Evaluation of gastronomy and culinary arts graduate programs from the perspective of students and academicians

The aim of this study was to evaluate the GCA (GMS) department graduate education from the perspective of students and academicians. In line with the purpose of the study, a qualitative design was created. A two-stage research process was conducted to collect data. In the first stage of the research, secondary source scanning was performed to obtain and report official information about the GCA (GMS) master's programs. In the second stage, interviews were conducted with a total of 45 people, including 27 students pursuing a master's degree in the GCA (GMS) department and 18 academics working in GCA (GMS) departments. Descriptive analysis and content analysis were applied to the data obtained from the interviews. Additionally, the analysis results were compared with the secondary data from the first stage of the research. The research results were grouped under eight themes (Application and Admission Requirements, Quality of Education, Reasons for Choosing Education, Expectations from Education, Problems Related to Education, Thesis Advisor and Thesis Topic Determination Process, Gains from Education, Practice Courses). One striking result of the study is that students and academics interviewed had a positive attitude towards interviews in the admission requirements. On the other hand, concerns about merit (favoritism, cronyism, nepotism) were predictable results. Another significant issue highlighted by the research results was the expectations regarding practice courses.