A new training and practice centre for restaurant service has opened at the Boryslav Vocational Education Centre. It will train specialists in the professions of cook, confectioner and waiter, with teaching delivered on modern equipment in conditions close to those of real food service establishments.
The new unit has become the 63rd training and practice centre in Lviv region and the sixth to open in the region this year. Around 8,000 people enrol in the region’s vocational education institutions every year, so upgrading facilities and working with businesses are seen as key conditions for high-quality skills training.
The institution stresses that it is important to give students access to modern technologies and equipment while they are still studying, so that they acquire practical skills for which employers are ready to pay properly. To this end, vocational education is being actively geared towards partnership with business: employers are invited to sit on supervisory boards, and together they determine the professions the market needs, the content of training, the list of equipment and the formats for work placements.
The Boryslav Vocational Education Centre already has well-established cooperation with representatives of the hotel and restaurant sector on work placements, on-the-job training and masterclasses. According to the institution, over the past three years an average of 89% of graduates have found work in their field, which is regarded as an indicator of training quality.
The new centre is aimed not only at school-leavers. Adults, veterans, internally displaced persons and anyone wishing to acquire a new profession in the field of restaurant service will be able to undertake retraining and upskilling here.
More than UAH 10.6 million has been allocated to set up the centre. Of this, almost UAH 4.9 million is a state subvention under the Ukraine Facility programme, more than UAH 4.1 million has come from the regional budget, UAH 750,000 has been provided by the Boryslav community, and a further UAH 830,000 has been contributed by the institution itself.
Project participants note that the development of a network of such centres should form the basis for training tens of thousands of skilled workers needed for Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction, and that it is the task of the state and local communities to ensure in advance that their education is of a proper standard.