Here are India’s best hotel management institutes for the year 2013.

Promoted way back in 1966 by the Oberoi Group, the Oberoi Centre of Learning and Development, Delhi is top-ranked on all four parameters of excellence

The Oberoi Centre of Learning and Development (OCLD), Delhi is ranked India’s #1 hotel management institute in the inaugural EducationWorld-C fore India’s Best Hotel Management Institutes Rankings 2013. Promoted way back in 1966 by the Oberoi Group, a hotels and hospitality heavyweight which operates 28 five-star luxury hotels in five countries, OCLD is top-ranked on all four parameters of excellence — competence of faculty, infrastructure, pedagogic systems and processes, and placements.

“We are delighted and humbled by the #1 ranking. This recognition by experts is an affirmation of the Oberoi Group’s vision and commitment to learning and development. We have instituted robust systems for management and delivery of a globally benchmarked curriculum, whose focus is not just on developing the technical competence of associates but also on enabling them to develop their personal attributes, motivation and behaviour. Moreover, since most Oberoi Group executives are graduates of OCLD there is a natural willingness to mentor, develop and facilitate learning,” says Mohit Nirula, an alumnus of OCLD with over two decades of experience in Oberoi hotels worldwide, who was appointed dean of the centre in January this year.

Uniquely OCLD doesn’t levy tuition fees on the 100 ‘associates’ admitted into its two-year postgraduate programme annually. On the contrary it pays them a monthly stipend (Rs.3,500) and upon graduation all associates are offered managerial positions in one of the 28 Oberoi Group hotels. OCLD also offers a three-year Systems Training and Education Programme (STEP) which combines hotel management training with an undergraduate degree from the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU).

Likewise Dr. Ramdas Pai, chancellor of Manipal University (MU) whose constituent college, the Welcomgroup Graduate School of Hotel Administration (WGSHA) is ranked among the Top 5, is pleased with the institution’s high ranking in the inaugural EW-C fore survey. “We are happy WGSHA has maintained its position in all rankings and surveys including that of EducationWorld. WGSHA’s greatest strength is its partnership with ITC Hotels, India’s leading hotels chain. This 27-year partnership has helped us develop a modern and always improving curriculum. We were the first college in India to design the bachelor’s degree curriculum in hotel management, and over the years we have produced students who are successful internationally. WGSHA’s placement record has always been 100 percent,’’ says Dr. Pai.

Established in 1986 by Manipal University through a memorandum of understanding with ITC Hotels, WGSHA is sited within the 600-acre MU campus in Manipal, Karnataka. The 8-acre WGSHA campus houses the 70-room Fortune Inn Valley View Hotel (an ITC member hotel), and hostel complex offering accommodation to 450 students, air-conditioned classrooms, training restaurants, kitchens, and computer labs.

A highlight of the league table of India’s Top 20 hotel management institutes is that it’s dominated by Central government-promoted Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition (IHMCTAN) affiliates located in major cities. Of the 24 IHMCTAN institutes sited countrywide, nine are ranked among the Top 20. Set up under the aegis of the Delhi-based National Council for Hotel Management & Catering Technology — an apex body promoted by the Union tourism ministry to coordinate the growth and development of hospitality education countrywide — IHMCTAN institutes offer common curriculums. While the pioneer IHMCTAN, Mumbai (estb.1954), is ranked #2, IHMCTAN, Delhi is #4, IHMCTAN, Bangalore #6 followed by IHMCTAN, Ahmedabad #8, Hyderabad #9 and Chennai #10.

Comments S. Sudha Kumar, principal of IHMCTAN, Hyderabad (estb. 1972), which offers a B.Sc in hospitality and hotel administration, and several diploma programmes to 580 students: “IHMCTAN, Hyderabad has been ranked higher in several surveys conducted by other magazines — The Week ranks us #4 and Outlook #5. In a survey conducted by the Union tourism ministry, our institute received the award for best operational and administrative performance and a special award for all-round and placement performance. Last year, 33 of the country’s major hotels including Radisson, Hyatt Regency and Lemon Tree, participated in our campus placements exercise and offered our graduates salaries averaging Rs.4.9 lakh per year. We believe in setting and maintaining high standards in hospitality education.’’

To see Top 20 league table visit http://www.educationworld.in/rank-hotel_management/2013.html