By Irfan Mirza
MANY BELIEVE that one of the biggest challenges faced by the hospitality industry in India is the drawing and retention of quality manpower, something that is often blamed it on the exodus of people abroad. However, this does not hold true in the contemporary scenario and the real problem in the inability of Indian hotel management institutions to arm their graduates with the requisite skill sets, spurred by a misplaced focus on quantity over quality.
It is true that a lot of people in the past used to seek job opportunities abroad, but now the scenario has changed and this can be attributed to the voluminous influx of large hotel chains in the country. These chains want to hire skilled professionals, have dedicated departments to look at their welfare and offer them a good pay scale. There definitely is a demand as well as an opportunity for professionals looking to enter the hotel industry, and many institutions have sprung up, seemingly to take up the challenge of feeding this need. Unfortunately, they horrifically fall short.
The primary reason for this short fall could be placed in the fact that that some of the institutes are not teaching skill based knowledge. Consequently, what is happening is that everyone wants to offer students a 3 or 4 year bachelor’s degree programme which is unstructured and badly prepared. Additionally, they do not have the essential foundation of infrastructural capability and faculty, essential for any educational organization. What is taught lacks quality and the students and the industry take the hit. The graduates are unable to secure jobs for themselves above the rung of waiters and cooks and the industry need is not satiated.
To become a waiter or a cook one can do a six month course, but a person holding a bachelor’s degree after three years of what should be intensive training, should have the ability to easily slip into and flourish in their managerial responsibilities. Contrary to this ideal, just recently when I happened to go a five star hotel, I found graduates who have been working as waiters for the past three years!
Knowledge, skill and professionalism are the three takeaways for any student in this field. To imbibe these three assets food craft institutes need to emphasize on a skill based courses. Infrastructural competency is key to attaining this, many hotel management institutes in India are attached to hotels, which have only two or three rooms and two or three tables and chairs, and they call it a hotel management institution! The faculty consists of freshly passed out graduates without any industry experience.
To fill this gap we decided to set up a quality institute, at par with international standards and that is how V M Salgaocar Institute of International Hospitality Education (VMISIHE) was conceptualised. Goa, as a location for the institute, was chosen based on the realization that its presence would not only help the student community but also, help the industry as such, to give proper training for any of the hotel staff, to help them in such a way to bring up the service level.
It took about 8 years for us to set up this institute and it is on par with the international standards. All our equipment is imported and we have very experienced faculties for all course subjects. One of the things our syllabus does is evolve and adapt to changing trends, such as those in technology, in the hotel industry. We aspire to impart specialised skills as well as develop the attitudes and personalities of our students through a well rounded and hands-on programme, something which is essential to sustain the hotel industry bandwagon.
The author is-Director, VM Salgaocar Institute of International Hospitality Education (VMSIIHE) in Goa. As told to Bikramjit Ray.
MANY BELIEVE that one of the biggest challenges faced by the hospitality industry in India is the drawing and retention of quality manpower, something that is often blamed it on the exodus of people abroad. However, this does not hold true in the contemporary scenario and the real problem in the inability of Indian hotel management institutions to arm their graduates with the requisite skill sets, spurred by a misplaced focus on quantity over quality.
It is true that a lot of people in the past used to seek job opportunities abroad, but now the scenario has changed and this can be attributed to the voluminous influx of large hotel chains in the country. These chains want to hire skilled professionals, have dedicated departments to look at their welfare and offer them a good pay scale. There definitely is a demand as well as an opportunity for professionals looking to enter the hotel industry, and many institutions have sprung up, seemingly to take up the challenge of feeding this need. Unfortunately, they horrifically fall short.
The primary reason for this short fall could be placed in the fact that that some of the institutes are not teaching skill based knowledge. Consequently, what is happening is that everyone wants to offer students a 3 or 4 year bachelor’s degree programme which is unstructured and badly prepared. Additionally, they do not have the essential foundation of infrastructural capability and faculty, essential for any educational organization. What is taught lacks quality and the students and the industry take the hit. The graduates are unable to secure jobs for themselves above the rung of waiters and cooks and the industry need is not satiated.
To become a waiter or a cook one can do a six month course, but a person holding a bachelor’s degree after three years of what should be intensive training, should have the ability to easily slip into and flourish in their managerial responsibilities. Contrary to this ideal, just recently when I happened to go a five star hotel, I found graduates who have been working as waiters for the past three years!
Knowledge, skill and professionalism are the three takeaways for any student in this field. To imbibe these three assets food craft institutes need to emphasize on a skill based courses. Infrastructural competency is key to attaining this, many hotel management institutes in India are attached to hotels, which have only two or three rooms and two or three tables and chairs, and they call it a hotel management institution! The faculty consists of freshly passed out graduates without any industry experience.
To fill this gap we decided to set up a quality institute, at par with international standards and that is how V M Salgaocar Institute of International Hospitality Education (VMISIHE) was conceptualised. Goa, as a location for the institute, was chosen based on the realization that its presence would not only help the student community but also, help the industry as such, to give proper training for any of the hotel staff, to help them in such a way to bring up the service level.
It took about 8 years for us to set up this institute and it is on par with the international standards. All our equipment is imported and we have very experienced faculties for all course subjects. One of the things our syllabus does is evolve and adapt to changing trends, such as those in technology, in the hotel industry. We aspire to impart specialised skills as well as develop the attitudes and personalities of our students through a well rounded and hands-on programme, something which is essential to sustain the hotel industry bandwagon.
The author is-Director, VM Salgaocar Institute of International Hospitality Education (VMSIIHE) in Goa. As told to Bikramjit Ray.
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