Indian Hospitality Congress to honour university toppers

The Indian Hospitality Congress (IHC) will felicitate university toppers from different streams in the hospitality sector across India, at its two-day national conference on 27 and 28 March at Rishikesh, Uttarakhand. According to Ashish Dahiya, the Joint Secretary of IHC, the organisation has requested universities for the profiles of toppers in hospitality institutes affiliated with them.  Dahiya said that universities such as Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra; Maharishi Dayanand University, Rohtak; Bhundelkhand University, Jhansi; MJP Rohelkhand University, Bareilly; Mumbai University; Bharti Vidyapeeth University, Pune; Mangalore University, and Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi, have already submitted the student details, and these students will be honoured during the conference. "One of IHC's objectives is to promote hospitality education in India. Initiatives like these will act as a morale booster for students pursuing hospitality education. Unfortunately, there was no formal platform for honouring these students at the national level so far," says Dahiya. Looking at the current dearth of manpower in the industry as well as in academics, Dahiya says that it was important to create interest among brilliant students to pursue higher education and become role models in the hospitality segment. "Since most of the universities have incorporated hospitality education into their curriculum, there has been a need for research-based programmes in hospitality education. Motivating these toppers to take up advanced programmes based on more research work is very important," says Dahiya.