‘Urban centricity of a campus is key’
DILIP PURI, Indian School of Hospitality
If you are looking for an undergraduate programme in hospitality, look no further than the Indian School of Hospitality (ISH). Located in Gurgaon, ISH is the brain child of Dilip Puri, former managing director and regional vice-president of Starwood Hotels and Resorts South Asia. The hotelier turned entrepreneur is all set to redefine and reimagine hospitality education in India with his new venture. ISH aims to build a pipeline of talented professionals providing them with an international quality of education through world class infrastructure, faculty and resources in an environment that fosters creativity and innovation. Puri believes that hospitality management graduates have the flexibility and adaptability to excel in a variety of career paths, seek opportunities across the globe and work for some of the biggest employers. He spoke about his new venture. Edited excerpts:
What made you think of opening this school after a successful stint in the hospitality business?
My passion for education existed while I was a hotelier too and it came from the fact that one of my strengths I developed in my career was communication, dealing with young people so somewhere at the back of my mind it was always there. When the idea became a reality was about four years ago when I admitted my younger son into the Lausanne Hotel school. I spent a week there and that’s when I looked at the kind of institution Lausanne was and thought to myself we have great hotels in India but we don’t have great hotel education institutes in India (referring to the IHMs). So really I began to see the opportunity then that if we truly believe that India has great international hoteliers, how are you going to grow that industry without talent? So that was the genesis of the idea. So I had a good amount of runway time to plan this property. From corporate hotelier to an entrepreneur in education, it’s a bit if a leap of faith but I took it and I am very excited about it.
What makes ISH different?
The generation of students have changed so for me it’s about disrupting hospitality education, reimagining it and redefining it keeping in mind the the millennial generation. In my time, education was all about learning only the subject. Our teachers in college said my job is to teach you the subject, life skills is not my job. But my philosophy is that with academic skills we have to develop life skills and communication skills in our students so that companies don’t have to invest another two years in re-training. So at the end of the four year programme at ISH, my students will be ready for the job. So not only am I kickstarting their career but also saving the cost for those companies who can hire them as an assistant manager directly. They will not need to reinvest in more training.
Why did you opt for Gurgaon?
Most of the better hotel education schools are so remotely located in places like Manipal or Aurangabad where the ability to attract faculty or speakers is a challenge. The urban centricity of my campus was a very key factor. Besides the Delhi NCR market is massive, student housing becomes easy, accessibility is easy and we have access to the best students and faculty. Especially for hospitality education – learning is experiential so you have to have access to the best companies and best hotels. And that is why I selected Gurgaon. My next campus will be in Bangalore and will always be in urban centric locations.
Tell us more about the campus and the programmes.
The school gets operational in August 1, 2018 and we expect to take in 60-80 students in the first year. We are running two undergraduate programmes: the core programme in Hospitality Management and another in Culinary Arts that will be focused on cuisines and in the kitchen. Two out of the four years will be common after which in the third and fourth years the hospitality management students will learn more about management and business education while the culinary arts students will learn more cuisines and cooking. We will have a core permanent faculty whose competencies are in hospitality subjects.