WSET launches second phase of Chinese pilot programme

The Wine & Spirits Education Trust (WSET) has announced that the first half of 2014 saw the WSET Level 3 award in wines and spirits being run for the first time in Chinese.

The Level 1 award in wine and Level 2 award in wines and spirits have been available in Chinese for some time. The Level 3 initiative was designed to meet the increasing demand from the Chinese market for advanced level wines and spirits courses.

Six of the WSET’s existing approved programme providers (APP) have been participating in a Level 3 pilot programme, during which 150 students from mainland China have studied the course and taken the final exam in simplified Chinese.

During this initial phase, both educators and students have provided the WSET with feedback on every aspect of the newly translated qualification, including the study materials, delivery of the course in the classroom, and the final assessments.

With this data, the WSET intends to extend the pilot programme into a second phase with the six current pilot centres continuing to offer the Level 3 award in Chinese.

Further pilot centres will be recruited later this year from among the organisation’s APPs, which will enable the expansion of the Chinese-language programme from the start of 2015.

Existing providers of the course in Chinese are listed in the ‘Where to Study’ section of the WSET website and on the course location page of the WSET China site.