Food and Beverage Education and Scholars in Turkey

Abstract

In Turkey, gastronomy education is provided under the moniker of Culinary Education in Preparatory programs and also under the moniker of kitchen arts as well as food and beverage management in undergraduate programs. The possibility of the education and the graduates being of high quality relies on the existence of academicians who have been trained in this field and who have educated and developed their skills on a personal level. Therefore, this study intends on reflecting on the status of the academic personnel who are currently working in the institutions which provide education about Food and Beverage on a Graduate Degree level. In this regard, resumes of 369 academic personnel, who have been providing educational services about Food and Beverage in all of Turkey’s leading universities, faculties, higher education institutions and occupational higher learning schools on Preparatory and undergraduate levels have been obtained. The data regarding the academic personnel’ curriculum vitae have been accessed in December of 2017. The data were analyzed through the content analysis method. The obtained results demonstrate that shocking realities regarding the status of the academicians working in higher education currently employed in schools offering higher learning programs. When looking at the undergraduate education of such academicians working in these departments, it is seen that only 5.4% of such individuals have graduated from programs about Food and Beverage (Gastronomy and Kitchen Arts, Food and Beverage Management, Culinary Education, etc.). On the undergraduate and doctorate levels, this ratio is even lower and the situation is quite intriguing. In addition, according to the Pearson Chi-Square Test, the gender, administrative roles and earned titles of such academicians also show significant differences