It is imperative to note that the socio-economic prospects cannot be attained without providing so-called backward communities with ample opportunities in education & employment as it is identified as the root cause of their backwardness. Having realized this fact, IIB Education in association with State Resource Centre (SRC) Kerala has been initiated the project of imparting the Skill Development program Professional Diploma in Hotel management Catering (PDHMC).

It was identified that, Bestowing them with ample job opportunities in to the world of a flourishing Industry like Hospitality & allied sectors, would be most appropriate, in terms of extending employment opportunities by enabling and grooming them to grab the job opportunities in India & Abroad.

Currently both the employment representation of the SC Community is found relatively low in both the government and corporate arena in general. This is chiefly due to the lack of education in various specialty sectors orienting the prospective Industries. The lack of awareness about various openings and opportunities in education, factor of affordability due to economic backwardness, etc. are a few major reasons why they are fall far behind the mainstream society in attaining their desired positions.

By providing conscious and voluntary supports to the SC community in terms of education in various job roles, it shall make them equipped to grab employment in multiple job roles both in India & abroad.

IIB Education mobilized the eligible SC students through a thorough direct campaigns at colleges by conducting orientation seminars and awareness campaigns. This elided very god results beyond the mark of our expectations. Even Though the direct campaign registered more than 1000 students, the project was commenced with 1000 students and kept the remaining students under reserve to fill the gap of possible drop-outs . since this course programme is meant for 1000 SC students, we wanted to make sure that we shall roll-out 1000 beneficiaries without fail.

Various Factors Influencing Growth and Profitability of Hotel Industry in India:
Tourism: This is the primary factor that contribute to the growth of the hotel industry. India has great potential of becoming a major stop for tourists. However, lack of infrastructure has kept the foreign tourist at bay. The Government has been actively participating in propagating India as an oasis for global travelers. India has always conjured up a fascinating image in the mind of foreign tourists. India has an advantage of having diverse cultures, languages and religions, which makes it an exciting tourist destination for people all over the world. A record increase in tourist inflows and higher occupancy provided an impetus to the growth of hotel industry (Table – I.4) India’s share in world tourist earnings stands at 5.77 percent in 2012 and Indian rank in world tourist earnings is 27th in 2012, Foreign exchange earnings from tourist earnings stands at 2, 91,720 Crs. in 2012 and rate of increase of earnings is stood 26.5 % in 2012. The recent revival in tourist interest in India, liberalized exchanged and payment rules and expanding business travel on account of globalization have contributed to the recent buoyancy in travel and tourism.

The Hospitality Industry has taken the world by storm. The mere fact that amongst the downfall of the economy worldwide the hotel industry has continued to open fresh and innovative ventures comes as an assurance that the industry still has a long way to go. The Indian tourism and hospitality industry has emerged as one of the key industries driving growth of the services sector in India. All this stands relevant for an aspirant of the Hotel Management because one ought to know that the reality of the industry he/she would eventually be a part of.

There are as many as 2.40 million people working in hotel, catering and allied industries in India. This number is only bound to increase with the advent of more and more skilled candidates entering the industry through trained courses such as Hotel Management. Also, there are many new hotels which are to be set up in urban and semi-urban areas. Trained hotel management professionals would have privilege over untrained graduates as hotels are not willing invest in training of recruits and rather prefer trained ones.

The later and recent developments in the globalization has further fuelled the hospitality and allied sectors. Therefore the employment opportunities in this sector is enormous when the candidates are educated to fetch various job roles configured in this sector.

Hospitality is one of the fastest growing industries in the world today. The World Travel & Tourism Council calculated that tourism generated 8.31 lakh crores (US$120 billion) or 6.3% of the nation's GDP in 2015 and supported 37.315 million jobs, 8.7% of its total employment. The sector is predicted to grow at an average annual rate of 7.5% to 18.36 lakh crores (US$270 billion) by 2025 (7.2% of GDP). This makes India, one of the fastest growing tourism industries over the next decade.

With the Ministry of Tourism (MoT), Govt. of India, targeting over 12% growth rate in inbound as well as domestic tourists, it has been projected that the tourism sector will generate additional jobs for about 2.5 crores persons, both direct and indirectly, during the period 2010-16 (12thPlan). And this number is going to increase with new hotels and resorts cropping up every year as a result of India creating more of a name for itself on the tourism map. It’s no wonder that enterprising youngsters have been lining up for hospitality and hotel management related courses at institutes across the country. And the need for a world-class institute in India has never been stronger. Trained professionals, of course, have an advantage over untrained graduates, as hotels would rather not invest in training of new recruits.

Depending on their areas of interest and training, students can work in the areas of hotel and restaurant management, airline catering and cabin service, club management, cruise ship hotel management, hotel and tourism associations, forest lodges and guest houses, catering institutes and even set up an entrepreneurial venture of their own. With ample opportunities for advancement in this field, students that start careers in cafes, bars and lounges will soon find themselves on the fast track towards managerial levels, which include taking up the position of a General Manager, Rooms Division Manager, Food & Beverage Manager, Sales & Marketing Manager, Chef and Restaurant Manager. Hospitality students also have an opportunity to build careers in various other sectors including the banking industry, IT industry, food chains, institutions, hospitals and industries that have their own cafeteria facilities and require hospitality professionals.

The hospitality industry overall provides a diverse range of experiences. It is often considered as one of the most exciting careers, but there is a lot of work and effort involved behind the scenes. However, with the positive growth of this industry, students with an inclination towards this career have a bright future ahead.

Hospitality sector, being identified as one of the thriving and largest employment provider to the country’s youth, we find that it would be most appropriate to provide training for the SC Youth in the field of Hotel management and catering Sector and make the community capable of grabbing various openings in the hospitality sector that would in turn enable them to qualitatively up-bring their standard of living at par with the mainstream communities. The Hotel Management & Catering opens up avenues for a large number of allied job roles and openings generated by the growth of the industry and it also appears to be a promising sector that is promising avenues for self-enterprising.

Thus this very project aims to accelerate the growth potential of the SC community in general by imparting skill development training for the eligible candidates who aspires to build a career in the hospitality industry. This would certainly contribute to the overall economic prospects of the SC community in the state.

The beneficiaries of this proposed project will be unemployed and unskilled SC Youth and SC employees (for their career growth) from the state of Kerala. The candidate should have the interest to do the job or to become an entrepreneur.

The students of the Professional Diploma in Hotel Management programme are eligible to get a dual certification on the successful completion of this programme. They are entitled to get two certifications namely a state-level certification by the State Resource Centre Kerala (A body administrated by The Union Ministry of Human Resources Development and monitored by the Dpt. of General Education, Government of Kerala). And a national level certification from the NSDC (National Skill Development Corporation) a body under the Ministry of skill Development & entrepreneurship.

*Since this course programme contains various Qualification Packs (QP’s) of a few relevant job roles under the Hospitality Industry, This certification shall be valid throughout the country and well accepted by the employers.

This certificate would be valid across the nation and enabled with verification code, QR code and Holograms with which it can be verified on-line from anywhere in world. The following Qualification Packs of the below explained job roles are covered in the syllabus hence the students who complete the PHDMC becomes eligible to secure a certification in the eligible QP’s when applicable.

The below given Job Roles are being covered in the PDHMC course program:

The course consists of practical as well as theoretical classes. 60% of the total course is practical and 40% is theory. Course fee will be 28000 per student.( Subject to change as per the sanctioned plan from the government)

State Resource Centre Kerala (SRC) shall issue certificate and provide the on-line ID number for those students who successfully completed the course Program and the Final Examination. SRC shall develop and maintain a web site for on-line verification facility of certificates. These certificates can be verified through the web site by the employer while recruiting a student. This will help the employer to ensure the credibility of the certificate.

At Training Centre Level: Monitoring ensuring that the course has been conducted in good order with a fine track of the stipulated academic activities.

At Syllabus Level: Monitoring that the syllabus has been completed at all Training Centres by using various academic pre-requisite tools like SPE kit, Academic logbook etc.

At Examination Level: Monitoring the internal and practical and term / semester examinations has been conducted at all Training Centres in due course of time including the final examinations.

At Reports Level: a course completion report that marks the successful conclusion of the project is required to be furnished every year. After the proper completion of course, we shall provide the NOC to students for writing examination only after verifying their attendance status.

The online transcript page is provided with an online verification ID number which help them to get verified by the employers from any part of the world.

Other electronic foot-prints like hollow grams, QR CODES etc. are also recommended to incorporate so as to enhance the authenticity of the certificate issued.

Development of online examination system to conduct objective type examination.

A complete online portal which is equipped to give an on-line solution to the complete administrative academic and student relations would be a primary task to be accomplished before the launch of the course programme.