On-the-job training in German gastronomy for Thais
Training support from Thai skilled workers with German training
Exchange with 30 students and 6 teachers from Thailand
Thailand is known for its excellent training in the gastronomy sector. Thais are very popular in these service occupations, due particularly to their polite and friendly manner.
In 2015, a German chain restaurant business in Bonn offering Thai food wanted greater authenticity in its restaurants. On their behalf, the German training provider Ruanla Consulting Agency recruited motivated graduates in Thai colleges offering gastronomy courses, placed them on German courses, and prepared them in their native language for a period of work in Germany. Training in safety and hygiene in particular was carried out in the native language of the candidates.
While the planned placements in Germany did not initially take place due to visa regulations at the time, a new business idea was born. Ruanla has now established contacts with many colleges in Thailand and promotes continuing education in Germany with a practical focus.
Thai tour guide
Since, 2017, the training provider has been organising on-the-job training in Germany over two-week periods for Thai students who are accompanied and supported by a Thai tour guide.
Ruanla has three employees working for them who have completed training in Germany. They are able to use their own experiences to inform continuing education and training participants, in Thai, about the German dual training system. Last year, the German partner companies were the Marriott and the Kameha Grand Hotel, and the restaurants Ginyuu and Rohmühle in Bonn.
The client is the secretariat of the Office of Vocational Education Commission, OVEC, which is responsible for issues relating to training and continuing education in the Thai Ministry of Education. In 2019, the secretary responsible visited Bonn with a delegation of Thai college principals to find out the specific details regarding the organisation of the training activity. As part of this trip, the delegation also visited the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB)—the German partner institute of OVEC, and iMOVE.
Exchange of experiences after the first week of internship
Placement students as disseminators
The Ministry of Education in Thailand would like to enable talented students in the hospitality sector to see with their own eyes how people work in the sector in Germany. The aim is that, on returning, they act as disseminators and share their experiences of reliability, accuracy, flexibility and of work in different areas of responsibility within the team.
So far, 25 Thais have made use of this opportunity. The placements and the subsequent professional careers of the participants have up to now been very successful, with the result that the continuing education is now to take place twice a year and in other German cities.
In the coming year, Ruanla is planning permanent cooperation with a college in Thailand. Those interested are to be given the opportunity, as part of the courses offered and with support from Ruanla, to prepare themselves professionally for a period of work in German hotels and restaurants and to learn the German language too. Acquiring the language is a prerequisite for professional work in Germany and represents a major challenge.
Most Thai training providers run their workshops for aspiring internationally focused skilled workers in the gastronomy sector in English. Even in this case insufficient language skills often result in misunderstandings.
In Thailand, Ruanla has also set itself the aim of starting a training course certified according to German standards for skilled workers in gastronomy. Contacts already exist with Thai colleges and with top chefs who would also like to provide training following a German model.
Students in the field of technology during a briefing at Mannheim Airport, Germany