Fast Food Degrees

KFC launches finger lickin’ good honours degree

A previous post some 18 months ago noted that Morrisons was to fund 20 students a year to undertake a business and management degree it is sponsoring. Before that there were reports of Wal-mart partnering with a US university and Harrods joining forces with Anglia Ruskin.

Now there is the exciting news from People Management that the fast food chain KFC is to launch a degree:

Fast food chain KFC has launched a BA honours degree in business management for its staff, which the employer will part fund.

The business has invested £600,000 to fund half of a three-year degree course for 60 restaurant managers over the next five years, with the first cohort starting in 2013.

Students will attend sessions at De Montfort University, which has partnered with KFC to deliver the degree, in addition to using KFC in-house training, which will also count towards the final qualification.

Employees will have the flexibility to fit their coursework around a 45-hour working week, which will help them pay the remaining £4,500 course fees.

As yet it seems that the selection criteria aren’t entirely clear. However, it looks like there will be a very busy week for the students given that they will be working in restaurants for 45 hours. Shouldn’t be too many complaints about contact hours therefore.

The Guardian report adds:

Professor David Wilson, deputy vice-chancellor and dean of business and law at De Montfort University, added: “At De Montfort University, we pride ourselves on our ability to adapt our skills and services to match the needs of business. This is an important new contract for De Montfort University and we are delighted to have this opportunity of working with such a major player in the global restaurant market.”

No doubt the students will be demanding customers. There was much speculation that we would see lots of this kind of course post-Browne. However, it’s more of a trickle than a flood.