Your Culinary Journey Starts at Our Expert Cooking School
The first step to mastering the art of gastronomy? Get yourself through the doors of a serious cooking school – one that promises both hands-on experience and global-standard qualifications. At CTIA, we have four cutting-edge campuses in South Africa, a line-up of expertly designed courses for aspiring chefs, and full-day programmes that run Mondays to Fridays (08:00 – 17:00). We teach you how to cook… but we also prep you to lead.
Our full-time programmes are fiercely practical, deeply rooted in industry expectations, and fully intent on getting you job-ready. In fact, 100% of our graduates walk straight into employment. Why? Because we put them there – with top-tier industry placements built into every full-time course.
Master Culinary Techniques at Our Cooking School
CTIA’s full-time Culinary Arts Programme (6 months) gets you straight into the action. Think meat-fabrication labs, stock mastery, global cuisines, plate composition, and even front-of-house finesse. It’s the perfect stepping stone for aspiring line cooks, hotel chefs, or food truck entrepreneurs.
Want more depth? The Advanced Culinary Arts Programme (12 months) pushes you into specialised territory: molecular gastronomy, menu engineering, and international plating trends. Graduates go on to become sous chefs, banqueting coordinators, or travel the world on cruise liners, spatula in hand.
Whisk, Pipe, and Temper with Pro Pastry Programmes
If sugar work and viennoiserie are more your beat, our Pastry Programme (6 months) is all about harnessing precision and pushing creativity. Students go from butter icing basics to chocolate showpiece connoisseurs, gaining the skills to work in bakeries, patisseries, hotels, and high-end catering companies.
Why Settle for One Skillset? Go Combined
Multi-talented chefs are gold in today’s job market. Our Combined Programmes are built to give you a competitive edge with dual-discipline expertise – and trust us, employers notice.
- Culinary Arts and Pastry Combined (12 months): Ideal for future head chefs and bakery owners who want to do it all, from prepping lamb racks to perfecting macarons.
- Culinary Arts and Management Combined (12 months): Cooks who dream of becoming restaurateurs, hoteliers, or driving their own food brands start here.
- Pastry and Management Combined (12 months): Think ops manager by day, chocolatier by night. This is where sugar meets strategy.
- Advanced Culinary Arts and Pastry Combined (18 months): For those who want to dig deep into the technical artistry of both kitchen and pastry lab.
- Chef Management Programme (18 months): Designed to groom future executive chefs and operations managers, from HR to HACCP.
- Advanced Chef Management Programme (36 months): The ultimate course for those plotting global culinary domination. This one’s for you if you’ve got your sights set on a job title like group exec chef, multi-brand restaurant director, or luxury kitchen consultant.
Real Training and Work Experience
All full-time courses are delivered across our Centurion, Mbombela, Stellenbosch, and Durban cooking school campuses, fully equipped with training kitchens, student lounges, secure parking, and everything you need to feel like you belong in this business.
Learn to lead, create, and thrive at the most expert-led cooking school South Africa has to offer.
Enrol in one of our full-time courses now and start plating up your future.