Why is Hotel Management popular as a career pathway?

Hotel management as a career has been blooming ever since the Indian economy opened up in 1991 when major hospitality chains started entering the country with partnerships with Indian business houses. Moreover, Indian industry also opened up giving rise to the international business traveller visiting India for business.

India has always been on every avid travellers itinerary. As both tourism and hotels are complementary and improvement in one affects the other and that’s precicelywhats happened in the past quarter of a century. With improvement in infrastructure such as development of airports, railways, airlines, highways, etc have opened India up to the global traveller. Apart from this the government has also taken steps to improve facilities and monuments. This in turn has boosted the morale of both home grown hospitality chains such as the Taj Group of Hotels, ITC Group of Hotels, Oberoi Hotels & Palaces, etc apart from the international entrants such as the Intercontinental Hotels Group. With an improvement in the hospitality sector and more hotels opening shop, there has been a rise in demand for skilled professionals in the sector which is the reason why students are taking interest in adapting hotel management courses in India.

Students in India have an opportunity to study on hotel management courses that are of repute and that are career oriented. Most hotel management schools have excellent placement as well as partnerships with leading domestic and international hotel chains. Therefore it is imperative that one refers to the prospectus to see the placements on offer and the companies that offer the same. Some central and state universities also offer hotel management courses however they might require some form of an entrance test as competition is high.

So how does one figure out whether a hotel management institute is of repute then? Apart from having excellent industry links, a good institute should cover the basic elements of hospitality such as housekeeping, front-desk operations, food and beverage service, sales and marketing, event management, etc. Along with this it is important for a candidate to visit the institute, meet the faculty, see the facilities on offer, speak to current students to get their opinion and then make an application to study. Also, if some kind of scholarship is required; this information should also be found out.

Animation: From paper-pencil to the big screen

Animation is one of the fastest growing outsourced services industries in India. Whether it’s about outsources content or content for the domestic market, Indian animators are proving their might. The recent Hollywood releases such as Life of Pie & Frozen had Indian animators weaving their magic. Apart from this animators have also shown their might in Indian blockbusters such as Krrish 3, Dhoom 3 and Chota Bheem. As a result of this exponential growth, the Indian animation industry needs a skilled workforce to remain competitive on a global scale.

It is very important in today’s date to have expert animators which requires quality education in animation education apart from up-to-date IT infrastructure to support the same. Students need modern infrastructure, a professional environment and a wide variety of courses to support students requirements. A student might be interested in 2D or 3D or maybe VFX or rigging or lighting; the sector is so vast that one single individual cannot educate himself/herself with the entire ecosystem. During the course of study, a student will not only learn the visual language that every animator has to learn at some stage or the other, character presentation, software, sketching, portfolio design, etc. A reputed institute will always keep itself updated to the latest developments in technology worldwide this can be either be the improvements in hardware or animation software. As at the end of the day, these factors will affect the output that an animator generates as it is this output which is a blend of his/her ideas, creativity and skills and will be a stepping stone towards recognition in the industry. Therefore students go through a long and cumbersome process while choosing an animation institute as very few government or state universities teach the subject so a potential candidate has to look to private institutions and mostly programmes are not of degree level but of diploma level. The good thing is that many a animation institutes have international partnerships with international animation colleges where they can do either a year or two in India and can do their final year in the college’s international campus. At a later stage, this also gives them the benefit while applying for a job in the animation industry. However, one needs to see that the animation institute of the course covers the basic elements of animation such as drawing, animation techniques, fundamentals of movement, character design, lighting, landscape design, etc so that they can focus on one particular area at a later stage of their curriculum.

How to choose a Fashion Design School?

As with any stream, fashion design requires professional education and training accompanied by a degree that shows that you are adept to work in the area of expertise that you have chosen. In order to gain this expertise, one needs to attend a fashion design institute. So what exactly is a fashion design institute? Well, a fashion design institute is an arts school for people whose main focus is on fashion and who create with fabrics.

So then how does one choose a fashion design institute then one might ask? Well, choosing a fashion design institute is as difficult as choosing a school for business or engineering. One needs to see the curriculum, content, facilities and faculty apart from the various course options, modules and reputation of the institute as at the end of the day finding the best fashion design school is the ulterior motive behind this exercise.

Apart from reputation (which is a must as most institutions in India are private!), other factors that one needs to consider are costs, size and what the school has to offer. An institute which operates out of a room makes no sense and so does a degree affiliated from a university that does not exist make any sense to attend. Moreover, some large schools offer interdisciplinary programmes where students can also learn business courses side by side which will help them set up their own label at a later stage. Additionally something else to consider is the on-campus placements an institute has on offer and lastly whether the institute has an end of the year degree show or not? It is imperative for students of fashion design to show their creativity and an institute that provides such a stage will definitely be better. Some students will also need some kind of scholarships and as mentioned above as most of these institutions are privately owned, scholarships are minimal and are usually merit based. It would also be a good idea to visit different institutions, meet their faculty and also get references from students who have graduated from them. After doing this process, students should typically choose a firm choice as well as a backup choice just in case they don’t get into their first choice of school.

As mentioned above the admissions process in a fashion design institute is as competitive as any other school as you need to convince the admissions team why you are better than the next candidate. A key component of studying or rather applying to a fashion design institute is drawing. One needs to be extremely proficient artist and should have decent drawing skills as you would be required to sketch out your ideas and concepts before working with fabrics and forming the actual garment. Fashion design institutes would like to see your work prior to accepting you onto a programme, this is what’s called creating a portfolio for creative careers and is true for both fashion design and art related programmes.

An additional benefit for applicants would be some sewing samples or samples of clothes that one has made. Apart from this references from your mentors would also add value to your application. However, the most important factor for any fashion design institute selecting you is your high school grades; they should meet the bare minimum entry requirements.

Once you are selected into a fashion design institute, you will get to learn a lot of things. Apart from fashion design some of the newer schools will also teach you CAD/CAM, marketing, merchandising, branding, entrepreneurship, etc.