ITCOT has tied up with the Indian Institute of Tourism & Management (IITM), Calicut, to provide cost-effective, need-based and practical-oriented education and training in hotel management in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry.

The ITCOT-IITM combine will offer hotel management education at 10 centres in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry on the lines of a franchisee model, which is already in successful operation in 'God's Own Country' for the last decade, said V Krishnan, ITCOT managing director, in Chennai.

The first four centres will be ready at Vellore, Erode, Tiruchirapalli and Theni, said Biju Toms, coordinator, IITM. Each franchisee will have to make an investment of at least Rs 12 lakh and meet the exacting requirements of ITCOT and IITM to get the approval, he added.

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The training courses of IITM were so effective that all the 1,200 students who had passed out so far had got placements in the hotel industry. IITM arranges for placement for all students who pass out, he added.

"In the forthcoming academic year, we plan to set up franchises at 10 centres in Tamil Nadu, which will be extended to more centres in due course. Initially, the programmes offered will be postgraduate diploma and diploma in hotel management; and short-tenn diploma in cookery, and restaurant and counter service, which will be extended to other related disciplines in due course," Toms said.

IITM, known for its commitment and expertise in quality education and training, will leverage on ITCOT's expertise in hotel and tourism consultancy, content development, and programme monitoring and evaluation, Toms said, adding that the tie-up will add value to the education-focused initiatives by ITCOT just before its silver jubilee.

llTM perceives it as a major foray into Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry where tourism is well entrenched. Krishnan explained that there were several reasons for venturing into hotel management education.

1 The Confederation of Indian Industry has prepared a vision paper for 2020, which envisages employment of 50 million persons in travel and tourism industry.
2. On an all-India basis, there are 90,000 rooms in the approved category alone and an additional 6,000 rooms are added annually. Assuming a manpower-to-room ratio as 2 per room, the annual requirement of trained manpower for approved hotels alone works out to 12,000 per annum. Then there is demand from other segments like unclassified hotels, flight catering, cruise liners, clubs, industrial catering, corporate catering, hospital catering, restaurants, fast food centres and hotels abroad.
3. Tourism is well entrenched in Tamil Nadu with more than 150 classified and 1,800 unclassified hotels and room strength of 5,000 and 9,170, respectively.
4. One of the major components of the Tenth Five Year Plan strategy for tourism development is to augment training facilities in hotel management and food craft.

For the last two decades, ITCOT has been offering consultancy services to the hospitality industry for market surveys, feasibility studies, project appraisal and asset valuation. Secondly, at ITCOT, education and training has always been an essential service component as evidenced by the fact that "we have conducted over 500 entrepreneurship development programmes covering over 10,000 persons from different socio-economic strata in Tamil Nadu, particularly the youth. We regularly carry out Faculty Development Programmes (FDPs) to train and develop professionals in entrepreneurship development", Krishnan said

"We have tied-up with IITM for several reasons:

1. IITM is an NGO registered as a society in 1994 with the principal objective of youth empowennent, a task that we are also immensely fond of.
2. IITM is a very committed organisation working in close association with several other institutions for the empowennent of youth, particularly those belonging to the weaker sections.
3. IITM is accorded the status of a National Institute by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowennent, Government of India. It is also recognised by the Department of Tourism, Government of Kerala.
4. IITM has set up nine franchises in Kerala, which are functioning very successfully; over 1,300 students are enrolled under different courses."

Toms said the proposed model has several novelties to its credit:

1. Students can choose the centre nearest to their hometown so that the overall cost of education can be reduced.
2. The course fee is very reasonable which even the weaker sections can afford. They will also assist the needy students in availing of educational loans from banks (The cost works out to Rs 12,000.for the one-year certificate course, Rs 23,000 for the graduate course and Rs 46,000 for the PG course.)
3. The programmes will not just be theory-oriented but tailor-made to match specific industry needs. The centres will be fully equipped with classrooms, reference library, kitchen equipment, administrative office, and so on.
4. Students will be provided apprenticeship training in leading hotels.
5. All successful candidates will be given assistance for placement in reputed hotels in the country. So far, IITM has been able to place all successful students in reputed hotels.
6. IITM, known for its commitment and expertise in quality education and training, will leverage on ITCOT's expertise in hotel and tourism consultancy, programme monitoring, and evaluation.

Toms said IITM programmes were successful as they helped students particularly from the weaker sections and lower middle-class to pick up comuunication skills besides the finer aspects of hotel management. However, admission to the programmes will be subject to stringent aptitude tests to ensure professional flair and competence, he added.