The Fiji National University has signed a deal with a tertiary institute in French Polynesia that will enable cooking teachers and academics from both countries to conduct exchanges.
Under the agreement, reached last week, the Fiji National University hopes to begin sending trainee chefs and their tutors from its campus to the Tahiti Tourism Institute to gain better training from next year.
The University's Dean of the College of Business, Hospitality and Tourism Studies, Dr Mahendra Reddy, says Fiji's cooking teachers need to build capacity and knowledge.
"We don't have the kind of expertise in international cuisine here in Fiji. So what we want to do is to use the expertise there to upskill our staff here and then our staff will teach the students. So we need to train our staff. So this is a much cheaper option of getting expertise from French."
Dr Mahendra Reddy says the deal with Tahiti will help meet the demand for well trained chefs in Fiji's hotels and to eventually boost the quality of food provided.
