School of Hospitality Trains For Diverse Range of Careers

From accommodation, food and beverage and transportation to travel services, and recreation and entertainment — these five sectors of tourism are all taught at Centennial College’s School of Hospitality, Tourism and Culture. It only makes sense that students can study these areas in one respected institution as stats show that last year 19.6 million people took overnight trips to Canada.

What makes Centennial College’s School of Hospitality the right choice for students? First, the skills learned in the programs are transferable anywhere in Canada. This means graduates are not limited with training geared towards one specific location but rather can work in Canada’s metropolitan cities or small towns. In addition, thanks to its 12 full-time programs, there is literally something for everyone. As such, some programs result in an Ontario College Diploma or Advanced Ontario College Diploma, while others are geared to those who have a previous hospitality education and result in a Graduate Certificate.

School of Hospitality programs include: Event Management - Festival and Conference (prepares students to manage and organize festivals, events and conferences); Hospitality Operations – Kitchen Management (trains students for positions in food operations management); Hospitality and Tourism Administration (courses cover a full range of business practices in marketing, human resources, finance and industry operations — as applied to the entire hospitality and tourism field); Culture and Heritage Site Management (students are trained in a very particular skill set and thus equipped to manage such culture and heritage resources); and many others.

No matter which School of Hospitality program you choose, training includes a full range of business practices in marketing, human resources, finance and industry operations - as applied to the entire hospitality and tourism field. You will also gain valuable work experience through an individualized industry field placement, designed to provide a practical foundation for your career. Many students continue in their placement as full-time employees after graduation.

The School of Hospitality is housed at Centennial College’s largest location, Program Campus. As such, this campus contains facilities that are used to help students obtain practical, hands-on training so they have an idea of what real-life in their chosen field is like. For example, students who are taking the Kitchen Management, Baking – Commercial Bakeries; Hotel, Resort and Restaurant Management or Restaurant and Catering can use the on-campus Horizon Restaurant to learn how to prepare freshly made food and serve to scheduling, make reservation recommendations and manage menus.

In addition to the restaurant, School of Hospitality students also practice their skills at the Centennial Conference Centre. Comprised of eight meeting rooms (including two large ballrooms and a variety of meeting rooms), it provides ample opportunity for students to have real life encounters. Uniformed in traditional black attire, students take pride in their work, paying attention to the smallest details and ensuring that every event is truly flawless. Students who are taking Festival and Conference, Hospitality Services and Hospitality and Tourism Administration would benefit from practicing in the conference centre.

Programs offered at the School of Hospitality vary in prerequisites. It is recommended that students carefully note the requirements of their program of choice before applying.

Attend Bioinformatics Courses Geared at Mature Students

After attending bioinformatics courses, professionals have many options in the field. For example, they may become Bioinformatics Analysts who contribute to genomic sequencing projects and scientific analysis of the data generated by those projects using a variety of bioinformatics techniques and software applications. Their responsibilities may include generating, annotating, and analyzing genomic data and preparing the data for further research or publication. On the other hand, they may also become bioinformatics software developers, bioinformatics research technicians, application developers, software developers, database developers who work in academic, government and industrial labs. Bioinformatics professionals can also be utilized in the pharmaceutical, agricultural and environmental industries and in all areas of biotechnology. Recently, there has been a demand for professionals who have completed bioinformatics courses.


Where exactly can one train for these options? Centennial College’s Bioinformatics for Software Professionals offers a year’s worth of bioinformatics courses that are intensive, hands-on and problem-based, and result in a post-degree bioinformatics certificate. This is beneficial as Bioinformatics merges biology with information technology and computers. As such, it uses the creation and advancement of databases, algorithms, computational and statistical techniques and theory to solve formal and practical problems arising from the management and analysis of biological data. Much of the study level of the bioinformatics courses in this program’s curriculum is beyond the bachelor’s degree.


Faculty members who lead the bioinformatics courses in the program are knowledgeable and approachable with diverse business experience and academic credentials. They encourage a mature learning environment that includes course homework, an individual research thesis and a co-op component (which sees students working in the field during their last semester), providing students with the unique skill set and training that are in high demand in the field.


Specific bioinformatics courses within the program include: Statistics and Data Analysis For Bioinformatics (introductory course in bioinformatics data analysis designed to provide a breadth of topical coverage. The main categories of topics include statistical, stochastic and multi-dimensional analysis); Bioinformatics Algorithms (students examine the major algorithms used in bioinformatics and describe their underlying principles. Through case-study analysis, students evaluate the practical applications and limitations of current bioinformatics algorithms. Students also demonstrate the role of optimization techniques and dynamic programming techniques in bioinformatics); Database Design and Biological Data Management (students design, utilize, and integrate biological databases to facilitate novel approaches for biological data management, retrieval and analysis. Students evaluate major database implementation issues and demonstrate software project management skills); and many others.


Past students who have completed all of the bioinformatics courses at Centennial College have been hired by: OICR, Ontario health network, Ontario hospitals and the provincial government.


To attend Centennial College’s bioinformatics courses, applicants must have completed an advanced diploma or university degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering or related discipline. In addition, they must be prepared to offer proof of English proficiency, a transcript as well as a resume.

College Programs Increase Your Hiring Potential

If you're looking to measure how beneficial college programs are, look no further than Centennial College, which is located in Toronto, Ontario. Not only is the school recognized as one of the most culturally diverse post-secondary institutions in Ontario, with almost 100 ethno-cultural groups and 80 languages spoken on campus, it also offers more than 120 applied degree, diploma and certificate programs on a full- and part-time basis in business, communication arts, community and consumer services, science and engineering technology, health sciences and transportation. In addition, 16,000 full-time students and 22,000 part-time learners attend these college programs annually.

Why are college diploma and degree offerings so popular? First of all, long gone are days when you could start out pouring coffee and end up as the CEO of a multi-million dollar company. Today, high-ranking positions in a variety of industries require a post-secondary educational background. However, that does not necessarily mean having to attend university. College degrees, diplomas and certificates are respected credentials, as they reflect a work force that comes into the field having had hands-on, practical experiences that combine both theory and practice rather than just the latter.

According to the Census Bureau, those with a college degree earn around $2.1-million throughout their working adult life, while high school graduates earn an average of $1.2-million. In fact, in winter 2004-05, the US Department of Labor reported that in 2003, workers who had a college degree had a median weekly earning of $900, compared with $554 a week for high school graduates. That's a 62 per cent jump in median earnings. Along the same lines, a college degree or diploma makes your marketable. Even in times of high unemployment, there are thousands of jobs that go unfilled because many jobs in the fastest-growing industries such as health care, education, and business support services require a college degree or diploma.

Aside from helping to move people up in the workplace, students attend diploma and degree programs at colleges because they have short-term benefits. For example, getting a college education is more budget-friendly. Tuition and books are not as expensive as they tend to be in university. This opens the doors to students who may not have previously been able to obtain an education. The fact that students from all walks of life attend college programs is an advantage in itself as it allows you to network and mingle with many people who may be of help to you as you seek a career upon graduation.

Lastly, in terms of actual learning, schools like Centennial College have many college programs that emphasize experiential learning with laboratory instruction, paid co-operative education opportunities, and industry and agency field placements. All Centennial programs are developed and kept current with the assistance of program advisory committees (PACs), made up of academic advisors and employer representatives. Their participation ensures the education and skills students receive at Centennial are up-to-date and relevant to the industry they are preparing to enter.

Advertising Programs Offer Creative Options for Business-Minded People

In its simplest terms advertising is either intended to sell a product, encourage or persuade an audience to continue or take some new action. The purpose of advertising may also be to reassure employees or shareholders that a company is viable or successful. Advertising messages are usually paid for by sponsors and viewed via various traditional media including newspapers, magazines, TV and radio commercials, billboards, mass emails, text messages and more. Advertising is such an important field that in 2010, $300-billion in advertising was spent in the United States and $500-billion was spent worldwide. If this field sounds like it could be of interest to you, one of Centennial College’s three advertising programs may benefit you.


The first of the Advertising programs at Centennial College is Advertising and Marketing Communications Management. This program is designed for high school grads who do not have a previous post-secondary education or advertising experience. This three-year Advertising program prepares students with the critical skills they’ll need to enter this dynamic field, as they learn how to tell clients’ stories with persuasive advertising in addition to planning and developing campaigns on mobile platforms. Included are advertising process such as: research, developing strategies, campaign planning, copywriting, production, media planning and buying as well as copywriting, media and account management. To round out training, students partake in an industry field placement, acquiring experience in the day-to-day activities of the advertising world. As a result, graduates enter creative fields such as account management, media buying and planning, marketing, interactive/mobile, copywriting, production, direct marketing, promotions and event marketing.


If, however, you have already completed a post-secondary offering related to this field and wish to gain further experience, Centennial College offers two other advertising programs.


The first is called Advertising – Media Management. This hands-on and intensive industry-approved advertising program takes just three semesters to complete and results in an Ontario College Graduate Certificate. The offering prepares students for the advertising and communications industry in the role of strategic media planning and buying. This hands-on and intensive industry-approved program provide them with the fundamentals of media management, with a focus on consumer-driven communication channel choices such as mobile platform for advertising messages. Successful graduates of this program may launch new careers with: advertising agencies, independent media management companies, marketing companies, multi-media owners and sellers, research companies and advertisers.


The final of Centennial College’s three advertising programs is Advertising – Account Management program, which prepares students for a unique field in which they will maximize their communications, strategic and business skills to develop and coordinate advertising, interactive, social media, mobile, event marketing and direct marketing. Specific courses include: Strategic Planning, Copywriting Techniques, Advanced Integrated Marketing, Advertising Issues for Account Managers, Interactive Production Management and more. In addition to courses, students of this Advertising program benefit from on-site professional computer software, media planning and research systems. Upon graduation, students become specialized account managers who understand the full scope of advertising tactics and can manage integrated communication plans from inception to final production.

Combine Creativity with Marketing by Attending an Account Management Program

Excellent interpersonal skills, excellent listening and oral communication skills, self-directed, thrive under pressure, and highly organized: These are some of the words used to describe professionals in the marketing field of sales and account management who have acquired training from the sales account management program at Centennial College. This field entails acquiring and maintaining relationships with major client accounts in business-to-business organizations that have their own sales force. This especially applies to companies that are mid-to-large in size. Job titles include: Account Executive, Sales Consultant, Commercial Sales Representative, Sales Specialist, Technical Sales Representative, Sales Coordinator, Inside Sales Representative, Territory Sales Representative and Key Account Manager.

All jobs in sales and account management come with different responsibilities. Let’s take a closer look two of them. For example, an Account Executive is responsible for establishing new business, developing current business relationships and ensuring client satisfaction. To do this, the Account Executive must seek out purchasing decision makers and develop relationships with them, design and deliver presentations that highlight the products of his or her company, negotiate contract terms with clients, close sales and more. Meanwhile, as a Key Account Manager this professional preserves the business within the client accounts and generates new business. This involves analyzing and adapting new strategies in order to react to changing business trends.

At Centennial College, students who participate in Marketing: Sales and Account Management (as it is officially known) graduate in just two semesters with an Ontario College Graduate Certificate. Therefore, applicants are required to possess a degree or diploma in another area of study. In addition, they must submit an official transcript demonstrating proof of successful completion of a post-secondary advanced diploma or degree program. Lastly, students may be required to conduct an interview with officials, submit a resume and undergo an English and/or math skills assessment.

Facilitated out of Progress Campus, which houses many other business offerings, the Account Management Program is taught by professors with extensive experience in sales, negotiation and account management in the business-to-business realm. The program is known for its learner-centered approaches such as role plays, simulation and cases, with a focus on developing selling, negotiating and presentation skills. Hands-on training using sales force automation software rounds out training.

Specific courses within the sales account management program include: Case Analysis and Marketing Metrics, Marketing Analysis and Planning, Fundamentals of Selling, Fundamentals of Project Management, Employment Preparedness, B2B Marketing, Strategic Account Development, Sales and Account Management, Business Ethics and Negotiation Skills, Sales and Force Automation and Technology and more. In addition to these courses, the sales account management program offers a field placement that sees students applying what they have learned and gaining new knowledge from industry professionals. During this time, students are actually embedded in companies at which they may be hired upon graduation.