Mansi Charan

BA (Hons) Culinary Arts Management

Best Placement

The Burj Al Arab is an iconic hotel and one that Mansi Charan knew of and had seen many times as she was born and brought up in Dubai.  It was a dream come true for her then to hear that she could do her one year industrial placement there as part of her BA (Hons) Culinary Arts Management course.

The even better news was, having completed the placement Mansi learnt that she had won the UCB He Academic Award for Best Placement.

She described her time at the Burj Al Arab as a life changing experience. She worked in all but one of the kitchens in the hotel, including the fine dining, buffet, pastry and bakery and even the butchery areas, starting on basic skills tasks like peeling the skin off peas but working her way up fast to more responsible positions.

A particular high point was when the Chef de Cuisine asked for Mansi to come back to the main signature restaurant just four months after she started to concentrate on the amuse bouche and starters.

Without doubt Mansi feels that what she learnt on the course prior to doing the placement equipped her with the skills she needed to work confidently in the kitchens. 

Mansi’s plans for the future include possibly doing a Masters degree in finance to help her understand the finer details of business.   In fact, when Mansi was at school she majored in science, maths and computing and thought that she would go towards a career in engineering but managed to convince her parents that working in the culinary world was the way forward. Soon she will be able to combine her interests in all those areas it seems.

For now however she is happy continuing her course, enjoying the many friendships she has made at UCB and “ seeing where the wind takes me” she says.

For further information please contact Jane Smith j.c.smith@ucb.ac.uk