Pennsylvania College of Technology is set to provide a quicker pathway to a baking and pastry arts career through a new 12-month certificate in professional baking and a revision to its associate degree in baking and pastry arts that will make a degree obtainable in 16 months.

Allowing students to enter the workforce more quickly helps to meet the needs of the hospitality industry, where there is a high demand for skilled baking and pastry arts professionals. Students will incur a lower financial cost.

Both majors provide a robust yet compact education with extensive hands-on learning. Curriculum has been updated to meet industry needs, helping to ensure students will land jobs.

Both the one-year certificate and the three-semester associate degree provide a core of foundational baking courses. The associate degree, which formerly encompassed four semesters of study, provides advanced coursework in the pastry arts, as well as facilities planning, bakery operations, retail operations, and more.

The majors will incorporate focused eight-week courses and a summer internship. Lab hours for students pursuing the associate degree will remain essentially the same as they had under the former, two-year format, but with greater attention to fewer courses at a time.

Students in both programs will continue to receive comprehensive theory in the art and science of baking production and learn in state-of-the art facilities.

Further, they will be eligible for unique Penn College experiences that include practicing skills in Le Jeune Chef (an on-campus, fine-dining restaurant that is open to the public), interning at the Kentucky Derby, and providing demonstrations at the Philadelphia National Candy Show.

The 16-month, three-semester baking and pastry arts associate degree will launch in fall 2019. Students can begin enrolling in the 12-month professional baking certificate in fall 2020. Graduates of either major can continue their studies toward a bachelor’s degree in applied management.