Education

Dubai gets its first Indian hotel management institute

Joy Roy Choudhury - Kolkata

Kolkata-based International Group is going to set up the first Indian hotel management institute in Dubai, which has 45 star category hotels but only one hotel management institute. This would be the second institute in Dubai.

Absence of proper training institutes result in the country importing 80 per cent service from neighbouring countries of which 70 per cent is from India.

"Every year a large number of our students are absorbed by 5-star hotels in Dubai like Fairmont, Hilton, Jumeria etc. Through this institute, we aim to target not only the local students but also middle-class NRIs based in Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and other neighbouring middle-east countries," said Suborno Bose, founder-chairman of the International Group.

The institute will be set up at 'Knowledge Village', which is a hub of education institutes with S. P. Jain Management Institute being the only other Indian institute there.

The group, which is currently on a diversification spree, has chalked out an expansion plan entailing an investment of around Rs. 100 crores of which around Rs.35 crores is earmarked for the Dubai project.

To be jointly financed by the group and a Malaysian financial company, the institute would initially kickstart operations imparting training in hospitality management but will soon after delve into other spheres of professional education like Information Technology. The students will be awarded a twin degree, a three-year Diploma in Hotel & Catering Management as well as a BA in International Hospitality Management awarded by Queen's Margaret University College of UK, which currently enjoys a six-year alliance with the group.

Like its Indian counterparts, IAM (Institute Of Advanced Management) and IIHM (International Institute of Hotel Management), the Dubai institute will be run on the Swiss concept of combining a commercial hotel with a hotel management institute so that students can work in a real-life hotel environment even while studying. IIHM is one of the leading hotel management schools in the country with a 40-room business hotel attached to its campus at International Tower, Salt Lake.

"The concept of hotel school is relatively new to India and it helps in balancing the peak and off-peak load wherein the students work maximum in the peak time and study in the off-peak season," says Bose.

The group, which currently runs hotel management institutes, a B-school and a technical education institute has chalked out a global expansion plan. "The Dubai project is the group's first step towards realising a global vision of taking the hallmark of Indian hospitality on an international platform," mentioned Bose. Plans are afoot to set up 10-odd hotels in different tourist destinations across the country in the next two to three years.