GMIT Students awarded Europass mobility documents

Date released: 03 May 2006

Twenty-two first year catering students in the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT) have been awarded Europass Mobility Documents

The GMIT students recently completed work placements and a cultural exchange programme in La Rochelle and Paris in France as part of their current studies in Professional Cookery, Hospitality Studies and Bar Studies . The Europass document formally acknowledges and validates their work placements.

The three-week placement programme called La Rochelle Project 2006 was funded under the EU Leonardo da Vinci programme. It is a partnership project between GMIT and the Lycee Hotelier de La Rochelle in France.

The students received their Europass Mobility documents at a special dinner reception in GMIT on Thursday, 3 rd May, attended by GMIT lecturers and staff.

Each Europass mobility document records the activities undertaken and skills gained by the student, and provides an individual official record of an organised period of time spent in another European country for the purpose of learning or training. It will greatly assist the students whether they are planning to enroll in an education or training programme, looking for a job, or getting experience abroad .

Of the 22 GMIT students, 12 studied Professional Cookery, seven Hospitality Studies and three Bar Studies. They spent three weeks in France in total, mainly in La Rochelle: two of the students were based in downtown Paris. They spent one week in cultural and professional activities and two weeks in placement in restaurants in and around La Rochelle and Paris.

GMIT lecturer and La Rochelle Project Co-ordinator Anne Brindley said "The three week Leonardo funded project is a great learning adventure for our students."

First year catering students in GMIT who recently completed a three-week placement in France, presented with their Europass Mobility Certificates (L-R): Leon Mellsop, (Professional Cookery), Highfield Park, Galway, Lisa Raymond (Hospitality), Corrib Park, Newcastle, Fiona Murphy (Hospitality),Ballynacally, Ennis, Co. Clare, and Martin King (Professional Cookery), Upper Dublin Road, Tuam.