Career Heroes - Mark Rice

Tell us more about you

I’m the Curriculum Hub Manager for Hospitality & Tourism at Belfast Metropolitan College, where I’ve worked as a lecturer for the past 19 years.

Outside of work, but closely related to it, I like food and travel! Most of my interests and hobbies are around eating and being outdoors. Northern Ireland, especially the north coast, has some of the best restaurants that I like to visit and I like exploring the coastline with my wife, Janet, and our dog, Mitzi.

Working in education, I take full advantage of the summer holidays and spend downtime between Ballycastle on the north coast and a fantastic little place called Santa Pola on the Costa Blanca, Spain. This allows me to indulge in my third hobby, wine!

What kind of work do you do?

As Curriculum Hub Manager for Hospitality & Tourism, I work with my colleagues across all six Further Education Colleges in Northern Ireland to provide a range of courses that are relevant and up-to-date, that learners will enjoy, and to help them progress to other higher level courses or into employment within the Hospitality & Tourism sector. This may include roles in areas such as Cheffing, Culinary Arts, Food Service, Hospitality Management, Tourism, Tourism Management, Aviation, Events, Events Management, and Tour Guiding.

Part of my role is office based, but I use digital tools such as video calls regularly to communicate with my colleagues who are spread across Northern Ireland.

I also work with employers, sector bodies, and government bodies to keep up with current trends and issues affecting the hospitality and tourism sector, and identify ways that education and industry can work in collaboration to attract, develop, and retain new employees, as well as employees already working in the fast-paced and vibrant industry.

For this part of my role, I often attend meetings and conferences in various hotels, restaurants, and venues across Northern Ireland, and sometimes I get invited to some fantastic events too!

My role is a mix of both teamwork and independent work. I rely on the immediate team around me within Belfast Met and across the other five Further Education Colleges to set the aims and objectives of the Curriculum Hub, and I then independently complete and drive the tasks required and report back regularly to the team with my results and progress made.

How did you become a Curriculum Hub Manager?

I always wanted to work in hospitality, either as a Chef or Front of House. I completed a general hospitality course at Belfast Met covering both and then went on to complete a food service course in Germany, which was a fantastic experience.

I returned to Belfast Met to complete a BTEC National Diploma in Hospitality & Institutional Operations. I knew at this stage it was management and front of house that I wanted to work in, so I did a master’s degree in Hospitality Management at Dundee University.

I’ve been fortunate to have had various roles within the hospitality sector; I worked in a bar as a teenager, was a part-time food service waiter and chef during college and university, and progressed to management positions in hotels and the catering sector working in areas like Accommodation Services, Sales and Marketing, Duty Management, and Human Resources.

For the past 19 years I’ve worked in education; in Belfast Met as a lecturer in Hospitality Management, teaching various courses across the curriculum, and now as the Curriculum Hub Manager for Hospitality & Tourism.

If you could do-over, What would you do differently?

There is very little I would do differently. I chose to work in an industry that has given me many opportunities, education, career progression, and work satisfaction. I’ve never had the need or desire to consider any other career choice, as all of my aspirations have been met.

Reflecting back, I only have one possible regret, that I didn’t make the most of the opportunities that hospitality allows for working globally. The skills we have are required worldwide and there are many places in the world I’ve not been to and would like to have gone to. Working within hospitality would have allowed me to do that.