JCTI
COMPLETES PILOT FOR TRAINING PROGRAMME
150 graduates of the Jamaica Centre of Tourism Innovation (JCTI) project participated in a closing ceremony for the
pilot phase of the project in April.
The JCTI which is an initiative of the Ministry of Tourism is implemented by the Tourism Product Development Company
Limited (TPDCo). The main objective of the project is to provide training for tertiary graduates with Hospitality and Culi-
nary Arts qualifications. Upon completion of the training, the candidates received certification from international partner,
the American Hotel and Lodging Educational Institute (AHLEI), which will allow the candidates to be able to use their cer-
tification at the international level. The project forms part of the Human Capital Development component of the Ministry
of Tourism’s five pillars of tourism growth.
The breakout for the first cohort of 150 participants includes 75 Certified Hospitality Supervisors from the JCTI Pilot, 12 stu-
dents, with Certification in Hospitality Analytics (CHIA) , 11 Candidates have completed American Culinary Federation
(ACF) certification, 2 ACF Certified Executive Chefs have received certification as Certified Evaluators and 50 Certified
Hospitality Supervisors from the Centre of Occupational Studies (COS) Programme will be able to move on to the oc-
cupational degree programme. Much more is planned for certification in the sector. This is expected to contributube
significantly to the competitive advantage of brand Jamaica.
The pilot for the project was launched in November 2017 and saw its completion in March of this year. The students were
dispersed to hotels across the Jamaica where they received practical work experience in the hospitality and Culinary
Arts industry.
Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett (8th left) and Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator, Hon.
Ruel Reid (centre) share lens time with the first cohort of 150 Jamaica Centre of Tourism Innovation (JCTI) graduates
at the recent closing ceremony where the participants were officially presented with their certification. The graduates
formed the first group of candidates of the pilot project which ran from November 2017 to March 2018. The candidates
were dispersed to hotels across the island where they received practical training in Hospitality and Culinary Arts.
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