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Covid-19: Auckland Hotel and Chefs school closes after 34 years, blames border closure

Author
Simon Collins, NZ Herald,
Publish Date
Tue, 2 Jun 2020, 3:47PM
Auckland Hotel and Chefs Training School (above) is the second known educational casualty of the Covid-19 recession. (Photo / Supplied)
Auckland Hotel and Chefs Training School (above) is the second known educational casualty of the Covid-19 recession. (Photo / Supplied)

Covid-19: Auckland Hotel and Chefs school closes after 34 years, blames border closure

Author
Simon Collins, NZ Herald,
Publish Date
Tue, 2 Jun 2020, 3:47PM

An Auckland hotel training school is closing after 34 years because of the impact of closing New Zealand's borders due to Covid-19.

The Auckland Hotel and Chefs Training School in Newmarket has about 60 students - about half domestic and half international.

It has told the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) that it will close on June 26 "due to the impacts of Covid-19 on its viability".

Its website lists 10 staff.

The TEC is contacting all students to provide options for other institutions and said it "expects all learners to be able to transfer to a suitable alternative provider".

"A number of alternative providers are available for you to take on. Our focus is to make this process as smooth as possible for you," it said.

"Students will continue to receive any weekly support you are entitled to up until the date of closure and you can continue to receive these if you transfer to an alternative provider to complete your studies."

The school says on its website that it was established in 1986 and is the only private hospitality and chefs' training school of its type in central Auckland.

"Our focus is purely on food service training," it says.

However, its last quality assurance report by the NZ Qualifications Authority in July 2018 said the agency was "not yet confident" in its educational performance.

The school then had 15 staff and 172 students - 79 domestic and 93 international.

"Achievement rates at Auckland Hotel and Chefs Training School (AHCTS) have been below targets and show a slight decline recently. Tertiary Education Commission targets were not met in 2016," the report said.

"Achievement rates for international students have been consistently above 90 per cent."

The school is only the second known educational casualty of the Covid recession so far, after the closure of New Horizon College, a small English language school in Napier last Friday.

The hotel industry has been particularly hard hit by the closure of the border to non-New Zealanders since March 19, forcing many hotels to go into "hibernation" until international tourism resumes.

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