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Perfectly honed for the hospitality industry
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The Welcomgroup Graduate School of Hotel Administration can pride itself in turning out bright young people to work in the hospitality industry
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The curriculum provides hands-on exposure to hotel operations
THE WELCOMGROUP Graduate School of Hotel Administration (WGSHA) at Manipal has carved a niche for itself as one of the leading hotel management colleges in the country. The college was established in October 1986 by the Dr. T.M.A. Pai Foundation, keeping in view the need for professionally-trained personnel in the fast growing hospitality industry. The Foundation joined hands with Welcomgroup, the hotels division of the ITC Ltd., in August 1987. Welcomgroup is a progressive hotel chain having links with Sheraton Inc., U.S.A., whose training and development activities have been recognised by the International Hotel Association, Paris.
Though the college was earlier affiliated to Mangalore University, the four-year degree programme in Hotel Management offered by WGSHA is being conducted by the Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), a deemed university, with effect from 2003-04. The course is recognised by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and has been awarded Grade A by the National Board of Accreditation. WGSHA is the first hotel management institute listed by the Council of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Education (CHRIE).
This new affiliation to MAHE will give considerable autonomy to WGSHA to change its syllabi according to the needs and necessities of the hospitality industry. Based upon a detailed study of course contents of hotel management schools of international repute, the syllabus for the four-year degree programme covers 30 subjects which will put the students of WGSHA on equal footing with their counterparts graduating from the best hotel management colleges in India and abroad. The curriculum provides experiential inputs and hands-on exposure to hotel operations at the Hotel Valley View International, which is attached to the college, as well as at the Welcomgroup and other hotels across the country.
The curriculum is designed to provide the students with an optimal mix of general education, knowledge of the hotel and catering industry, managerial and business administration inputs, personality development activities and specific skills orientation. As a programmed activity, each student undergoes 30 weeks on-the-job training during the four-year course at an approved hotel or catering unit. All students have to put in a minimum of eight hours a week for on-the-job training at the WGSHA. This training is provided in addition to the requisite practicals and industrial training as per the curriculum. The on-the-job training motivates students and improves their efficiency.
The college has a well-equipped library with 4,500 books, besides general and trade journals including international ones. It also has a collection of over 120 videocassettes on a variety of topics and five Internet terminals. The lab kitchen has 50 workstations for honing the students' culinary skills.
There are seven centrally air-conditioned classrooms with latest teaching aids such as LCD panels, direct projectors and others. In order to facilitate all-round development of the students, the college has various clubs such as performing arts club, gastronomy club, photography club, marketing club, fine arts club, and wine club.
The college has a dynamic placement cell to help students in placement with leading national and international organisations in the service industry. Leading organisations from the hospitality industry visit the WGSHA every year for campus recruitment. The students have made the institution proud by joining prestigious organisations. This also testifies to the world-class education and training here.
WGSHA proposes to start a one-year postgraduate Diploma in Dietetics for those seeking a career in hospitals.
It was the great educationist, the late T.M.A. Pai, who dreamt of making Manipal a modern university town, which would provide world-class education. WGSHA has been successful in realising this dream in the hospitality industry. It has done full justice to its mission of moulding men and women into competent and responsible professionals with pleasing personalities, who would, with requisite experience, become leaders in the hospitality industry.
GANESH PRABHU
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