The Higher Education Review

The Indian hospitality sector is about to witness a major thrust in the coming years due to the ever-increasing number of travelers and the rise in the demand for quality hospitality personnel and organizations. Many institutions in the country are offering various hotel and hospitality management courses to just cash in on the immense market opportunities. However, one of the major requirements of the hotel management education sector is to include adequate industrial training and real-life exposure to their curriculum. Many institutes are finding it hard to impart the right balance between theoretical and practical knowledge to their students and this has developed into one of the major concerns that need to be addressed by the Indian hospitality management education strata to compete with other foreign institutes.

Founded in the year 1993, SRM Institute of Hotel Management or SRM IHM has completed more than 25 years of service in spreading holistic hospitality education reaping a bountiful harvest of successful alumni all across the globe. With their student-centric approach, SRM IHM has grown to become one of the elite hotel management institutes in the country and they are the only private institution in Tamil Nadu to be affiliated to the National Council of Hotel Management and Catering Technology, Ministry of Tourism. Operating with a vision to achieve excellence in the field of hospitality education and to be the most preferred recruitment destination, SRM IHM has given emphasis on three ideologies - education to employment, learn by doing, and earn while you learn.

Passion for Education Being the Secret Sauce
SRM Institute of Hotel Management started with the motive of serving quality standardized hospitality education and to provide hands-on training in the operational hotel functioning near the campus. The curriculum of SRM IHM is framed according to UGC rules and is revamped once every three years which enables the students to learn all the updated trends that are followed in the

hotels. "Every branch of SRM IHM is attached with a fully operational hotel that enables the students to get hands-on training. Many leading hotels drive into the campus for interviews and besides hotels cruise lines, retailers and IT sectors also select our students, which yields an impressive 97 percent in placement. The branches of SRM hotels are situated at Trichy, Tuticorin and Ramada at Chennai allowing the students to receive their IET training and also to do their OJT and part-time evening and vacation jobs without any major fuss. Apart from SRM hotels our students also receive their training in intercontinental hotel groups like ACCOR, NOVOTEL, TAJ Group of Hotels, Oberoi Hotels and many more" converses Dr. Antony Ashok Kumar, Director, SRM IHM.

"SRM IHM consistently aims at preserving the authentic and traditional way of cooking through the ingredients, cutleries, and also in reviving the forgotten recipes, ingredients and methods"

As far as the subjects of hotel management are concerned, apart from the four core subjects that are Food Production, Food and Beverage Service, Accommodation Operations and Front Office, the institute also offers many allied subjects such as sales and marketing, accountancy, nutrition, food science, food safety and quality, HACCP, financial and strategic management, and languages like English and French. The faculties of the institute never fail to identify the unique talents and interests of the students and help to develop their personality. The students of SRM IHM receive plentiful training in welcoming and escorting the guests as the visit of VIP's and VVIP's are more frequent in the institute. This curriculum of SRM IHM gives major emphasis on imparting practical knowledge for their students and that is made through various practical classes such as organizing different workshops, and demonstrations which also help the students to become more creative and innovative.

Equipped with the Best
The institute fully understands the importance of having well-equipped faculty members and offers various faculty development programs periodically internally and also at other colleges and institutes. More room and space is created for the faculties to update themselves through paper presentations, conferences, and seminars. They are also sent to

participate in various exhibitions and competitions like AHAR and SICA. SRM IHM also ensures that all the faculty members especially the faculties handling the core subjects begin every academic year after attending the faculty immersion program for around 7 to 10 days in leading hotels to refresh their knowledge and to become updated with the current trends of the industry. As far as the campus of SRM IHM is concerned, it functions with updated labs with innovative equipment and designs. SRM IHM consistently aims at preserving the authentic and traditional way of cooking through the ingredients, cutleries, and also in reviving the forgotten recipes, ingredients and methods.

Students gain a lot of exposure and experience along with laurels by participating in various competitions that happen nationally and internationally. Our students have added an additional bright jewel by winning the bronze medal in South East Asia's Culinary Expo that was held at Srilanka.

The institute also has very strong industry tie-ups and collaborations with leading international universities such as the Southern Cross University (Australia), Kent State University (USA), UBIS University (Switzerland), ALMA (Italy), and Vatel Hotel and Tourism Business School to name a few. The Institute's contributions to both the hospitality education fraternity and industry hasn't gone unnoticed and they have been awarded on multiple occasions including being ranked first by the Competition Success Review for eight consecutive times and being accredited by the Higher Learning Accreditation Commission of Texas which is one of the finest body in the field of hospitality education across the globe. The World Association of Chefs Societies (WACS) has also recognized SRM IHM as the No.1 Hotel Management Institute in India for providing a high standard of quality culinary education and also for contributing to the continued growth of the global hospitality and food service industries.

Dr. Antony Ashok Kumar, Director
With his prolific academic and industry exposure, Antony has played a key role in the development of SRM IHM and he has got more than two decades of exposure in various industries. He has also worked as a lecturer in various prestigious institutions before taking the place of the Director of SRM IHM.