CII, ITC Hotels offer diploma programme by Swiss-based EHL

In a bid to promote skill development in Indian Hospitality sector, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and ITC Hotels have collaborated with the Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL) Education Group of Switzerland to offer an 18-month Vocational Education and Training (VET) Professional Diploma programme.

Designed by the EHL Group, this professional diploma course is being conducted at four ITC luxury properties, including ITC Grand Chola (Chennai), ITC Maurya (New Delhi), ITC Sonar & Royal Bengal (Kolkata), and ITC Maratha (Mumbai).

Over 160 students who have passed Class 12 are expected to enroll for VET by EHL in Tamil Nadu this year. Industry experts at ITC Hotels will impart training to the students while CII has assured 100 per cent placement upon successful completion of the ‘VET by EHL’ Professional Diploma programme which is recognised by all major hospitality chains worldwide.

Praveen Roy, Associate Director and Regional Head of VET by EHL for South Asia, Middle East, and Myanmar said “VET by EHL was devised specifically to bridge the current skills gap and to strengthen India’s position as the global hospitality workforce supplier of choice. Employers from the hospitality sector have been facing an industry-wide shortage of qualified employees. The traditional hospitality education model lacked soft skills training like communication, leadership, critical thinking, cultural competency, flexibility and customer service, just to name a few.

He said, “Tamil Nadu, more specifically Chennai, has a massive tourism potential which not only attracts tourists from all over the world but also provides job opportunity in hospitality industry, hence, it was crucial for us to tap the market and assess the gap between demand and supply of skilled staff.”