In 2009, a new direction for the preparation of bachelors “Hotel and restaurant business” was opened. The Department of Restaurant and Hotel Business and Tourism was created in accordance with the decision of the Academic Council on April 14, 2010. Thanks to the efforts of the teachers of the department in 2011, a new direction for the training of bachelors “Tourism” was opened.
Since 2021, the department is headed by Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor Tetiana Lebedenko, who has more than 200 scientific and educational publications, patent developments, including international, as well as papers in Scopus and Web of Science journals. Supervises the educational and scientific work of graduate students, masters and bachelors. She is a member of the specialized scientific council for the defense of candidate and doctoral dissertations at the Odesa National University of Technology.
Photo 1. Head of the Department Tetiana Lebedenko
In 2013, thanks to the efforts of the teachers of the Department of Restaurant and Hotel Affairs and Tourism, the ONUT received a license for full-time training for the specialists of specialty 7.14010101 “Hotel-restaurant business”. In 2014, a license for a full-time training course was received for the training of specialists at the educational and qualification level “Master” specialty 8.14010101 “Hotel and restaurant business”, and in 2015 got a license for correspondence for specialists “Hotel and restaurant business”.
Changes in the department of restaurant and hotel business and tourism took place in 2015, the department of tourism business and recreation was created, the name of the hotel and restaurant business department was changed.
All teachers of the graduation department regularly raise their qualifications, undergoing internships at the leading enterprises of the hotel and restaurant industry in the Odesa region, working on candidate and doctoral dissertations, participating in various seminars on professional knowledge improvement. A special kind of professional development of teachers is a detailed study of them, both at specially functioning seminars of the academy and independently, of the provisions on the improvement of higher education in Ukraine in accordance with the basic principles of the Bologna Declaration, which proposes the convergence of various educational schools, the unification of the organization of the educational process, the formation of a single educational space in Europe.
Scientific work at the department is carried out according to the state budget themes in different directions:
- Quality of hotel services as a factor of competitiveness of hotels;
- Quality of service in the hospitality industry;
- Modern trends in the development of SPA and WELLNESS services in Ukraine;
- Innovative technologies in the organization WELLNESS-industry;
- SPA-food and the latest production and service technologies;
- SPA-technology in the resort business.
Teachers of the Department are trained at the leading enterprises of the tourist industry of Odesa and the region, regularly take part in international conferences, seminars, exhibitions, in particular – the International Scientific Festival “SPA i WELLNES – Development Strategy” (Foros, October, 2009); And the International Scientific and Practical Conference “Progressive Technologies of Food Production, Restaurant and Hospitality Industry” (Poltava, April 23-24, 2009); II International Scientific and Practical Conference “Hospitality Industry in European Countries” (Yalta, December 4-6, 2009); International scientific conference “Actual problems of development of food production, restaurant industry and trade” (Kharkiv, KDUHT, 2007); II All-Ukrainian scientific and practical conference “New trends in food technologies and quality and safety of products” (Lviv Institute of Economics and Tourism, April 22-23, 2010); X International Conference “The state and trends of training in the restaurant and hotel industry” (Plovdiv, Bulgaria, 11-12 June 2010); 2011 – Romania (Iasi), in 2012 – Lithuania (Vilnos). In 2014, teachers at the department studied the experience of training for the hospitality industry in the United Kingdom (Manchester Metropolitan University). Teachers of the department and students take part annually in the international gastronomic seminar with the support of FONDATION POUR LA FORMATION HÔTELIERE, 2014-2018, Opava, Czech Republic, Silesian University in Opava. In 2015, the teachers of the department attended the international conference “Innovation in Hospitality and Tourism”, which was held in Slovenia, University of Primorska, Faculty of Tourism Studies Portorož, Portoroz.
The department created specialized training laboratories: “Organization of hotel business”, “Organization of restaurant business”, “Barna business”, “Laboratory of culinary art”, “Laboratory of sensory analysis”. The department created a specialized computer class for 14 training places, installed a special software for automating restaurant and hotel management, and working with various reservation and reservation systems. All computers are connected to the Internet. Specialized laboratories have a modern material base. Professional equipment in all laboratories.
The chair of hotel and restaurant business is a member of the Association: the Association of Cooks of Ukraine, the Southern Association of Chefs of Ukraine and the Association “Tourism of Odesa”.
In 2012, ONUT received the Grant of the FONDATION POUR LA FORMATION HÔTELERE Foundation for the creation of a laboratory for culinary art.
Since 2011, the department holds an all-Ukrainian inter-university scientific conference for students, post-graduate students and young scientists “Integration and Innovations in the Development of the Hospitality Industry”, which involves students, post-graduate students and young scientists from ONUT and other higher educational institutions of Ukraine.
Since 2014, the department annually holds the 2nd round of the All-Ukrainian Student Olympiad in the specialty “Hotel and Restaurant Business”. Students of the department become prize-winners of various scientific competitions and olympiads.
Photo 2. Second round of the All-Ukrainian Olympiad in the specialty “Hotel and Restaurant Business”
Students in industrial and pre-diploma practice are in hotels, restaurants, tourist complexes and tourist agencies of Odesa and Odesa region: hotels M1, Bristol, Premier Geneva Hotel, Victoria, OK Odesa, Nemo, Rus “,” London “,” Pallada “,” Ukrainian Gourmand “restaurants,” McDonalds Ukraine Ltd. “,” Merry-Berry “,” EcoFood “,” Brothers Grill “,” P1 Proseco Bar “and many others.
The main advantage of studying in the specialty “Hotel and Restaurant business” is ONACT, it is possible from the first year to take international practice outside Ukraine – in restaurants and hotels in the USA (within the framework of the international program “Work and Travel”), France (under the contract with the company «FEFU»), Greece (from the company «Muzenidis Travel»), Turkey (from the company «Tez-Tour» and «Anex Tour»), Germany (under the agreement with the company «MitOst») and other countries of Europe (under the contract with the company “AGL Travel” and “L-Tour”). Each year about 100 students take this international practice.
Since the year Erasmus program (student exchange program) – 3 students have studied for a year in Greece, 4 in Portugal, 1 in England and 4 in Italy.
Photo 3. Internship at the Institute of Hotel Management, Prague
Photo 4. Student Internship at Hotel Pyriya, Greece (Mouzenidis Travel)
The teachers of the hotel and restaurant business department are constantly improving the professional level, inviting leading specialists in the field of hotel and restaurant economy and tourism.
From 2013 every year in October a gourmet BBQ festival is held in the framework of which a culinary competition is held in which students of ONACHT and other educational institutions take part.
Photo 5. BBQ Culinary Contest
Each year, within the framework of the faculty week, the hotel and restaurant business department carries out various events: a competition of thematic tables, a professional culinary competition, a sommelier competition, a competition for making napkins and others.
On a regular basis, various culinary master classes, seminars and open lectures by well-known specialists of the industry are held.
From 2016, seminars, trainings, workshops and excursions from the well-known hotel and restaurant enterprises of the city of Odesa, such as the boutique hotel “PANORAMA DE LUXE”, the hotel-restaurant complex “Maristella”, are being held with the support of the Odesa Tourism Association within the framework of the project “Faculty of Communication” “, A meeting with representatives of the SPA-hotel Grand Marine, the business hotel” Continental “and others.
Teachers of the hotel and restaurant business department take part in the television project “Odesa is preparing dinner”.
The graduation department carries out active educational work among students. The closest contacts are with students from curriculum instructors and their direct mentors (computers), which is conditioned by the requirements of entry into the Bologna Process. The respect of the teachers of the department for students, their interest in their life, their everyday life, their problems, the desire to always come to each student for help if necessary, to support in a difficult moment causes an adequate attitude of students to teachers. According to students, the department became their second home. The profound form of interaction between students and faculty of the graduation department is “Days of the Department” and “Faculty Days”, which are held annually in the academy.
The department pays great attention to vocational guidance work in schools, colleges and technical schools. The basis of the formation of a qualitative contingent of students in the specialty “Hotel and restaurant business” is the vocational guidance work conducted by faculty and students of daytime and part-time forms of education at schools and tourist enterprises, as well as during the Open Doors Day at the academy.