Representatives from the Guizhou Vocational College of Foodstuff Engineering will be in Antique for exploratory talks about the on-the-job-training (OJT) program for their Hotel and Restaurant Management (HRM) students at the University of Antique (UA). They will be checking on the curriculum offering of UA to make sure it matches with their program, said UA President Dr. Pablo Crespo Jr. The Chinese vocational college and UA signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) during the Philippines-China University President Cooperation Dialogue and Networking Session in China. “The MOU (signing) was held during the China-Asean Education Cooperation Week that I attended with Commission on Higher Education (CHED) chairman Prospero De Vera”, Crespo said.
The MOU on reciprocal collaboration allows the two higher learning institutions to send their students for an OJT. Crespo said UA had already produced successful graduates working in four-star hotels in the Philippines and abroad. “UA is also a recipient of a grant from CHED for a hot and cold kitchen where students can train on food innovation”, he said.
The PHP15 million grant provided by CHED in 2021 enabled UA to establish a hot and cold kitchen with equipment, including a refrigerator, a three-deck oven, burners, kneaders, and mixers, among others, needed to bake and cook hot food. The university has male and female dormitories, aside from the dorms outside of the campus in Sibalom town that could accommodate students from China. “Hopefully, by our next school year, there will already be Chinese students who could come for their OJT in UA”, Crespo said. UA students will also have a vast international learning experience in China since Guizhou is into grain, oil, and food industries. “The international linkage will widen the horizon of the students”, Crespo said.
