The National Council for Hotel Management Catering Technology (NCHMCT) and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) have signed an agreement for academic collaboration. Students pursuing UG and PG courses in Hospitality at various institutes under the NCHMCT will be awarded their degrees from JNU from the academic year 2023-24.
Gyan Bhushan, Senior Economic Advisor, Tourism Ministry and CEO, NCHMCT and JNU Vice-Chancellor Santishree Pandit signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Thursday, February 23, in the presence of Union Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy at the Institute of Hotel Management, Catering and Nutrition (IHM) Pusa, in Delhi. The collaboration also aims to promote research in the tourism and hospitality sector and allow recognition of the BSc and MSc degree courses in Hospitality and Hotel Administration (HAA), as per a report by PTI.
Addressing the gathering, Reddy said, "We will use this association to work together and we will give good education to students and good technology and products." He also urged the two institutions to think of doing research on ways to promote tourism.
There are 93 institutes under NCHMCT and UG courses are offered in all categories at these institutes, except 12 institutes, which only offer diploma courses in the Food and Craft category, said LK Ganguli, NCHMCT Member Secretary. "Of the 93 institutes, 21 are central IHMs, and 17 of these offer PG courses," he added, stating later that the current annual student intake for UG and PG courses are nearly 12,000 and 550 respectively.
Pandit said that the proposed BSc and MSc courses in HAA were unanimously cleared by the Academic Council and the Executive Council of JNU. The VC added that she was "happy" about the association. "This is India's soft power. And JNU is with the honourable Minister, his government, our dynamic Prime Minister, who believes in the use of India's soft power," she said further.
Pandit stated that JNU will also "gain greatly" from the collaboration. "We already have defence institutes, high research institutes, whom we have been giving degrees and also we have moved up the ranking, in international ranking among universities," she said praising JNU. She later said that the MoU will also "entail academic research, faculty exchange and sharing of best learning and practices", as per PTI.
Meanwhile, Bhushan termed the occasion of the signing of the MoU as a "momentous day". "Hospitality industry is poised for a quantum jump and the institutions under the NCHMCT are also growing further," he said.
According to sources at NCHMCT, efforts are also underway to get similar recognition from JNU for related BBA and MBA courses being run at the Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management (IITTM), Gwalior and the Indian Culinary Institute (ICI). Both are autonomous bodies under the Ministry of Tourism.
The NCHMCT was set up in 1982 by the Centre as an autonomous body for coordinated growth and development of hospitality education in the country. It is based in Noida currently. ICI, on the other hand, has campuses in Noida and Tirupati.
