Mrs. Kanika Singh Dogra is working as a Training and Placement Manager at the Institute of Hotel Management and Culinary Studies, Jaipur, Rajasthan. She has international work exposure to London and Dubai, is a valuable addition to the team IHMCS. She graduated in Hotel Management and holds a Masters in HR. She has 8 years of experience in the front office, reservations and room division. She also holds a Professional Diploma in International Hospitality. As a multi-talented professional, she takes care of cultural and social events at IHMCS along with being Creative Editor for Connecting Elements.

IHMCS Jaipur

What are your responsibilities towards the students? 

“To bring best learning programs for students in college”

Being the Manager of the Training and Placement department, my first role is to determine the potential of each student, to do their counseling for a successful career. Doing so helps me to search for the best possible opportunity for my students. We also make sure that during training tenure all the students get an opportunity to get trained under 5star brands like Marriott, Hyatt, Taj, Oberoi, Leela, The Lalit, Hilton, etc. despite their academic performance. 

How do you establish healthy relations with the students and fellow faculty? 

“I allow differences of opinion and ensure to have a trustworthy relationship”

I believe that the key to unlocking the student potential and maximizing the learning potential of each of them can be done by developing positive, friendly and respectful relationships with the students from the beginning. I have experienced that a positive relationship with the students helps them to get connected with us and the institute. Building these relationships requires perspectives that embrace positive attitudes and beliefs, cultural and linguistic competence, and understanding of the needs and experiences of students and the College environment. 

What’s your opinion on the career opportunities in hospitality management in general?

“This field offers tremendous career growth if you are skilled enough”

As we all know, tourism and hospitality create diversified employment opportunities in different sectors like accommodation, food and beverage establishments, transportation services, travel agencies, tour operation companies, natural and cultural attractions sites, etc. Nowadays with the increase in the food and beverage establishment, students can get the opportunity to work on a part-time basis and practical and theoretical exposure in the institute and then get an opportunity to polish their skills while working with these establishments. This not only gives them financial help but also provides the experience of the real world expectations before entering it. 

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How do you prepare your student for this competitive world? 

“We emphasize on overall development and hence offer their blend of activities”

We at IHMCS plan additional sessions and workshops for our students. We give special attention to their communication and personality development. And as per the industry standard, activities like group discussion, personality development, mock interviews, foreign language sessions, industry visit, leadership development and activities which ask for teamwork, etc. so that they can shoulder the task of building a vibrant hospitality industry. 

What extracurricular activities are organized in college to enhance the skills of the students?

“Fitness activities and illuminating tours are few worth mentionings”

In my viewpoint, most of these activities are group-oriented which contain students from different niches, hence it gives them a chance to know more about people of different passions and cultures. To fulfill all these purposes, we organize sports week “JUNOON’ in the college where the students participate in different sports activities and games. We organize educational trips to different tourist places. We always ensure our student's participation in intercollege competitions organized by different colleges. 

What are the challenges you faced to uplift the quality of education of your department?

“Usually, unreachability to professional experts is the only hurdle”

We believe in delivering quality education to the students. And to implement this, we have prepared e-lectures for the students so that if any one of them miss the class for any reason their studies won’t be affected. We provide demo sessions, hotel visits and organize workshops for them which are related to the syllabus. This helps the students to understand the topic easily. The only challenge that comes across while implementing these things is the unavailability of the industry experts sometimes.

What valuable advice would you like to the students for a prosperous career ahead?

“Be undaunted and resilient enough to attain your goals”

I would only like to suggest to all the students who are or will be pursuing hospitality and management careers in the near future, that this is a very beautiful industry. Every day you will discover a new you. Stay determined and strong, as this is the key to achieving your goal. Keep exploring the new horizon of this industry, do not hesitate to take risks as it embraces the wisdom of uncertainty.

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How this Covid pandemic has affected your institute and students? 

“Complete shift towards the online mode of education has impacted learning”

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has forced all teaching and learning activities to shift to online platforms. Hospitality students are not exempted from this transition even though they are used to offline learning environments and often take blended learning of theoretical and practical components. Initially, it was difficult for them and for the teachers also to adapt to this change in academics but with time we are getting used to it.