BHUBANESWAR: The Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management (IITTM) is all set to launch one-year post-graduate diploma in aviation management, first of its kind in the country, here to meet manpower shortage in the booming civil aviation sector.

The IITTM, which is organising its yearlong silver jubilee celebrations from January 18, will offer the diploma course with an initial intake of 30 students from July this year. ``The civil aviation sector is witnessing enormous growth in recent times. It needs huge skilled manpower in the service sector. The Tourism Ministry has given the green signal for the course,'' Sitikanth Mishra, Director of IITTM, told mediapersons here on Friday.

``Advices were also solicited from aviation companies such as Air India, British Airways and Kingfisher Airlines on prospects of the new course. They want to have a look at the first batch of students before commit anything,'' Mr. Mishra said adding that the Civil Aviation Ministry would also be consulted.

He said the prospects of the course would be assessed through feedback from industry before increasing the seat strength to 60. The self-finance diploma course would have annual fee of Rs 90,000 per year while the syllabus would be followed from the aviation management courses in University of Hawaii, USA and Austria Krem University. ``We are looking for a collaboration with Air India Staff College for exchange of faculties for the course,'' Mr. Mishra said. The IITTM Director said the students would be selected through common admission test (CAT) and management aptitude test (MAT).

The Bhubaneswar centre, which is now operating at Sishu Bhawan Square here, is likely be shifted to its new campus at Dumdama.

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