry and enterprises, give full play to the guiding role of the expert steering committee in talent training, and develop a multi-path culinary talent recruitment and training model (regular higher education recruitment method; secondary and higher vocational counterpart single recruitment method; 3+3 connection of secondary and higher vocational education enrollment method; school-enterprise cooperation modern apprenticeship joint training method; independent enrollment method), at the same time, adhere to the dual-certificate system of degree education + professional certification, forming a talent training model for the School of Culinary Arts and Nutrition Basic framework.
Faculty: Up to now, this major has 7 Chinese culinary masters, 1 Chinese culinary culture master, 1 Chinese culinary famous teacher, 1 international royal chef, 2 professors, 4 associate professors, 14 masters and above, 17 senior culinary technicians. The ratio of professional teachers and part-time industry teachers is 1:1. At the same time, 80% of the teachers in this major are and above judges of provincial skill competitions, and provincial vocational skills appraisal assessors. 100% of them have experience in corporate management and on-the-job training in high-star hotels. Forming a high-quality professional culinary teachers team with double-mentor, high-level and emphasis on practice. In addition, the major hired John Norton of New Zealand Waiariki Institute of Technology and the famous Italian teacher Isseal to offer practical training courses for foreign teachers.
Curriculum reform: This major took the lead in implementing the modular project curriculum system reform based on ability, professional practice as the main line, and project courses as the main line in the province. It is first project curriculum system with cooking materials as the main line in China. Play an active demonstration and leading role in education reform and development. Thereinto, the Culinary Arts and Nutrition project curriculum series textbooks won the first prize of the 2nd Tourism Management Excellent Teaching Achievement Award by the Tourism Management Professional Teaching Guidance Committee of Higher Vocational Colleges of the Ministry of Education. Strongly promoted the project curriculum reform with cooking ingredients as the main line, and played a good role in demonstration and guidance. The delegation of Chinese vocational education and the delegation of French principals once inspected and studied the courses of this professional project in our college. With the requirement of a step-by-step increase in competence, this major promotes in-depth reform of the curriculum system of kitchen classroom integration with raw material processing as the main line and multi-cycle training skills. On the basis of consolidating basic skills, create competitive competitions such as Success Cup and Interview with Famous Chefs, create a three-dimensional practical teaching system, stimulate students' vitality of innovation, entrepreneurship, and craftsmanship, and lay a solid foundation for students' sustainable development.
Academic research: In recent years, the faculty of this college has published more than 90 monographs and professional textbooks, including 2 Eleventh Five-Year Plan textbooks, 4 Twelfth Five-Year Plan textbooks, 1 provincial-level key textbook, and 2 provincial-level excellent courses, 2 provincial-level excellent textbooks, and more than 120 professional papers were published, including more than 20 core journal papers. The teachers of this college are also responsible for completing more than 50 national, provincial and departmental, and college-level projects. Among them, the Jiangsu Province Secondary Vocational/Five-year Higher Vocational Tourism Professional Course Reform Experimental Research is the key project of the Tenth Five-Year Plan of Jiangsu Province. High Vocational Culinary Technology and Nutrition Professional Course Standards and 'Culinary Technology and Nutrition' Project Curriculum Design are the Eleventh Five-Year Plan project. Research on the Construction of the '3+3' Integrated Course System for Culinary Majors and Research and Practice on the Construction of Culinary Skills Training Base and many other topics.
Training base: In 2012, the cooking training base was selected as the Jiangsu provincial key training base; this major was the first provincial-level vocational skill appraisal unit in the province’s higher vocational colleges. It was the first Institute of Culinary and Nutrition which provide company management and develops dishes. It is the first to establish a western-style cooking laboratory unit, and the first to establish a cooking nutrition monitoring laboratory unit. At present, the training kitchen equipment has been basically modernized, especially the western-style kitchen uses the international first-class brand ELECTROLUX's equipment, which exceeds the general standard of western-style kitchens in five-star hotels. By establishing and improving the resource sharing system of school-enterprise mutual employment and inter-use of related production, teaching and research personnel, the college's scientific research strength in internship training and other aspects will be improved; industry enterprise experts and skilled craftsmen were invited to teach at the school, participated in teaching reforms or solve technological problems. At present, there are 1 multifunctional kitchen theater, 5 Chinese cooking kitchens, 2 western cooking kitchens, 2 pastry rooms, 2 Chinese pastry rooms, as well as 1 molecular cooking kitchen closely following the professional frontier, and 1 nutrition testing room. 1 nutrition laboratory, capable of accommodating 500 people for practical teaching, a four-star standard production and teaching hotel on campus - Royal Crown Hotel. It's not only satisfies the practical training and teaching of the culinary professional group, but also undertakes other major-related training and teaching tasks of catering management, kitchen management and cooking courses. It has now formed a cooking teaching, training, research and development base. In 2013, it was successfully approved as a provincial-level higher vocational education training base construction project in Jiangsu Province.
Social services: Relying on the Culinary and Nutrition Research Institute, it will provide sufficient technical and intellectual support for the transformation and upgrading of catering enterprises in Jiangsu and surrounding areas. In the “China Intangible Cultural Heritage Inheritance Group Research and Training Program” project of the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Education, undertook the Qinghai Guoluo culinary skills training; gathered industry and business experts and the school’s teachers to jointly develop a series of practices with leading significance and practical value. The training project provided technical support for the development of local economy and modern service industry. And jointly developed Confucian cuisine, Taihu boat cuisine, Jingsu cuisine, etc. It provides services such as product development, technical training, and catering theme design for Jiangsu Provincial Frontier Defense Corps, Jurong Maoshan Administrative Committee, Suqian Tourism bureau, as well as 18 four-star and above hotels in Jiangsu Province, 8 four-star and above hotels in other Provinces (totally 26 hotels). And share the most cutting-edge scientific management and cuisine innovation information in the industry with them; provide consulting and management services, hold the Modern Hotel Catering Transformation and Leapfrog Development High-level Forum, etc.. To jointly discuss how to innovate business models and enhance the brand competitiveness of catering companies.
Student distribution: provide an international internship and employment platform. Co-founded Blue Frog Elite Class, Maxim Special Class, Night Shanghai Elite Class and special classes such as Cold Dish Special Class with international first-class catering companies to actively promote school-enterprise cooperation and Joint educational training project. In addition to internships in domestic five-star hotels or above, many students also go to foreign hotels for internships, such as the United States, Germany, Singapore, UAE (Dubai, Abu Dhabi) and so on. Graduates are mainly distributed in domestic and foreign four-star and five-star hotels, international catering chain companies, etc. Many students have stayed abroad to work. The school has always maintained employment rate of 100%.
