Standing strong

Stressing on the fact that supply should always be more than the demand, A K Singh, principal /secretary, Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition, Mumbai speaks about the institution’s courses and the market trend By Kahini Chakraborty

Started in 1954, the Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition, is the oldest institute in South East Asia and the largest institute for hotel management in the country at present, highlights A K Singh, principal/ secretary, Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition, Mumbai. For him, it is imperative that students have the right attitude for the service industry, improve their personality and communication skills for a successful career path. The institution, at present, offers a BSc degree in hotel administration, which is a three year course with an intake of 400 students per year. The institute also offers a diploma course in food production for one and half years with an intake of 40 students. “Apart from these two regular courses we also have programmes in skill development which is for two months in cookery and bakery and a one and half month course in food and beverage and housekeeping. These programmes are meant for students who have dropped out of school but want to be skilled enough to work for a living. These programmes are funded by the Ministry of Tourism (MoT), Government of India. We do not charge any fees but pay a stipend of Rs 2000 for the two month programme and Rs 1500 for the six week programme to these students as MoT is laying emphasis on skill development to grow the hospitality and tourism industry,” he mentions adding, “Besides, for people who are already working in the industry, we also offer a one week programme in skill orientation and certification focusing on three segments-kitchen, bakery and housekeeping. We pay `200 per day to trainees which is provided by MoT.”

Change for revival

MoT has 21 hotel management institutions throughout the country and there are 19 state institutions of hotel management which are affiliated to the National Council for Hotel Management and Catering Technology situated in Noida, for the purpose of entrance examination and revision of curriculum. “Since we provide degree courses to students, we have signed an MoU with IGNOU, and the National Council for Hotel Management and Catering Technology is responsible for the timely updation of the syllabus as per the needs of the industry. Last year the council signed an MoU with Lausanne Hospitality Consulting SA (LHC) based in Switzerland which is a subsidiary of Ecole Hotel Management, to train our faculties. Under the course Qualified Learning Facilitator, we have already trained 36 faculties of different IHMs across the country. This training comprises of one week training in India and another week in Switzerland. This year too we are going to train 36 faculties,” he informs. The institution is also looking towards reviewing and changing the syllabus giving more emphasis on the BSc degree course. The new syllabus is expected to be introduced by 2016-17. “It has been proposed that skill based knowledge will be reduced and managerial and application input section will be emphasised so that students can take decisions quickly and explore themselves in their careers. Subjects such as financial management, human resource management, digital branding management and many more could be incorporated into the syllabus. The first two years will have skill development and in the third year the syllabus will focus on managerial operations. This will be across all IHMs,” he says.

The government also has a scheme for central funding to states who wish to develop an IHM. The grant is in the tune of `12-14 crore and the rest will have to be invested by the state governments. Uttarakhand, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand are expected to have an IHM soon.

Talking about the criteria for the selection of students into the institution, Singh says, “Since we have to select about 7000 students for different IHMs across India, the selection is based on written test which has components of the service industry, general knowledge, English and science. IHM Mumbai gets more than 30 companies as recruiters for campus placements. We also have companies other than hospitality chains for students who want to work in a different sector.” There has been an eight to 10 per cent increase in the number of students opting for a hospitality management degree.

Challenges

Strengthening of infrastructure is the need of the hour, he points out, adding that, IHM Mumbai has been fortunate in getting `six crore fund from MoT for development of infrastructure and equipments. In terms of the management scenario, he opines, “As we are now living in the era of digital marketing all companies are focusing on social media to attract guests. The industry is working in new ways to retain guests. Technical advancement is also a major concern along with environment.” Lastly he mentions, “The hospitality industry pays less as compared to other industries in the country, as well as the working conditions are more pressuring. The industry is aware of this and if it is not able to attract manpower and retain them then it will be the loss of the industry itself.”

By Kahini Chakraborty