Chennai / 18th February 2022 – With a motive to promote skill development in Indian Hospitality, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) & ITC Hotels have collaborated with the Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL) Education Group of Switzerland to offer an 18-month Vocational Education & Training (VET) Professional Diploma program. Designed by the EHL Group, this professional diploma course is being conducted at four ITC luxury properties including ITC Grand Chola (Chennai), ITC Maurya (New Delhi), ITC Sonar & Royal Bengal (Kolkata) and ITC Maratha (Mumbai).
Over 160 students who have passed 12th standard in school are expected to enrol for VET by EHL in Tamil Nadu this year. The industry experts at ITC Hotels will impart training to the students while CII has assured 100% placement upon successful completion of the ‘VET by EHL’ Professional Diploma program which is recognized by all major hospitality chains worldwide.
Talking about the program, Mr. Praveen Roy, Associate Director and Regional Head of VET by EHL for South Asia, Middle East & Myanmar said “VET by EHL was devised specifically to bridge the current skills gap and to strengthen India’s position as the global hospitality workforce supplier of choice. Employers from the hospitality sector have been facing industry-wide shortage of qualified employees. The traditional hospitality education model lacked soft skills training like communication, leadership, critical thinking, cultural competency, flexibility, and customer service, just to name a few. Tamil Nadu, more specifically Chennai, has a massive tourism potential which not only attracts tourists from all over the world but also provides employment opportunity in hospitality industry, hence, it was crucial for us to tap the market and assess the gap between demand and supply of skilled employees. We witnessed a dire need of skilling the youth at global standards of vocational training which will result in talented hospitality professionals.”
He further added, “Being ranked as the No. 1 hospitality and leisure management school in the world, it was vital to join forces with the stalwarts of the industry to impart the youth with global standards of employable skills. The unique training model of VET by EHL in partnership with one of the leading hospitality brands in India, is being delivered at industry premises and facilitated by industry experts, to prepare the youth for quality employment within the industry. Developed over a two-year period by EHL subject matter experts and faculty members with global industry feedback, the diploma will polish the youth with world-class standards for careers within the wide-ranged hospitality industry”
Mr. Sougata Roy Choudhury, Executive Director, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) commented that, “We at CII aim to direct the attention to the need for skilled, globally benchmarked talent in the Indian Hospitality industry. To deliver global standards of hospitality skills, CII & ITC Hotels partnered with the 129-year-old EHL Group, which is ranked as the No. 1 hospitality and leisure management school in the world for the Vocational training programme. The students will be able to brush their skills sets though interactions with guests in real work settings at ITC Hotels. The program will enable to strengthen talent pipeline in India as we are aiming to expand our presence in the country while adding more hotels to the program in the coming years. We are expecting to enrol close to 10,000 students nationally over the span of 3 years”
He further added, “We have a rapidly growing accommodation offering across the tourist destinations and a sizable population affluent with English in the country. The program provides the students who have passed 12th standard with splendid opportunity to skill and reskill themselves with an international curriculum, while placing them on par and contributing to the ever-expanding hospitality and tourism industry of India. The students will benefit from on-the-job training by the leading hotel chain with assured placements.”
Mr. Nilesh Mitra, Vice President, Talent Management, ITC Limited – Hotels Division said that “To keep up with the evolving industry, the chain of ITC Hotels across the country has been consistently integrating skill-set and learnings to the teaching module. We have an array of highly proficient faculty for the program who are trained and certified by EHL and CII. The programme will help students gain benefit from the immense knowledge and experience of faculty members preparing the youth for frontline jobs in hospitality at global standards. The program provides students from a great opportunity to hone their skill set with on job training.”
To generate maximum awareness for the programme and with a motive to promote education and hospitality, A team of three Swiss students from the EHL Hospitality Business School, Lausanne, Switzerland (EHL), participated in a tour to cycle 2,266 KM from Delhi to Chennai. The one-of-a kind initiative was organized to empower a generation of future thinkers, innovators, leaders and provide them with an impeccable opportunity to upskill themselves from the comfort of their homes by investing in technologies such as an internet connexon, projectors, and computers.
About the Program
The VET by EHL Professional Diploma program is spread over 18 months, divided into three levels of learning – Foundation, Intermediate and Advanced. The Program will offer learning in three distinct streams: ‘Culinary’, ‘Food & Beverage Service’ & ‘Rooms’ that follow VET by EHL’s world-renowned quality-assurance standards. Each certificate level builds skills on top of the previous and culminates into a Professional Diploma.