Edinburgh’s Kitchin Group announces first
University Excellence Award winners
E
DINBURGH’S KITCHIN GROUP announced its first two
University Excellence Award winners, as part of a new
annual scholarship to help boost career prospects for
students at QMU.
MSc Gastronomy students, Noah Erhun from the USA, and
Sanna Dahllöf from Sweden, received financial support to carry
out independent research into sustainable food and the use of
social media in the food industry.
The University’s MSc Gastronomy is the only course of its kind
in the UK that takes a multidisciplinary look at food to examine its
importance to culture, communication, systems and science and
exposes its complexity. The MSc Gastronomy course has fired
the imagination of the country’s policy makers and legislators, as
well as chefs, and those from a variety of food and drink related
businesses. The course is currently recruiting with fees-paid places
available to eligible applicants.
Over the next three years, Kitchin Group’s Annual Award for
Excellence will also offer QMU’s international hospitality, tourism,
and events management students the chance to apply for the
scholarship to help support their studies. The partnership
will also offer QMU’s budding restauranteurs and hospitality
professionals the opportunity to gain valuable work experience
and potential employment within Kitchin Group. Included within
this prestigious company are Michelin star restaurant, The Kitchin
(led by internationally acclaimed Scottish chef Tom Kitchin),
award-winning Castle Terrace Restaurant (one of Edinburgh’s
most elegant dining destinations) and gastropub, The Scran &
Scallie, which was recently awarded a prestigious Michelin Bib
Gourmand.
26
Gastronomy students Sanna Dahllöf and Noah Erhun at The
Kitchin
QMYOU / Supporting Student Development
Dr Majella Sweeney, Head of the Queen Margaret Business
School: “We’re extremely grateful to Kitchin Group for its
investment and wish Noah and Sanna every success as they
become the first QMU students to benefit from Kitchin Group’s
Annual Award for Excellence.
“Our exciting partnership builds on QMU’s 140 years of
experience in delivering hospitality and tourism education. QMU’s
current hospitality and gastronomy lecturers consider themselves
the custodians of the expertise passed down from the founders of
the former Edinburgh School of Cookery. The University’s courses
today are underpinned by some of the simple philosophies that
were at the heart of the institution’s teaching over a century ago,
whilst addressing current and future trends in both the food and
drink industry and the way food is thought about.”
Ron Kitchin, Chairman of Kitchin Group, said:
“As a business, we’re passionate about
fostering talent and supporting young
people who are interested in a career
in the industry.
“The Excellence Award will not
only offer students financial
and practical support with their
studies, but will give them an
unparalleled insight into the
world of a busy, successful and
diverse hospitality business,
and the opportunity of hands on
work-experience within Kitchin
Group.” ❒