Sommet Education, one of the worlds leading hospitality and culinary education players, recently joined hands with the countrys premium hospitality institute, Indian School of Hospitality (ISH).
With this Sommet Education now own a 51 per cent stake in the ISH, a significant addition to the former's expansive global network. The strategic partnership allows Sommet Education to establish two of its prestigious institutions in India: Ecole Ducasse, a worldwide education reference in culinary and pastry arts, and Les Roches, one of the world's leading hospitality business schools. With this academic alliance, Ecole Ducasse will now have its first campus in India at ISH, and Les Roches will launch its undergraduate and postgraduate hospitality management programmes in the country.
Follow NewsGram on LinkedIn to know what's happening around the world.
Sommet Education's belief in the Indian market and its potential to grow exponentially made the country the focal point of its development plans. As per the recent data, the Indian hospitality industry has shown a 122.9 per cent growth in RevPAR in Q3 2021 as compared to Q2 2021. The sector bounced back strongly with the relaxations in regulations over travel restrictions post the second wave of the pandemic.
During the recent meeting between Benoit-Etienne Domenget, CEO, Sommet Education and Dilip Puri, Founder & CEO, Indian School of Hospitality, both the leaders shared their future development plans for India. Two are exploring opportunities to launch a second campus, most likely to be located in Mumbai, Bengaluru, or Hyderabad. The duo also plans to set up a network of Ecole Ducasse studios in select cities across India, including New Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru. These studios institutes will cater to the needs of not only hospitality aspirants but also professionals, enthusiasts, and career changers for upskilling and acquiring new skills in line with changing dynamics of the industry. Besides setting Ecole Ducasse studios in India, the expansion of the current ISH Gurugram campus is also underway. The new campus will feature an additional 25,000 sq. ft of classrooms, training kitchens, and student experience areas. This expansion will comfortably stretch the current capacity of the campus to over 500 students.
Speaking about the entering Indian market, Sommet Education CEO, Benoit-Etienne Domenget, said: "India is one of the fastest-growing countries in the world, with hospitality and tourism contributing to a large share of economic growth and employment. As a dynamic young economy, India is the perfect development platform for international education brands to invest in and expand. We are happy to partner with ISH through which enables us to provide Indian students, within the country, with globally renowned standards of hospitality, culinary and management education.
"Together, we will be able to address the industry's need for specialised talent and expertise in a better and more organised manner. Hospitality management and culinary arts aspirants in India and neighbouring countries will now be able to benefit from our combined expertise and explore international career opportunities."
The mutually benefitting collaboration aims to offer a global standard of education to a larger number of hospitality and culinary arts aspirants in the years to come in India and the neighbouring countries. While ISH has set benchmarks with its cutting-edge pedagogical approach, updated curriculum, learning techniques, faculty base, and state-of-the-art infrastructure, expansion of the campus will lay grounds for more talented students to set foot into the exciting field of hospitality and culinary arts and become future leaders who will steer the industry towards success. New facilities are under construction and will be operational by early 2022.
Commenting over the new partnership and expansion plans, ISH Founder and CEO, Dilip Puri, said: "ISH and Sommet Education joined hands for the two share similar belief system and vision of establishing entrepreneurial and developmental mindset among learners. The higher education landscape in India is rapidly transforming. In order to elevate the same to the global standards, ISH, with the help of its new partner, intends to be the pioneer of this transformation, bringing the best of industry education and opportunities from across the world to our students.
Industry demands for hospitality leaders by bringing two of the world's best brandsUnsplash
"Partnering with Sommet Education will also enable us to strengthen our academic offerings and expand our presence pan India, and in neighbouring countries, as now on we will be part of Sommet's prestigious network of 18 campuses across eight countries. We will also be able to further support industry demands for hospitality leaders by bringing two of the world's best brands in hospitality management and culinary education to India."
The current transition in the hospitality and services sector requires future leaders to be well-prepared to take on global opportunities emerging in India and abroad. This tie-up will help ISH to further expand its portfolio of programs with opportunities for students to study semesters abroad and benefit from various pathways within undergraduate and post-graduate programs throughout the Les Roches network of institutions. Students can access opportunities, including pursuing a part of the select course at Les Roches campuses in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, Marbella, Spain and Shanghai. Together the two hold a common vision of empowering learners with new-age skills to stay ahead in the robust and fast-evolving industry and aim to become the country's largest hospitality and culinary arts education player in the next three years. (IANS/PR)
Keywords: hospitality management, culinary education