A fairly new kid in the block, the Sheila Raheja Institute of Hotel Management in Mumbai has already carved a niche for itself by imparting quality education. B P Sahni, principal of the institute and chairman, Ad-Hoc Board of Studies (hospitality studies), University of Mumbai shares his future plans for the institute
With a vision to impart value education in India, the Raheja Group, which runs several premier educational institutes in the country including Sheila Raheja School of Business Management and Research, LS Raheja School of Architecture, LS Raheja School of Art, LS Raheja Technical Institute, opened its hospitality institute, the Sheila Raheja Institute of Hotel Management (SR IHM) in July 2013. Located in Mumbai and nearly two years into operation, the institute has grown significantly in its student strength from 11 in 2013 to 82 in 2014, promising to offer the best of infrastructural facilities, placement opportunities and quality education in the hospitality space. “The Raheja Group believes in imparting value education and they were clear that they wanted to have the best institute and faculty in this domain and hence we started planning for this college five years prior to its opening,” reminisces B P Sahni, principal of the institute and chairman, Ad-Hoc Board of Studies (hospitality studies), University of Mumbai adding that the college boasts of state-of-the-art infrastructure which includes around eight fully-equipped kitchens, two training restaurants, a placement cell, bakery and confectionery rooms, an IT department, guestrooms for student training, gymnasium to name a few.
Affiliated to the University of Mumbai, SR IHM presently offers four courses – BSc in Hospitality Studies, BA in Culinary Arts, Associate Degree in Hospitality Studies and Associate Degree in Culinary Arts. There are also plans to introduce several programmes like MSc in Hotel and Hospitality Administration and Post Graduate Diploma in Food Media by 2015 along with Post Graduate Degree in Facility Management and a hospitality management programme in the near future. “We have already put forth a proposal to the University of Mumbai for the MSc in Hotel and Hospitality Administration course. This master’s degree will be both a two and a three year programme which we are planning to start in 2015. Whereas the Post Graduate Diploma in Food Media will start as an autonomous programme and later on we will get an university affiliation,” elaborates Sahni. With the Raheja Group having their stake in various hotels, graduate students, can either be absorbed in these hotels or can choose to opt for any other hotel visiting the campus. “There are eight hotels under the management of Sandeep Raheja and there are 35-40 hotels under the Raheja Group which is an added advantage for students,” he adds.
Widening reach
With many hospitality colleges in India opting for international tie-ups to keep its students abreast of the latest hospitality trends globally, SR IHM is looking forward to tying-up with the University of West London. “We are planning to have student and teacher exchange programmes so that professors from both the colleges can learn from their counterparts, while students can be kept abreast of the latest technological developments,” he opines adding that presently they have six full-time faculty members and they are planning to invite a chef from The Culinary Institute of America as a guest lecturer.
Speaking about the current scenario in Indian hospitality education, he states, “Our education system needs to be controlled in terms of quality. There are a lot open universities cropping up which do not provide proper hospitality education. The government should cancel the licenses of colleges who are conducting distance education through the open university scheme since this is destroying the hospitality education segment in India. Moreover, teachers need to keep themselves updated on the latest technological developments in this segment through research and pass on this information to students,” says Sahni, adding that there is also a need to improve the working conditions and salary structure of hospitality professionals in order to retain the best talent. “India produces one of the best hospitality professionals in the world. 18 to 19 per cent of students go abroad within one to two years since the motivational levels are low, the salary is pathetic. It is important that a decent salary is paid to students to retain this talent pool,” he suggests.