Weekly industrial experience for the students.

OBJECTIVES OF THE PRACTICE:

• Exposure for students to various styles of catering events.

• Giving the students a wide array of event experiences.

• Matching the students’ theoretical knowledge with practical industry knowledge

THE CONTEXT:

There have been a lot of reasons why hotel management students do not opt for hands-on training during their first year of graduation. One main reason for this is the long hours of physical work that need to be put in for the job. Another major issue was the misunderstandings caused between the hotel staff during work and the students. In order to reduce this gap and eventually eliminate the issue, Ambrosia IHM devised a plan to send the students first to the Five Star Properties, where we had good coordination. After each weekly experience, feedback from both the employee and employer was taken, and the strengths and weaknesses of students were identified according to which they were groomed for the rest of their curriculum.

THE PRACTICE:

In the case of any special functions or VIP events at various five-star properties in Pune, the property requires “skilled labor” for that event to go as per their planning.

• Ambrosia IHM grooms its students in various batches in order to send them to work at such events on a weekly basis after the college timings.

• The sending of students for weekly work is planned in such a way that each student gets an experience of every department in order to clarify their future path of career.

• Although there are certain limitations to this practice, such as leaving late at night after the winding up of events, which restricts the college from sending students due to various safety and security reasons, This is overcome by sending students to various five-star properties that either offer accommodation for a night after a late-night shift or a home drop-off facility.

• It has been observed that after following this practice, students have practiced working with the international standards of the hotel industry that they have learned in their theory lectures.

Evidence of Success:

• The five-star properties with whom the college is attached request that the college students attend all the VIP events, as the students are already accustomed to and groomed for handling such an event.

• The students willingly participate in working for these events, which showcases the interest created to work in the hotel industry and be a part of the learning process.

Problems encountered and resources required:

• The permission required to allow the students to have weekly industrial experiences was initially not granted by the parents due to security and safety issues.

• The college work load and the weekly industrial experience were initially clashing, and it was necessary to guide the students to organize and multitask.

Entrepreneurship Development Program for Students

OBJECTIVES OF THE PRACTICE:

• To impart the basic knowledge of operating a small-scale business in a set time period.

• To apply the knowledge acquired during the course in a way that proves or disproves the book's theories.

• To provide a platform for students to participate in competitions, showcase talent, and learn from each other.

  THE CONTEXT:

THE CONTEX

• Working in the hospitality industry requires a lot of research and training in addition to mental and physical hard work. In order to have a step-by-step experience of the same, the Entrepreneurship Development Program was started.

• The hospitality industry demands deep-rooted knowledge of the end customer's requirements. Having very heavy competition in the business world makes this study tougher. Starting at smaller levels and anticipating these requirements gives you an extra edge in the latter half of your career.

• It has been observed that many difficulties arise during the early working days of the hospitality industry. This arises mainly due to the long working hours. The Entrepreneurship Development Program is designed to give the students a systematic approach to increasing their work stamina.

• 4. THE PRACTICE:

• In any EDP activity, the third-year students lead the team with planning, project reports, staffing, budgeting, and teaming their juniors in appropriate teams for each group.

• Under their curricular syllabus, the third-year students plan an activity that showcases their talent through a well-planned menu, proper costing of the food raw materials, and proper execution of the planned recipes.

• The students reach out to a set group of clients, who will be their future guests in the hospitality industry. They gain the knowledge of intercepting the guest's needs in terms of food and service and completing the same.

5. EVIDENCE OF SUCCESS:

• With the start of EDP events, there has been a steady rise in orders at every event, and the number of repeat customers has been increasing.

• The EDP team gives feedback forms at the end of every event to every customer in order to upgrade the quality of their product and increase word-of-mouth publicity. The team has seen a significant change in the feedback forms; the changes in products have reduced, and the number of orders has increased.

Problems encountered and resources required:

• Entrepreneurship is a virtue that comes with continuous practice and hard work in order to get better at it. The first major hurdle during the start of this best practice was forecasting the amount of food to be made for the entire event. In the initial EDP activities, the production of food in excess quantity was a major issue. This was resolved by making perfect calculations on paper and achieving the same in reality by following the standard recipes.

• Another problem faced during the operation of this best practice was the amount calculation in the initial stage. Calculating the overhead costs and calculating the sales and profits was a major task, and many students initially failed at it. This had to be rectified by making the students practice accounting tally and apply it to the EDP events at every step.