General manager Paul Anderson said his five tutorial and three management staff were told of the decision a few weeks ago and students were informed today.
General manager Paul Anderson told staff about the closure a few weeks ago. Photo / Supplied
"Our students returned to training when New Zealand moved to level 3, with classes being divided between multiple kitchens," he said.
"With the Covid-19 pandemic there was a complete turnaround from high demand for trained chefs to virtually no demand for new trainees.
"International border closures have also prevented international students from travelling to study."
The TEC is contacting all students to provide options for other institutions and said it "expects all learners to be able to transfer to a suitable alternative provider".
"A number of alternative providers are available for you to take on. Our focus is to make this process as smooth as possible for you," it said.
"Students will continue to receive any weekly support you are entitled to up until the date of closure and you can continue to receive these if you transfer to an alternative provider to complete your studies."
Paul Anderson says the school's eight staff are being supported to find new jobs. Photo / Supplied
Anderson said staff are also being supported to find new jobs.
The school says on its website that it was established in 1986 and is the only private hospitality and chefs' training school of its type in central Auckland.
"Our focus is purely on food service training," it says.
However, its last quality assurance report by the NZ Qualifications Authority in July 2018 said the agency was "not yet confident" in its educational performance.
The school then had 15 staff and 172 students - 79 domestic and 93 international.
"Achievement rates at Auckland Hotel and Chefs Training School (AHCTS) have been below targets and show a slight decline recently. Tertiary Education Commission targets were not met in 2016," the report said.
"Achievement rates for international students have been consistently above 90 per cent."
The Auckland Hotel and Chefs Training School in Mountain Rd, Newmarket, will close on June 26 due to the Covid-19 border closure. Photo / Supplied
The school is only the second known educational casualty of the Covid recession so far, after the closure of New Horizon College, a small English language school in Napier last Friday.
The hotel industry has been particularly hard hit by the closure of the border to non-New Zealanders since March 19, forcing many hotels to go into "hibernation" until international tourism resumes.
