By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR: The move to convert all degree courses in hospitality education to four years duration in the New Education Policy would result in standardization of the syllabus, faculty and infrastructure, an eminent educationist has said.
Hospitality education has been a driving force particularly for a developing economy like India with the thrust being on supply of skilled manpower, Prof. Sitikantha Mishra, Advisor cum Dean of the School of Hotel Management (SHM), faculty of hospitality and tourism management of the SOA Deemed to be University, said.
Prof. Mishra was speaking at the third virtual lecture of the series ‘Connect 2 Learn’ organised by the institute recently on the subject ‘Hospitality Education in Post Pandemic Scenario: Prospects and Challenges.’
Vivek Pattanayak, former Chairman of the Odisha Public Service Commission (OPSC) and permanent representative of India at the International Civil Aviation Organisation, Prof. Rajendra Prasad Mohanty, former Vice-Chancellor of SOA, Dr. Satish Jairam, Principal and Director, Institute of Hotel Management, Aurangabad, Sharda Sharma, Executive Housekeeper, Radisson Blu Plaza, Delhi Airport and Ashirbad Praharaj, General Manager, Taj Hotels Palaces Resorts and Safaris, Alleppey were the other speakers.
Tracing the evolution of hospitality education in India, Prof. Mishra said the Institute of Hotel Management and Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition, Mumbai, was the first such school in the country established in 1954 by an NGO. Subsequently, the Government of India under the ministry of Agriculture and Food Production took over the institute after which the three-year diploma program in hotel management and catering technology was introduced.
Stating that it was the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) which took up hotel management as a four-year technical education course, he explained the difference between AICTE approved hotel management course and three year courses offered by different universities. The SHM is the only AICTE approved hotel management institute in Odisha.
Mr. Pattanayak, who inaugurated the program, said despite the pandemic students of the hospitality education should remain optimistic and be aware about the new standards being implemented by the aviation industry post pandemic. “The tourism industry, particularly the domestic tourism, is bound to bounce back,” he said.
Prof. Mohanty said service required two attributes, love for humanity and trust for humanity. Hospitality was the most important sector of world economy with a huge potential for employment, he said adding the service sector encompassed the political, cultural, social and environmental forces that drove societal change.
