A CELEBRITY TV chef has dished out £22,500 to Oxford’s cookery students.

Ken Hom donated the cash to support a culinary mentoring programme at Oxford Brookes University.

Under the Bacchus Mentoring Programme, a scheme within the School of Hospitality Management, every final year undergraduate and every postgraduate student is assigned a mentor from the industry.

It aims to help the students forge connections in the cooking world.

Mr Hom said: “I very much feel part of the team of the Oxford School of Hospitality Management.

“I truly believe that education is the most powerful force for promoting cultural understanding, and it is clear that students greatly improve their chances of finding success and contentment in life.

“At Oxford Brookes University you see world-class programmes which are promoting the serious study of food and drink and their place in culture – something that I have dedicated myself to throughout my career.”

Mr Hom started teaching cooking to pay his way through art and French history studies at the University of California.

An OBE, he has penned 11 cookery books and hosted four BBC TV series.

Links with the university go back to at least 2007 when Oxford Brookes awarded Mr Hom with an honorary doctorate of business, in recognition of his contribution to the international hospitality industry.

Since then he has been a patron of Oxford Gastronomica, Oxford Brookes University’s centre for the study of food, drink and culture.

In 2009 he donated his entire private library of culinary texts to the university.

School of hospitality management head Donald Sloan said: “This latest financial donation from Ken is testament to his incredible generosity and his dedication to enhancing the quality of education for all our students.

“He has always taken a hands-on approach, spending time getting to know students, sharing insights and encouraging them to succeed.

“He has played a key role in our ambition to become the UK’s leading centre for gastronomic education.”