IHM holds 40th Board of Governors meet
Opens satellite campuses at Pahalgam, Achabal, Kokernag; plans to open at Manasbal, Verinag; Institute achieves Cent per cent placement of its students, majority of part time students in country’s top notch hotels Sarmad Hafeez advised collaborative efforts between IHM, Tourism Deptt., asks for holding capacity building of local youth, stakeholders
SRINAGAR : The 40th Board of Governors meeting of Institute of Hotel Management, Rajbagh was held today under the chairmanship of Sarmad Hafeez, Secretary Tourism, (Chairman, BOGs, IHM Srinagar) at civil Secretariat, here.
During the meeting it was informed that the Institute has opened satellite campuses at Tourist destinations like Pahalgam and Achabal-Kokernag, and near future the Institute is planning to open satellite centers at Manasbal & Verinag. The aim of these sponsored programmes is to make youth employable. Also the entire batch and a large number of part time students were placed in top notch hotels across the country.
Among others L. K. Ganguli, Director (A&F) National Council for Hotel Management, & Catering Technology, Fazlul Haseeb, Director Tourism, Kashmir, Vivekanand Rai , Director Tourism, Jammu, Minga Sherpa, MD-JKTC, Vinit Chhabra, GM, The Khyber Hotel Gulmarg, Jitendra Kumar Chand, GM, Vivanta By Taj, and other officials from PWD (R&B) Department, attended the meeting.
Chairing the meeting, Sarmad Hafeez directed the institute for filling all the vacant seats in various disciplines and not let any seat go vacant. In this regard he directed launching an awareness drive by the institute management among the local youth and local stakeholders to improve the level of professionalism in the local tourism industry.
The Tourism Secretary appealed the local hoteliers to come forward and help in the placement of passed outs of the institute so that the industry in future is run on professional lines and the local resource and talent is promoted and showcased in the industry.
Terming IHM as a premier institution which is nationally recognised in the tourism and Hospitality sector, he asked for holding more capacity building courses for the local youth and staff of the hospitality sector so that the entire tourism trade gets managed professionally in the coming times. In this connection, he also advised for collaborative efforts by the institute and the Tourism Department.
Earlier Principal, IHM Srinagar, Qazi Shabir Ahmad gave a resume of the activities being carried out at the institute. He said regular courses and other short term courses in Tourism & Hospitality are being conducted by the institute under Capacity Building of Service Providers (CBSP) Scheme.
He informed the meeting that during the academic year 2021-22, all the students of final year were placed in leading Hotels, including premier 5 star hotels, across the country and some were recruited by the leading hotels of J&K. Besides, 524 students / staff were trained by the Institute under Capacity Building Programme of Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India and 60% of such students were placed in various big and small hotels. The students are trained free of cost under CBSP Scheme and the programme is funded by Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India.
The Board members appreciated the efforts made by IHM Srinagar and also directed the Principal to achieve the assigned targets received from the Ministry for current financial year.