Tourism Education Confluence at SHTM, Jammu University
Jammu, September, 27: The School of Hospitality and Tourism Management (SHTM) in collaboration with the Skill Incubation Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Centre (SIIEDC) organized “Tourism Education Confluence” on the occasion of World Tourism Day. Sh. Ramesh Kumar, IAS, Divisional Commissioner, Jammu was the Chief Guest while Prof Parikshat Singh Manhas, Chairman, JK Board of School Education and Director, SCERT was the Guest of Honor. Prof Anju Bhasin, Dean Academic Affairs, University of Jammu and Prof S P Saraswat, Nodal Principal, Jammu were the special guests during the occasion.
Sh Ramesh Kumar said in his address that Jammu Division has immense potential in the tourism and hospitality sectors, which should be leveraged by the youth of the region. He was of the view that there is a need to work on infrastructure, soft skills and amenities at the grass-roots level, and that tourism education should be introduced at the school level. He invited the academic fraternity to prepare a road map for tourism exploration and how the tourism services can be improved. Prof Parikshat Singh Manhas in his address urged the young students and aspiring entrepreneurs to understand technology and use social media to their advantage. He said that today is the time for a SMART stakeholder approach where the entrepreneurs and companies are willing to adapt to the new paradigms.
Prof. Anju Bhasin emphasised four key strategies: integrate technology with skills and knowledge, enhance the industry-academia partnership, work on an internship model, and cultivate a hospitality mindset focusing on creating memorable experiences. She said the University of Jammu, through its novel initiatives under the patronage of Prof Umesh Rai, Vice Chancellor, is leading the way to implement NEP-2020 in its true spirit.
Earlier, Dr. Anil Gupta, Director, SHTM in his welcome address raised concerns about building appropriate skills and competencies regarding the tourism and hospitality industry and informed that this event is a step in this direction. Dr. Suvidha Khanna, Associate Professor, SHTM and Event Secretary presented the formal vote of thanks.
During the function, the prizes of competitive event – StartUp fair were also distributed. Jaskiran Kaur, Vaishali Sharma, Rohini Sharma from GCW Gandhi Nagar bagged the first prize. The second prize was also won by GCW Gandhi Nagar which was represented by Sheetal Sharma, Anjali Sharma and Sakshi Sharma. The third prize was won by Kavneet Kour and Kanishka Kapoor from SHTM. In the in-house event the best performer award was bagged by Jasmeet, Isha and Tanvi from BBA—Hotel Management of SHTM.
The event was coordinated by Dr. Poonam Sharma, Dr. Priyanka Sharma, Dr. Nikita Dogra, Dr. Rajesh Singh, Honeyka Mahajan, and Tapas Tandon faculty members at SHTM and well as Mohneesh Choudhary, Cultural Secretary and his entire team of BBA (HM) and MBA(HT) students. Among others present during the event were Prof. Deepak Raj Gupta, Prof Alka Sharma, Dr. Garima Gupta, Dr. Sadaf Shah, Dr. Sumita Sharma, Dr. Chinmoyee Maharan, and others.
