The Residential, Catering and Conference Services department at Brunel University in Uxbridge, Middlesex, has been awarded Hospitality Assured – the nationally and internationally recognised definitive, industry-specific standard for delivering service and business excellence in the hospitality industry. Brunel University is the first university in the Greater London area to achieve a remarkable double by gaining both the Hotel & Catering International Management Association (HCIMA)-led Hospitality Assured accreditation for its residential and catering operations and the Meeting Industry Association (MIA)-led Hospitality Assured-Meetings (HA-M) accreditation for its conference services. By achieving Hospitality Assured, Brunel University joins a select group, numbering over 10 per cent of the UK’s universities, which have successfully achieved Hospitality Assured accreditation. They include: Brighton, Central Lancashire, Loughborough, Leeds, Nottingham, Southampton, St. Andrews, and Warwick.
Residential, Catering and Conference Services is Brunel’s largest department, employing nearly 270 staff. It makes a significant contribution to the University’s income, which in the last year has approached £12million. The department operates across four campuses – Uxbridge is the main one, with three other satellite campuses at Twickenham, Osterley and Runnymede. The Hospitality Assured accreditations of Brunel University’s Residential, Catering and Conference Services were undertaken by an independent assessment team for the Hospitality Assured standard.
The HCIMA-led assessment included the department’s Residential Services – responsible for the University’s residential estate, comprising approximately 3,750 bed-spaces over the University’s four campuses; its accommodation services – responsible for the administration of student applications for accommodation; its housing services, which provides a service for students and landlords for the off-campus accommodation; and its catering services serving up to 1,500 meals per day. The latter is divided into two operating areas – centralised cafeteria style catering for students, staff and visitors; and banqueting and hospitality services, provided internally for Brunel University and externally for the community and corporate clients.
Commenting on the award, the department’s Training Manager, Rosemary Benson, said: “We are delighted to have achieved both the HCIMA and MIA-led Hospitality Assured accreditations. They are a tribute to the commitment and dedication of both our management and staff. Hospitality Assured has brought the whole department much closer together, through greater integration of our business procedures and cutting out repetition, thus benefiting our main customers – the students,” she said. “We have some very exciting plans for the future.
A large refurbishment programme is set to start next year as part of a master plan for Brunel University as a whole. There is to be a new 90-seat library café; as well as a refurbished refectory, hospitality suites, student bar, and catering and bar facilities in the Sport Centre.” For more information on Brunel University please contact Rosemary Benson on 01895 203012 or via email at rosemary.benson@brunel.ac.uk
<< Return to news articles
|
