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WSET sees Diploma soar globally
The Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) has seen a 15% in candidates for its Level Four Diploma in Wines course globally as it celebrates its 55th anniversary.
The drinks education body has reported a total of 134,000 candidates took a WSET qualification last year, which was the second highest number of annual candidates to date. It’s top-level Diploma course has the highest increase across its courses.
The total figure includes 1,962 candidates from 19 countries who took a Diploma exam during the last academic year. Top markets for the Diploma were the UK, USA, Hong Kong, Japan and Mainland China.
It comes as the WSET prepares to celebrate its 55th anniversary with a special dinner at the Vintners’ Hall in the City of London, hosted by the Vintners’ Company tonight (Thursday 19 September).
This year, the WSET has also launched its beer qualifications, a new level two award in sake, and major changes to its exam processing, resulting in faster results for those candidates taking its level one and two courses.
It’s partnership programme has also supported 17 projects to improve access to drinks education for around 500 people, from under-represented communities and those facing financial hardship in 11 countries, to drive a more inclusive and diverse drinks industry.
It has also worked with The Drinks Trust and the WSTA (Wine & Spirit Trade Association) on a new industry-wide programme called Drinks United, set up in response to issues identified around safeguarding and equity for women working in the industry.
The programme’s ultimate aim is to create an ‘inclusive and equitable UK drinks industry, where everyone feels welcome, safe and supported’.
Michelle Brampton, WSET’s CEO, said: “The 2023-24 academic year was a challenging time for us, as it has been for the global drinks industry, so it’s fantastic to see this uptake for our Diploma courses. There’s clearly growing demand for this prestigious qualification, both within the drinks industry and among wine enthusiasts.
“I’m so proud of what we’ve achieved as an organisation over the past year – especially launching our new beer qualifications, digitising our exam results and helping to make drinks education more accessible through our Partnership programme.”
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