Celebrating 50 Years of Culinary & Hospitality Education

The 26th of April marked 50 years of excellence in Hospitality and Culinary education in our Galway campus with a Jubilee celebratory dinner.

Galway International Hotel School (GIHS) has an international reputation in offering courses to support the Culinary, Hospitality, Event, Tourism and Heritage Industry. We were the first higher education institute in Ireland in 1977 to award degrees in Hotel Management and have successful alumni networks across the world. For information on all our courses, work placement and careers check out atu.ie/gihs

Beginning his career at age 15 Andrew Ryan worked in a fine dining restaurant, Idás, in Dingle. There, he fell in love with the pastry kitchen. After three years of working Andrew decided to take the next step in his career by studying Culinary Arts at ATU.

Andrew started the programme in 2016 and graduated in 2019. The programme taught Andrew cooking fundamentals. He worked in Restaurant Le M in France for his three-month placement.

Andrew also competed in the IFEX National Culinary competition with the support of the college, he was awarded a silver medal.

Andrew’s final placement was at Ashford Castle. At age 21, Andrew was in his first Sous Chef position. After over four years at Ashford, Andrew moved on to work in a one Michelin Star restaurant and later, took the position of Head Chocolatier at Grá Chocolates.

Andrew has since returned to Ashford Castle where he is now the Executive Pastry Chef.

Andrew Ryan, graduated in 2019 with a Bachelor of Business in Culinary Arts which has recently been redesigned to Bachelor of Arts in Gastronomy Science and Food Innovation. Visit atu.ie/531 for more information.

In January, students and staff of the School of Business in ATU - Galway City completed an impressive five-day tour of four countries, visiting European Institutions in Frankfurt, Strasbourg, Luxembourg, and Brussels. Ronan Sheridan of the European Central Bank (ECB) in Frankfurt gave the students an in-depth description of the ECB’s role in Europe. The students were guests of Maria Walsh, MEP when visiting the European Parliament in Strasbourg, where they were able to view the parliament in session and afterwards attended presentations given by MEPs. During the trip to the European Court of Auditors (ECA), the students were addressed by the President of the ECA, Mr. Tony Murphy and Emily O’Reilly EU Ombudsman. This was followed by a visit to the European Court of Justice where judges gave the students presentations on the work of the Court of Justice and its role with the Irish legal system.

A visit to the European Investment Bank gave a look into the work of the EIB in supporting infrastructure projects in Ireland and across Europe.

On the final day of the trip the students visited the European Commission building in Brussels. During the trip, the students also visited two World War 2 cemeteries, one American and one German.

Sinead Ryan, fourth year student in Economics & Finance said “The trip was an amazing experience! It was a once in a lifetime opportunity it really helped me in my studies, as we cover the European Institutions and European monetary policy in our course.”

To learn more about our business courses, check out atu.ie/business-galway