‘Career prospects for students of hospitality education not limited to hotel management’

Career counselling prog held at the State Institute of Hotel Management

Morung Express News
Dimapur | February 7

The Global Hospitality Industry Market was valued at USD 8.49 billion in the year 2022 and is expected to rise to USD 1.74 trillion by the year 2029. With this projection at hand, the need for Naga students to take advantage of the boom, take up hospitality education, and prepare themselves to fill in new job openings in the sector were underscored during a career counselling programme at the State Institute of Hotel Management, Dimapur on Monday.

On the occasion, several speakers including Tiarenla Rutsa, who is the Deputy Director for the Nagaland Tourism Department, addressed the students highlighting career prospects as well as challenges in the hospitality industry.

As a hospitality student herself, she encouraged the students to explore the many possibilities in the tourism and hospitality sector with passion. She also observed that there has been a sustained interest in rural tourism especially after the pandemic in 2020, and encouraged the students to find innovative ways to scale up the sector. 

Speaking on the topic ‘objectives and prospective of hotel management,’ the Head of Department, Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition (IHM), Guwahati Khagen Saikia said that the Union Tourism Ministry and the National Council of Hotel Management and Catering Technology (NCHMCT) has facilitated at least 21 Central IHMs as well as state IHMs and affiliated private IHMs, and various scholarships for SC/ST students, to provide quality hospitality education. However, very few students from the northeast region take up careers in the hospitality sector.

Taking the example of the IHM in Guwahati, he informed that only about 20 percent of the students are from the northeast region. The tourism ministries of the northeast states have reserved seats for students from their respective states, and Nagaland has 6 reserved seats; but in the last 2-3 years, even those seats have not been filled up.

As such, he encouraged the students which include the SIHM students and students from other institutions, to access the seats through the State Tourism department, if they wish to pursue careers in the hospitality sector. He also gave information on the joint entrance exam conducted by the NCHMCT, the ranking system, and placement in institutes.

Saikia further noted that there is a prevalent trend in the region where parents decide what their children should study after passing class 12 while some students simply decide based on what others are doing. This type of career counseling programmes become especially important in order to create awareness and widen the scope, he added.
Similarly, Senior lecturer at the IHM, Guwahati Himanta Baishya gave a presentation on the various courses offered at the institute, the facilities, and activities conducted, and how the students can apply for entrance exams, etc. 

According to him, career prospects for students of hospitality education are not limited to hotel management. Contrary to popular beliefs, various other industries including the banking sector, Multi National Companies, retail sector, as well as the health sector, etc., prioritise absorbing students of hospitality education into their workforce, he maintained.

Meanwhile, Village Council Chairman of Purana Bazar-B, Echongbemo Humtsoe maintained that for people to survive in a place like Nagaland which has no heavy or medium industries, the only way to survive is through agriculture and tourism.

He said that Nagaland is an unexplored ‘tourism’ paradise and as such the students should educate themselves, and explore this sector. He also advised the students to work hard not only in studying their books but also in improving their other skills as ‘bookish’ knowledge alone does not guarantee employability.

Further, Dr Soumitra Sen, Dean of Royal Global University & Former Principal, IHM Guwahati remarked that many jobs are now vanishing with the advent of AI and mechanisation. However, as the tourism and hospitality are mostly based on human interactions, the sector would continue to flourish and job opportunities would remain. In this connection, he asked the students to give serious thought to pursue careers in the sector and take advantage of the information resources, pamphlets provided during the programme to inform themselves of the opportunities.

Master of ceremony Alemjungla Jamir informed that at present, the SIHM has 120 students enrolled in a three month short term course and the admissions for the three-year course is expected to begin in July.  Assistant lecturer, IHM Guwahati Sanjay Kumar proposed the vote of thanks.