Good Shepherd College to offer Swiss degree in hotel mgt

Kochi, Sep 5 (UNI) Ooty-based Good Shepherd College of Hotel Management (GCHM) today announced a tie-up with the renowned 'Cesar Ritz' Colleges of Switzerland to offer a bachelor's degree in 'International Business in Hotel and Tourism Management.' Announcing the 'twinning programme' at a press conference here, Dr P C Thomas, President, GCHM, said the three-year programme was the first of its kind in the country with a foreign tie-up and would set new quality standards in hotel management education in the country.

''The course is designed to meet the burgeoning requirements of the world's service industries for professionally trained and internationally qualified hoteliers and entrepreneurs.

''In India alone, 37 new five star hotels are slated to come up in the metros in this financial year. In South India, investments worth Rs 4,500 crore are expected in the hotel industry,'' he added.

On the hotel management course, he said a degree from the Cesar Ritz College would be awarded at the end of the programme. While the first two years of the course would be conducted at Ooty, the last year would be conducted in Switzerland, followed by a six-month internship there.

The course fee would be Rs three lakh per year for the two-year stint in India and about Rs 15 lakh for the last year in Switzerland.

He said Indian Bank had agreed to provide up to 85 per cent of the expenditure as educational loan.

Ms Tanja Kisselef, Dean, GCHM, said the students would get about Rs 80,000 per month as stipend while in Switzerland. The course had been structured to create managers and hotel entrepreneurs with a global mindset, she said.

Dr Thomas said admissions were on and the college would take 60 students every year on the basis of an entrance test. The first batch would start in October this year.

Earlier, speaking at the press conference, Former Kerala Fisheries Minister Dominic Presentation congratulated GCHM for its efforts to set international standards in hospitality education in India.

Speaking of the course's relevance for Kerala, he said tourism and IT were the fastest growing industries in the state.

UNI