Dear Alumni,

Our academic year 2007-08 took off with the declaration of results for the last academic year. The students of the First and the Second year degree course brought laurels to the institute by securing 25 and 16 all India ranks out of the first 30 respectively. The final job placement position of   the outgoing batch stood at 79% with 51% securing Management Trainee positions.

 

Our institute was ranked 2nd among India's top Professional Colleges-Hotel Management by Outlook  weekly  dated June11, 2007.

The Hotelex Conclave on "Challenges in sustainable Development for the Indian Hospitality Industry" was held in the institute’s auditorium on May  28,2007. The speakers included Mr. Abhay Desai, Director, Marketing, Johnson Diversey, Mr. Olivio Tavares, CFO, RKHS, Mr.Rajesh Mohan, Head, Strategic Planning, Sahara Star,Mr. M.Gandhi, M.D. CMP-India, Mr. Satyendra Dasondi, Ed, Impresario, Entertainment & Hospitality Ltd., Mr. Sunit Pai, MD, Viva Paschim & hospitality Consultant, Mr.Parabhat Pani, CEO, Ginger Hotels. They spoke on Cleaning for Health & Environment ResponsibleSolutions, Triple Bottom Line Challenge, Sustaining Economics Of Hotel Buildings, Challenges of sustaining customer value, Institutionalizing A Sustainable Thought Wave, a definite challenge  for the Indian Hospitality Industry. The conclave was presided over by Mr. Saxena.

Mr Sanjay Kothari-Additional Director General at Ministry Of Tourism visited our institute on June 28,2007  and had an interactive session with the third year students.

  

A Certificate Course in the Institutional Hospitality Management in collaboration with Radhakrishna Hospitality Services commenced. Its duration is  one year, full time and 3 months Industrial Training.

NRI admissions gained momentum with 6 students enrolling  in the First Year of the 3 year degree course.

Our International Hostel is currently housing the NRI girls who have joined the first year. The facilities include air conditioned rooms and the common area is equipped  with computers with 24 hours internet connectivity, LCD screen TV,  refrigerator, and microwave oven.

Our collaboration with the Niagara-on-the Lake Culinary School, Canada, entered the second year with 17 students enrolling for the course. The previous batch is undergoing paid internship in  Canada. On similar lines, a new course in collaboration with George Brown College, Canada is scheduled to begin in  January 2008. It will lead to an International Chef Diploma and consists of four semesters, with 6 months in Mumbai and 16 months in Canada.

A Blood Donation Camp was organized in the campus by Red Cross on July, 27, 2007.

  

We celebrated our Independence Day on 15th August. The students took part in a Traditional Day celebration in various costumes spanning the Indian peninsula.  Our Principal, Mr.R.K.Saxena hoisted our National Flag and students gave speeches in English and Hindi and also sang patriotic songs.

 

The Third Year students did their buffet assignments on various India cuisines. The themes were The Grand Trunk Route, 4 adjoining states, Kababs and Curries, Cereals and Pulses, and All vegetarian. Preparations are underway for celebrating Onam and Ganapati Puja, two major Indian festivals.

Mr. Saxena attended the  ICHRIE conference in Dallas July 25 to 28, 2007.

Sincerely yours,
R.K.Saxena,                                                                                                                                                
Principal                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                                                                                         Dated 1st Sept. 2007

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Dear Alumni,

The Valedictory Function for 2006-07 was held on March, 30, 2007 in the Institute's auditorium. The function was attended by Padmashri Ms. Thangam Philip, our Principal Emeritus, Mr. Abhijit Mukerjie, Chief Operating Officer, Taj Luxury hotels, our former principal Mr. Shyam Dhargalkar,  Mr. Param Kanampilly, Director, Concept Hospitality, Mr. S.M.Korde, Secretary General,  Hotel & Restaurant Association Western Region, Ms. Dinaz Irani, Honorary Secretary, IHM Mumbai Alumni Association, Award donors Mr. Ajay Gupta from Capital Foods, Mr. Ganesh from Johnson Diversey, Mr. Chandok, Managing Director, IMPEX, staff members, members of alumni -1982 batch completing 25 years, graduating students of this year. Also present were Executive Chef Ananda Solomon, Taj President, Ex-faculty members Mr. Panikar, Mrs. Mahsalkar, Mr. Ozi D'Cunha, Mr. Ismay Gomes and Mrs. Deokule.

In keeping with the tradition, our students excelled in the All India National Council for Hotel Management examination in 2006 annual exams.  There were three All India rank holders.

Manasi Bidikar – Second Position in 2nd Year of B.Sc. H&HA

Gayatri Yadav – First Position in 1st Year of B.Sc. H&HA

Tapas Kumar Dutta– First Position in F&B Service craft course

 

Three of our students Sonali Saxena, Sumeet Ahire & Saqib Mustafa represented the Institute at the Inter Collegiate Quiz competition held by Agrawal Overseas Educational Services and won Rs. 65,000 - Rs.50,000/- for the Institute and Rs.5,000/- for each student.  This is the fifth year in a row that the Institute has won this competetion.

 

Rahul Tushar of the third year won a silver medal at the Great Indian Culinary Challenge, a national event sponsored by Express Hotelier and Caterer at Mumbai. Rahul Tushar also participated in Norwegian Salmon Cookery competetion and won first cash prize of Rs. 50,000 and a Victorinox set of knives worth Rs. 50,000.

 

Our team consisting of Sonali Saxena and Sonu Jha won the 2nd prize in the intercollegiate bartending competition sponsored by Real juice.

 

To retain number one hotel school slot, staff training and development is very important. Our food Production faculty Jyotsna Bhosale successfully earned the Certified Hospitality Educator certification of the Educational Institute of American Hotel & Lodging Association. Our Housekeeping faculty Aileen Sequeira is in the process of acquiring the same. Our administrative staff Mr. Andrew, Ms. Pramila, Ms. Saroja and Ms. Kamat underwent courses relating to service books, leave administration and accounting procedures.

 

International collaborations are essential to achieve global standards. We have signed an agreement with George Brown College, Toronto, Canada to jointly conduct a Chefs Course of 1 ½ years duration starting July, 2007. Students enrolled in this program will have to study for first six months at IHM, Mumbai, next six months at George Brown College in Canada and then train in industry in Canada for last six months.

 

During the academic year 2006-07 we introduced two new courses - a six months course for Airline Cabin Crew positions of Air Hostess and Flight Pursers and an International Chefs Diploma of 1½ year duration in collaboration with a Canadian Culinary school in Niagara and sixteen students of the first batch are now in Niagara to complete the program.

 

In the year 2005 IHM Mumbai had signed an M.O.U. with Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Govt. Polytechnic, Port Blair, Andaman under World Bank funded scheme to help the Andaman Institute to upgrade their standards. This MOU was extended to 2006 – 07. We arranged trainings for their students and staff in Mumbai during the year. 40 students of II year did their training at Dubai hotels. We have had around 85% placements so far (few placements are still in finalisation stage). 23 organizations visited us this year for campus recruitment.

 

Infrastructure development during the year included augmentation of   Reading Room facilities in both Boys and Girls hostel, establishment of an air-conditioned class cum seminar room with internet facility for M.Sc. course. A fully air-conditioned hostel of 18 beds capacity having facilities of a common room with LCD T.V., fridge, internet and kitchenette was commissioned during the year. Our auditorium which was damaged badly during 26/7 rains got a facelift. At the Applied Training Centre (our training hotel) we have upgraded a number of facilities.  A number of rooms were renovated. One conference hall,  on-premises laundry and two guest rooms were added.

 

The Institute undertook consultancy projects for Bharat Petroleum, HPCL, Prince Plastics and Shree Krishna Paper Company . Under the capacity building for service providers scheme of Ministry of Tourism, Government of India we conducted four courses and trained 56 candidates during the year.

 

We are grateful to HRA(WI) members and its President Mr. Rabinder Singh Bedi and Secretary Mr. S.M.Korde for the award of four scholarships worth Rs.40,000 to our needy students. We are also thankful to Sidharta Shukla of year 2003 batch who has contributed Rs. 21,000 towards our Endowment Fund.

 

During the year Institute had a number of distinguished visitors.  Prominent among them were :

Her  Royal Highness Crown Princess Mette Marit of Norway

Mr. Egil, Managing Director of Norwegian Seafood Export Council

Ms Anne Sado, President of George Brown College, Toronto

 

-         And of course Padmashree Ms. Thangam E Philip, Our Principal Emeritus always makes it a point to visit us whenever she is in Mumbai. Her visits give us a lot of strength.                                                                                                                                     

Sincerely yours,
R.K.Saxena,                                                                                                                                                
Principal                                                                                                                                                                              Dated 4
th April, 2007

____________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Dear Alumni,

 

Greetings from Mumbai.

 

Our beloved ex-Faculty member Mr V.D. Parelkar who served  the institute as Lecturer, F&B Service left for heavenly abode in December 2005 in Pune. He had a long innings with Institute and later joined Oberoi’s as Training Manager. We offer our condolences and pray that his soul rests in peace.

 

You will be delighted to note that Mr. Nick Belfield Smith, grandson of Mr. Cyril Belfield Smith will be visiting the Institute on 11 – 13th March, 2006. As you know Mr. Cyril Belfield Smith was not only our Principal from 1956 to 1963 but also the architect of Hospitality education in the country. Nick plans to do a documentary film on his grandfather.

 

In the second week of February, 2006 Mrs. Sheila Gore, Mrs. Swarup Kaur and Mrs. Shanta Deokule of 1957– 60 batch visited Institute and had lunch with us. We feel so proud of our Alumni. Their visits, mails, calls lend us that extra strength and the feel of our Global presence.

 

This year the Valedictory function and awards ceremony is scheduled for 7th April 2006. All ex-students, faculty and staff are requested to please treat this as an invitation and attend the same. Keeping in with our past practice, batch of 1981 is specially invited as they have completed 25 years of passing.

 

We are in talks with a number of educational institutes from various countries – U.K., USA, Canada, Ireland, Singapore, Fiji and Australia. Hopefully at least one academic  collaboration should come through for 2006-07 academic year.

 

Batch/year/coursewise list of old certificates/marksheets is available on www.ihmctan.edu/PDF/past_student_certs.pdf. Alumni are requested to go through the list and please make arrangements to collect them directly or authorize someone in Mumbai to collect it on their behalf. Alternatively, we can send it if the shipping cost is paid.

                                                                                                                                     

Sincerely yours,
R.K.Saxena,                                                                                                                                                
Principal                                                                                                                                                                              Dated 6th March, 2006

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Dear Alumni,
 

Seasons Greetings, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year in advance to all Alumni and family members.

It has been quite sometime since the last newsletter.  We have been busy at the Institute with a lot of activities.

 A workshop was organized at the Institute for all the faculty members on the 3rd November 2005.  The workshop facilitator was Mr. H G Parsa, Visiting Fulbright Scholar IIMT, Delhi, Associate Professor & Graduate Coordinator, Hospitality Management - Ohio State University.  The focus of the workshop was the status of hospitality education in U.S.A vis-à-vis India and the importance of Research in the curriculum.

 Another workshop is scheduled from the 14th to the 16th of December 2005.  This workshop is for all faculty involved with Research at 24 IHMs across the country.  The workshop is organized in collaboration with National Council for Hotel Management and Catering Technology.  The focus of the workshop is Hospitality Research : Philosophy, Design & TechniqueThe workshop facilitator is Dr. Arun Upneja Associate professor, Professor Incharge, International Development - School of Hospitality Management, The Pennsylvania State University. 

 Mr. Francis Thomas, Sr. Lecturer, Finance and Strategic Management will be attending a Professional Development Programme on Strategic Hospitality Management.at Cornell-Nanyang Institute of Hospitality Management in Singapore, during the first week of January 2006,

 Mrs. Jyotsna Bhosale, Sr. Lecturer, Food Production will be attending the Certified Hospitality Educator Programme  in the month of February.  The Workshop is organized by Educational Institute of American Hotel & Lodging Association.

 A batch of 100 students of the final year alongwith two faculty members Mr. Jayant Kathe and Mr. John Lepcha were in Dubai from the 16th to the 26th of November to assist at the Dubai Air Show at the invitation of Emirates Airlines. Our Alumni, Mr. Anand Menon (1988 batch), who is the Training and Development Manager - Emirates Flight Catering Co. LLC., was instrumental in arranging this.  Their services were highly appreciated by the organizers.

On the 26th of October 2005, we had two very special visitors i.e Padmashree Ms.Thangam Philip, Principal Emeritus of our Institute and Mr. Timothy Ayre, ex-Head of Department, Food & Beverage Service.  Mr. Ayre is now settled in Sydney, Australia and his address is Mr. Timothy George Ayre, 3 Highlands Crescent, Black Town, Sydney 2148, New South Wales, Australia. He would be delighted to hear from any Alumni in and around Sydney.

Mr. John Lepcha, Asst. Instructor, Food Production has resigned from the Institute and has joined the Indian Railways as Asst. Catering Manager .

While going through the old records, we found that our administrative office has meticulously kept the old certificates/marksheets.  We were surprised to find that few students from 1959 onwards have yet to collect their original marksheet/certificates.  You will appreciate that the Institute’s office has been keeping the original marksheet/certificates for more than 40 years in some cases.  Batch/year/course wise list is available on www.ihmctan.edu/PDF/past_student_certs.pdf.   Alumni are requested to go through the list and please make arrangements to collect them directly/authorize someone in Mumbai to collect it on their behalf.  Alternatively, we can send it if the shipping cost is paid.   

Keeping in mind, the market demand during the academic year we have introduced three new courses, These courses are Certificate course in Bartending (3 months), Certificate course in Housekeeping (3 months) and a 6 months course for Cabin Crew positions (Air Hostess and Flight Pursers).   

 We have now opened a new “IHM Mumbai  Endowment Fund” account.No. 3001631766 with State Bank of India, Shivaji Park Branch.  Alumni could wire transfer their contribution into this account directly under intimation to us.   

                                                                                                                                       

Sincerely yours,
R.K.Saxena,                                                                                                                                                
Principal                                                                                                                                                                              Dated 16th December, 2005

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Dear Alumni,


                         On Tuesday, 26th July, 2005 afternoon Mumbai was subjected to thunder, lightning and lashing rains breaking all the records including that of Cherrapunji. At Cadell Road (Veer Savarkar Marg) water level was waist high. Very soon the city that never sleeps became scene of disaster. More than 140 day scholars stayed back at the Institute for more than 48 hours as all means of transport came to a grinding halt. It took a few days to return to normalcy. Then came the news of the New Orleans Katrina and the Switzerland and the Japan floodings. At the time of writing this, once again it is pouring in Mumbai since yesterday. The Rain Gods have not been very kind to the world this monsoon.

                             No matter, whether there is sunshine or rain, the institute has began the new academic session with great gusto. On 18th July, 2005 we welcomed the freshers : 250 - B.Sc. I year, 90 - F&B Service craft, 70 - Food Production craft, 45 - P.G.Diploma in Dietetics, 30 - P.G.Diploma in Accommodation Operation, 30 - Hotel & Catering Management, 30 - Craft Cookery and 20 - Craft Bakery. This is addition to 180 & 175 students of II & III year B.Sc. course starting a week earlier. Recently Mr. Gore, Lab Attendant and Mr. Sheikh, Office Staff retired after serving the institute for more than 34 years. Most of you might remember Gore from BTK/QTK/ATK and Sheikh from the Principal's office. 

                            Registrations to our alumni data base are coming in regularly. We were delighted to register Mrs. Sheila Gore Stroerkel from Germany who recently retired from ALITALIA. She is from the first batch of the 3 yrs. Diploma course i.e. year 1957 - 60 batch. She is likely to visit the institute in October, 2005. We are looking forward to meeting her. We are also trying to trace her batchmates.

                    There is some delay in launching the achievers link on our website. As soon as we have sufficient data, it will be activated. In the mean time Mr. Peter Menon (1971 batch) has provided us with more information on the college song. Please visit the website and peruse the updated version on college song with its history under 'About us' link. 

                         Chef Dilraj Sequeira (1992 batch) based in Australia has contributed Rs.20,000/- for instituting an award. Mr. K.C.Shashidhar has instituted an award in memory of his late daughter Shomika Shashidhar (2003-06 batch) by contributing Rs. 10,000/- to Endowment Fund. We lost her in year 2004 during summer vacation. We thank both the donors for their contributions. Finally a discussion-cum-message board has been introduced at our web site. Alumni is requested to participate actively using this platform.
   
                                                                                                                                  

Sincerely yours,
R.K.Saxena,                                                                                                                                                
Principal                                                                                                                                                                              Dated 10th September, 2005

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

An earnest appeal to alumni from Principal 

Dear Alumni,

On 16th June we launched an alumni link. However the response has not been very encouraging - from a database of around 370 ex-students we have, as of now, reached around 1100. In view of the fact that the institute conducts a wide range of courses and has crossed the Golden Jubilee milestone, this figure is insignificant. The donation for endowments stands at a total approx. 6 lakhs since the inception of the institute.

Once again, I appeal to you for building our database. Kindly take time to browse through the existing database and if people whom you are in touch with are not featured on the list, please inform either them or us so that registrations can be done as soon as possible.

The students of the institute have done well in the annual examination for the year 2004-05. In the NCHM component of the first year; our students have secured All-India ranks from one to eight. In the second year, ranks one and two, four and also five, seven, eight and nine have been secured by our students. In the final year, also, rank three, four, seven and eight have been secured by our students.

On 23rd June, 2005 institute welcomed 20 students and one faculty from Dr. B.R.Ambedkar Polytechnic, Port Blair, and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Under the World Bank aided program, we are helping the tsunami-hit polytechnic to upgrade their standards. The faculty & students of their hotel management related course will be provided a four month industrial exposure and teacher training at Mumbai.

We plan to add a new link to our website (www.ihmctan.edu/achievers.htm) in which we have profiled our alumni who have excelled in their chosen profession. Besides enhancing credibility of the Institute, we believe that it will be a source of inspiration to those students who have only just begun. Due to lack of information, it has not been possible to include many individuals who should be in this list.  Your assistance is required for rectifying this.

Since the previous academic year, sessions conducted by Guest Speakers have been introduced for the final year students of the B.Sc. in H & HA. The purpose is to have them speak on topics in their area of expertise or simply share their experiences. The students are in groups of 70 to 90 and the session is for an hour. We feel that our alumni would be an excellent resource, in view of the fact that they already have an existing bond with the Institute. Mrs. Avril Sule, our Senior Instructor is the faculty co-ordinator for this activity. She can be reached at the Institute tel. nos. 022-24457241/2 extn. 220 or mobile no. +91-98212-40411 or on the e-mail mumcat@vsnl.com .

With this newsletter I trust that you have taken a journey down memory lane and hope to hear from many more of you. Any suggestions that you may have are most welcome.

Sincerely yours,
R.K.Saxena, Principal                                                                                                                                                  Dated 15th July, 2005

 

 

________________________________________________________________________________________________________
                    

Dear Alumni*,

(* Sirs and Maams - super seniors  like Mr. Shashank Warty, Mr. J.D.F.Lam, Mr. Maneck Patel, Ms. Shireen Batliwala, Mr. S.K.Mukerjie, Mr. Peter Menon et.al, all seniors i.e. who passed before year 1975 like Shashi Wagle, Param Kanampillai, Ravi Nagasundram, Sabrina Pinto et. al and  all colleagues like Dayal Advani, Cyrus Marfatia, Ophelia D'Roze,  Rajendra Kelshikar et. al and all friends like Bakul Shah, Atul Bisaria, Roque D"Cruz, Shekhar Naik, Kashmira Umrigar et.al )

                 Yes, it is a rude awakening. We suddenly realise that for long we have neglected our greatest strength i.e. the alumni   and have done very little to build on its net-working, however, it is never too late. I sincerely feel confident that alumni is ever willing and ever eager to do its very best to contribute towards betterment of  IHM, Mumbai and its family members - ex-staff & students, present staff & students. What is lacking is a platform through which alumni can help. We thought it could be effectively done through this web page which will try to bridge the gap and provide a platform for benefit to all concerned. 

                   Of course the most chllenging job is to create a database of alumni. This is primary work and I request all ex-students that they send us their details in the form available at Free registration on alumni site if their names do not appear in the list at this page link. Please also forward to us the details of other alumni whom you are in touch with and do not find their names in the current list (even their e-mail IDs will do - we will mail to them the registration forms). The current list is both - batch yearwise and geographical locationwise. In case you notice errors in the current list please do let us know so that we can correct them. Same goes for any change which you intend making or made recently - an update will be highly appreciated so that the data is made relevant.

                  While we supplement the database on a continuous basis, it will also be pertinent to use the alumni net-work for mutual benefit. For this I request you to send in details of any job and business opportunities in your organisations or other organisations that you know of (mail   to : mumcat@vsnl.com) so that we can post this information on this website . This will help both - present students and ex-students who are looking for a change in the job or thinking of setting up a business. You can also send any other information which you think will be of benefit to alumni. We shall display the same on the site and send group mails to all. 

                   Fund raising for awards /infrastructure/faculty development/scholarships etc. at your alma mater is another major area where we look forward to contributions from our alumni. With the age and technological advancements it has become necessary to upgrade the facilities, infrastructure and strenghten the faculty. As you may be aware that we do not get grants-in-aid from Government anymore therefore it has become difficult to manage these issues in the manner in which we would have liked to become globally competetive. May I request you to chip in voluntarily whatever little you can for the good cause. Names of the donors will be included in the list on this page.

                   It is always so good to hear from our students, exchange ideas, get suggestions for improvement and come to know of their achievements. Looking forward for your news and views,

Sincerely yours,

R.K.Saxena                                                                                                                                                                                Dated  16th June, 2005