Taking IHM-Pusa to the Next Level; Continuing its Pioneering Contribution

An old and prestigious campus? Its growth over the years, and how it will keep pace with industry trends.

IHM-Pusa was established in 1962 by the Government of India under the ministry of Agriculture. It started its operations in the barracks of IARI campus while the buildings in its current premises started getting constructed. The institute moved into the current premises in 1966-67. The campus and the space in it were designed to accommodate 480 students only. There were only limited programs on offer to begin with namely  one year certificate programs in Cooking, Baking, Canning, Hotel Accounting and reception and Restaurant and Counter Service etc with 30 seats in every program.

The flagship diploma program of three years duration (Diploma in Hotel Management and Catering Technology) was one of the most contemporary programs anywhere in the world with inspiration taken from the Cornell University, Hotel Catering and Institutional Management Association, UK and Lausanne hotel school curricula.

Many stalwarts of the Indian hospitality industry have graduated with this program. These include K B Kachru, Puneet Chhatwal, Anurag Bhatnagar, Rajeev Menon, Satish Arora, Arvind Saraswat, Manjit Singh Gill and Sanjeev Kapoor to name a few.

Over the years, with the demand of the industry improving and interventions like the International Labour Organization’s project in early 90’s, Post Diploma programs were introduced. The three-year diploma later was upgraded to a B.Sc. (Hospitality and Hotel Administration) degree with an arrangement with IGNOU, which facilitated the award of degree by upgrading the three-year diploma curriculum by topping it up by five courses of its own. Likewise, the post diploma programs were upgraded to a PG program and christened as M.Sc. (Hospitality and Hotel Administration).

The number of seats in the institution consistently kept increasing to accommodate the rising demand and also to provide for the ensuing reservations for the OBC in 2006 and EWS in 2020. The seats in the flagship three years program now stand at 320 while 120 each in the three undergraduate 1.5 years diploma programs and 50 in the masters’ program making the current enrolment of the students rise to a staggering figure exceeding 1,200 students.

Numbers growing, keeping in mind the overall sustainability of the institute.

The optimum number of students required to sustain depends on the economics of the institution. In the current scenario, with the fees being dictated by the government along with the pay and benefits of the staff and the faculty, it is a hand to mouth situation for the institute with very little surplus for any rainy day. Going forward, if the fee structure is rationalized and the pay structure are adopted to get the best talent available from the teaching profession in the country, a highly successful model may be developed to make a self-sustained institution capable to serve the needs of the industry for a long time to come.

Another way to look at this question is to consider how many skilled people does the industry need in the Delhi NCR region, in particular, and across the country in general. If one looks at the overall economy level, IHM-Pusa has the capacity to produce ready to deploy workforce in the hotel and catering industry, provided the industry players share their exact requirement with us, and we respond by customising the input to some extent.

The Indian economy and expected increase in services required in hospitality industry. Will a second campus help?

The country is going through an unprecedented growth and expansion in hotels and other hospitality service establishments. This trend most likely to continue, ironically fuelled  by the recent Covid pandemic. The downside of the pandemic was the ill treatment of the bottom of the pyramid workforce by many of the hotels/ establishments, dissuading them to return themselves and creating an environment in which youngsters are not attracted to the sector at all leaving the seats in the hospitality schools unfilled making it like a double whammy. In such a situation, while many recently established institutions are struggling to stay afloat and some have wound up their operations already, but reputed institutions like IHM Pusa did not see any dip in the aspirants seeking admission here.

The need for a second campus of the institute becomes pressing for the simple reason that the 2.48-acre piece of land which the institute possesses, has imposed a severe space restriction on the institute, forcing it to cram more students than the carrying capacity of the infrastructure. The FAR available in this premises has increased lately but redevelopment of the institute might not be an acceptable idea because it will only marginally increase the carrying capacity of the institution and would be short term solution; a more strategic move would be to go for a spacious campus somewhere in the Delhi NCR region with expansion potential for next 100 years, while the current campus may be retained for select courses, industry reach programs and programs in continuing education for working professionals.

Hospitality education over the last many decades

Hospitality education has evolved tremendously over the years. While the earlier curriculum prepared one to master the craft of hosting and running the operations of a hotel with a little emphasis on the commercials, the contemporary curricula aim at grooming a business manager with exposure to hospitality operation.  Moreover, a greater number of hospitality schools now offer programs in Hotel Management and Culinary Management separately. These are way ahead of the earlier programs which prepared generalists and not specialists in these two diverse areas of operation. These demands on the curriculum have made the need felt for an attached teaching Hotel and Food Service Outlets along with hospitality institutions. Half a century ago, when IHM-Pusa was conceived or maybe as late as the turn of the last century, it was an acceptable fact that the bottom of the pyramid workforce in hotels would come from the migrant unskilled workers weaned out from the agriculture sector, who would pick up the necessary skills along the way in their career. On the contrary, already initiated workforce is in demand now in the industry, owing to the discerning nature of the consumers in the industry.

It is for this reason, there were more seats created in the long duration programs than in the short duration one, or perhaps Food Craft Institutes were conceived to run short duration programs. But this distinction was lost and as a result there were more supervisory level people groomed than the front-line people in the absence of Food Craft Institutes not coming up in matching number as the IHMs did.

If FSI permits building a new building on the same campus

That would be a stop gap arrangement only may be serving the needs of the institution for the next 10-15 years. Moreover, the current campus is located on a dead-end road surrounded by government offices and academic institutions, which is hardly an appropriate place to locate a teaching hotel and events venue.  While looking for a site for a new campus, one has to really look for a long term solution for a prestigious institution like IHM- PUSA by getting it at least 25 acres of land so that  all-round campus development, replete with student and faculty accommodations, a teaching hotel and multiple Food and Beverage outlets and event organizing space could be built for effective learning by the students.

Funds from the industry prospects

As the financial position stand, it does not appear possible for the institute to fund the entire development by itself. The best way forward would be the joint effort by the industry and the government.

A chair in the name of industry stalwarts, is this a possibility?

Stalwarts deserve to have more than a professorial chair in their name, different blocks of the institution, must be dedicated to them.  If it does come through, it will not only serve as a tribute to their yeomen service that each one of them rendered to the industry, but will prove to be a confidence instilling measure in the minds of the prospective students to have these huge names associated with an academic institution. It will also bring new sources of revenue as typically such naming of blocks bring special endowments from those corporates.