Lavasa :  The growing demand for hospitality management programs coupled with the rapid pace of internationalization of the industry has paved the way for a brand new 67,000 sq. ft state-of-the-art campus at Lavasa. The new campus of Ecole Hoteliere Lavasa (LEH), the Indian network school of the world famous hospitality institute, Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne of Switzerland was inaugurated today by Prof. Michel Rochat, General Director, Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL), Switzerland.

The world-class infrastructure of the institute includes multi-media classrooms, study rooms, wine testing lab, an amphitheatre, auditoriums, a cyber hotel, IT lab, housekeeping lab training and display kitchens and mock guest rooms. Students will have access to an array of restaurants in various formats such as a formal French restaurant with silver service, fast food with cafeteria services, coffee bar and a multi-cuisine buffet restaurant. Overall the new campus provides an idyllic environment where students can concentrate on gaining knowledge and honing their skills.

Speaking on the occasion Mr. Ambuj Jain, President, Lavasa Corporation Limited, said, “The opening of the state of the art facility of Ecole Hoteliere Lavasa (LEH) demonstrates our commitment to develop Lavasa as a centre of excellence for education.  LEH is the only hospitality school in the world with all business models like deluxe and budget hotels, fine dine and fast food, convention and institutional catering right at the doorstep. The experience gained by the students will certainly make them thorough professionals with in depth understanding of the business”.

We already have tie ups with some leading players in the education space in India and other countries. In the next couple of years more best in class institutions like LEH will start operations at Lavasa. The planned city will become a big education hub in India as envisioned.”

Ecole Hoteliere Lavasa (LEH) also celebrated the convocation of the first batch of students with great fanfare. The first ever convocation ceremony of the institute saw 21 students receiving their certificates for the 4-year Undergraduate Programme in Hospitality Management  from Prof. Michel Rochat, General Director, Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne, Switzerland. The awards were presented by

Mr. Raymond Bickson, Managing Director & CEO Taj Hotels and Resorts and Palaces , an alumnus of Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne and Mr. Jean-Michel Casse, Senior Vice President – Operations, of Accor Hospitality India.

Prof. Michel Rochat, General Director, Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne of Switzerland said, “EHL’s mission is to develop talent for the hospitality industry globally. To achieve this, not only do we design benchmark programmes in Lausanne, but we continuously work with our partner schools to provide the best talent for their respective region.

With Ecole Hoteliere Lavasa, our objective is to support the fast development of hospitality in India. We are achieving this with the transfer of EHL’s 120-years of know-how to LEH. This is being done by training the faculty to equip them with the skills to inspire students, sharing our learning approach and new paradigm of education. This is coupled with ensuring the relevance of the curriculum and course contents as well as the quality of the facilities.”

The four year hospitality management programme of Ecole Hoteliere Lavasa is one of the most comprehensive hospitality education programs being offered by any institute in India. The students are exposed to best in class industry practices and the entire focus of the program is to develop students as hospitality leaders and entrepreneurs. The rigorous curriculum based on this unique pedagogy puts the students through a rigorous self learning process and lays emphasis on practical training.

Mr. Yateendra Sinh, CEO, Lausanne Hospitality Consulting said, “India’s economy is continuously growing with one of the consistent top performers being the hospitality sector. As a consequence there is an increasing need for qualified individuals. In developing economies, industries tend to do their own training. A school like Ecole Hoteliere Lavasa needs to provide pre-polished talent to be competitive in the market place. Most of the curricula in India are not relevant to the modern world of hospitality. Going forward, schools need to instill the 21st century paradigm of hospitality education with concepts such as employee and customer engagement, experience and joy. In its learning adventure, LEH is concentrating its efforts on imparting this modern paradigm and providing future leaders for the Indian hospitality industry.”

The first batch of graduating students went through intense hands on curriculum and has been successfully placed in reputed hotels in the country including the likes of Westin, The Oberoi, JW Marriott and Novotel.

Mr. Rony Kurien, Chief Operating Officer, Ecole Hoteliere Lavasa said, “Almost all student graduates from the first batch have been placed at leading hotel chains in India. Some of them have started their own ventures and are quite successful. For us, at Ecole Hoteliere Lavasa, the acceptance of the students by the industry is a note worthy development. It is the first significant milestone of our success at building a world class institute.”

Source : Sachin Murdeshwar