South Devon College is a state of the art Further and Higher Education College based in Torbay. The college moved to the new site in 2006 allowing for the development of one of the most advanced colleges in the Country.
South Devon College, in partnership with the University of Plymouth, was one of the first institutions in the UK to offer a specialist Hospitality Management qualification at Higher National Diploma level, and has been at the forefront of Higher Education in Hospitality field for over 40 years. So it was no surprise that this College, situated as it is in Torbay, the “Queen of the English Riviera” was asked to help pioneer the government’s new Foundation Degree initiative in the Hospitality area.
‘Horizons’ is our licensed 90 seat training restaurant open to the public, where we offer either a café bar or fine dining menu and cater for buffets, banquets and special events. As well as developing practical restaurant, food preparation and customer service skills, our students also benefit from the use of up to date technology systems for reservations, ordering, cashiering and billing to prepare for industry practices and standards. Multi-skilling is the name of the game and in this busy, dynamic customer focused learning environment students develop employability skills as befits their level of expertise from basic craft to supervisory/management.
Staff have a variety of experience in the industry’ as well as good academic qualifications and years of experience teaching at this level. Each year our customer surveys confirm that the supportive nature of the staff and friendliness of the College are seen as major factors in student achievement. The Faculty of Plymouth University concerned with hospitality, of which we are Partners, received an outstanding 23/24 at a recent QAA inspection. The College was commended on its contribution to that result, which is one that many Universities would be envious of.
Within the Hospitality section of the College there has been recent success at many levels including winning a range of gold and silver medals at hotelympia.
