The 31st European Association of Hotel and Tourism Schools (AEHT) conference and several gastronomy competitions (Barista, culinary Arts and Pastry) were held in Leeuwarden (Holland) during November 12th–17th, 2018. Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU) Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality came second and won the silver medal for the ‘Barista’ competition.
EMU Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Dean Prof. Dr. Hasan Kılıç said that when they competed in 2016 and 2017, they won the bronze medal by winning third place and intended to raise the bar. By doing so this year, he expressed that they were very for achieving their goal. Prof. Dr. Kılıç stated that as the Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality, they attended the general assembly of these events held for the 31st time and took steps towards collaborative works with other European tourism and hotel management schools from many different countries.
Prof. Dr. Kılıç gave information about gastronomy competitions. European Association of Hotel and Tourism Schools has 280 European schools as members. Each school attended these competitions, made in 10 different fields, with 20 students. Thus, Prof. Dr. Kılıç said that as over 600 students tried their best during these competitions, they were proud of Yalkın Özbahadır’s achievement in winning the silver medal.
Prof. Dr. Kılıç emphasised on the importance of competing on an international level for both our university and our country. He said that İ. Çağlar Güden (in gastronomy) and Melisa Bağzıbağlı (in pastry) won 4th place during these competitions. Prof. Dr. Kılıç added that competing on an international level improves the students’ vision and increases their self-esteem; and he underlined that as the Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality, they showed maximum effort to carry their education quality, given on physical, academic and international levels, to the top.
Finally, Prof. Dr. Kılıç said that they consolidated their education success with their accreditation in Tourism-Hotel Management and Gastronomy fields and international memberships. He expressed his satisfaction about Faculty Member Kurtuluş Özbaşar serving as a jury member during these competitions. He said that the Department of Gastronomy and Culinary Arts (member of the World Association of Chef’s Societies (WACS)), would be in the competition and Özbaşar would serve as a WACS approved jury member. Prof. Dr. Kılıç thanked all his colleagues for their contribution to this achievement and expressed his special gratitude to EMU Rector Prof. Dr. Necdet Osam who always provided them with moral and material support.
