I have completed Plus Two in the Commerce stream and would like to take up a Hotel Management course for higher studies. Please suggest some good institutes and the admission procedure. Also let me know about its job prospectus.
HARSHA
Hospitality and Hotel Administration or Hotel Management is one of the best higher study options after Plus Two for those who have communication and interpersonal skills, proficiency in English and an outstanding personality. It is a blend of theoretical study and practical experience.
To qualify for jobs as hospitality managers, executives and other operational personnel in the hotel industry and allied sectors, study Hospitality and Hotel Administration at the B.Sc. level or Hotel Management and Catering Technology or related courses at the graduate level.
Some universities and institutes conduct Bachelor of Hotel Management (BHM) and Bachelor of Hotel Management and Catering Technology (BHMCT) programmes, the degree course in Hospitality Science and so on, their durations varying from three to four years. Postgraduate study is possible in this field. Before admission, ensure that the institute and the course chosen for study has infrastructure and training facilities, good faculty and approval of the All India Council for Technical Education and the National Council for Hotel Management and Catering Technology (NCHMCT).
Study facilities
The NCHMCT and the Indira Gandhi National Open University jointly offer a B.Sc. programme in Hospitality and Hotel Administration through 21 Central Institutes of Hotel Management, 12 State Institutes of Hotel Management and 18 private institutes in the country. All these institutes follow standardised course curricula prescribed by the council.
In Kerala, the Institute of Hotel Management functions under the Union government at Kovalam, near Thiruvananthapuram. Its three-year, six-semester full-time B.Sc. Hospitality and Hotel Administration programme equips students with the skills, knowledge and attitude to discharge supervisory responsibilities efficiently in the hospitality sector. The course involves in-depth laboratory work for students to acquire knowledge and skills in the operational area of food and beverage service, front office operation and housekeeping. It provides managerial inputs in hotel accountancy, food safety and quality, human resource management, facility planning, financial management, strategic management, tourism marketing and tourism management.
JEE
Admission is through the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) conducted for all the Institutes of Hotel Management by the NCHMCT, New Delhi. The three-hour examination will have 200 questions to assess numerical ability and scientific aptitude, reasoning and logical deduction, general knowledge, including current affairs, English language skills and aptitude for service sector. Each correct answer carries one mark and wrong answer leads to deduction of 0.25 mark.
A national-level merit list will be prepared on the basis of the marks obtained in the examination. The examination notification may be expected during the last week of November. The test will be held in April. Visit www.nchmct.org for details. In Kerala, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram are the test centres.
The minimum eligibility for admission is a pass in Plus Two with English as one of the subjects. Those appearing in the qualifying examination in 2013 can appear for the JEE. Age limit for general candidates is 22, raised by three years for those belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes. Every student should be physically fit.
The Central institutes and the number of seats: Kovalam (193 seats); Bangalore (242); Bhopal (290); Bhubaneswar (242); Chennai (266), Pusa, New Delhi (258); Chandigarh (242); Goa (307); Gurdaspur (193); Guwahati (129); Gwalior (193); Hajipur (242); Hyderabad (242); Jaipur (193); Kolkata (322); Lucknow (290); Mumbai (386); Shillong (43); Shimla (322); and Srinagar (161).
The State-level institutes and seats: Kozhikode (63); Chandigarh (63); Lajput Nagar, New Delhi (126); Dehradun (126); Faridabad (21); Gangtok (84); Jodhpur (84); Kurukshetra (137); Bathinda, Punjab (126); Hamirpur (126); Silvassa (42); and Tiruchirapalli (95).
Private institutes function in Wayanad (Oriental School of Hotel Management, 126 seats), Munnar (Munnar Catering College, 63), Chennai, Tiruchirapalli, Hyderabad, Kancheepuram, Mohali, Kolkata, Meerut, Jalandhar and so on.
The course fee is more than Rs. 2 lakh. Visit www.nchmct.org for details.
Some other institutes and universities offering various courses are as follows:
Osmania University, Hyderabad: BHMCT.
Mangalore University, Mangalagangotri: BHM, BHS.
University of Mysore, Mysore: BHM.
Bangalore University, Bangalore: BHM.
University of Pune: BHMCT.
Welcome Group of Graduate School of Hotel Administration, Manipal: BHM.
Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi: BHMCT.
Those who have a B.Sc. degree in Hospitality and Hotel Administration or any graduates in Hotel Management are eligible to pursue the M.Sc. course in Hospitality Administration. The Institutes of Hotel Management in Bangalore, New Delhi and Mumbai offer postgraduate programmes.
Job prospects
Global growth and development of tourism has opened up innumerable openings. As a result, the graduating students can find jobs as management trainees in hotel and allied hospitality industry; kitchen management and housekeeping management in hotels; flight kitchens and onboard flight services; Indian Navy hospitality services; customer relations and other services sectors; hospital and institutional catering; shipping and cruise lines, Railways hospitality and catering services, State tourism development corporations; resorts; and multinational companies for their hospitality services, apart from as faculty in hotel management and food craft institutes.
About 80 per cent of the graduates are employed by hospitality and other services sectors through campus and off-campus recruitments. Graduates can work as hospitality executives, catering supervisors, cabin crew in national and international airlines, catering officers in cruise liners and managers and supervisors in tourism development corporations, apart from becoming tourism entrepreneurs.
