MAHE (Manipal Academy of Higher Education), a hub of experiential learning is setting up a benchmark of excellence in cross-disciplinary education. As per MAHE’s commitment to experientiality and multidisciplinary exposure it introduces the Welcomgroup Graduate School of Hotel Administration also known as WGSHA.
Academic Institution turns into live Hotel
Yes.. with a unique pedagogical transformation the academic institution comes into a living, breathing hotel and its students run the whole show like professionals. While mostly classrooms build knowledge and laboratories build skill, true mastery comes only when students are immersed in real-world environments.
Industry like environments and facility is provided within institute walls, including living laboratories, real-time businesses, and a unique pastoral support ecosystem which helps creating day to day learning into an immersive experience where every activity is tied to real business outcomes.
WGSHA launched new Food POD Truck
By considering a live business hub, WGSHA has launched its new food truck named Food POD. It runs on a methodology of a student-run bakery and café, a live business hub where the menu changes on everyday basis. Those working here must price every dish, track the cost of coffee beans, adjust margins, and decide when to change the price of a cup of coffee.
Food POD serves student’s creative food innovation where the fate of every dish is decided by its success rate with customers. For example, the WGSHA Vada Pav; an idea conceived, marketed, and sold entirely by students.
During the training, every stage of the operation is replicated like chefs must use the best ingredients, calculate conversion costs, cook, serve, and market their offerings on social media. And the innovative grading system, wherein the students’ marks are evaluated by the customer feedback gathered through QR codes at the table.
While food entrepreneurship is taught within the curriculum, its real-time application unfolds organically as students design and execute social media and marketing strategies to promote their culinary ventures to the customers.
WGSHA promotes HOTS (Higher Order Thinking Skills)
Apart from the several commercial endeavours, WGSHA creates their learning environment to promote Higher Order Thinking Skills, or HOTS which brings the creative, critical and some times practical problem solving abilities that can be achieved through live experiences. By managing live operations by students, they practice analytical decision-making in real time, learning to adapt quickly to changing circumstances and market dynamics.
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This model also has its unique pastoral support ecosystem comprising of a web of societies containing various clubs. Each club within each society embeds one professional learning outcome that guides all their functioning; an outcome that is essential not just in the Hospitality industry but in any work domain.
For example, the Gastronomy Society helps in development of culinary skills and hosts Regional, International, Boulangerie, and Patisserie clubs to categorically hone expertise. Likewise, the Lifestyle Society holds Art, Wine, Fashion, and Luxury clubs that fulfill essential aspects of global hospitality culture and aesthetics matching worldwide customers expectations.
It has a sprawling network which includes 9 Societies and 36 Clubs which take care of day to day functioning of the institute to the organization of large events. For example, during Janmashtami, students across societies created dishes inspired by Krishna’s favourite foods, marketed them creatively, sold them to the public, performed themed dramas, designed artwork, and documented the entire event digitally. Since club operations are mapped to business and cost, students also learn to monetize their financial skills, understand financial management, and integrate creativity with commercial viability.
Matching the Industry Standards with Cutting Edge Technology & Live Work Environments
WGSHA’s end-to-end business modelling for students is supported with an exhaustive curriculum that is regularly updated to keep pace with evolving hospitality standards and culinary innovations. Supported by state-of-the-art infrastructure it mirrors latest professional benchmarks.
The tools and resources made available to students are also cutting edge for events that mimic the industry standards. This gives them a familiar environment to their future work places, from the aroma and texture of the coffee beans to the workings of sophisticated industrial ovens.
The National Education Policy (NEP) of 2020 recommends higher education institutions to create learning in their environment and WGSHA comes with a responsibility to do so by modifying their environment to simulate the hospitality and culinary world in real time.
WGSHA ranked among top 50 Hospitality Schools Worlwide
By building a reputation for expertly integrating industry with academia and, in doing so, WGSHA consistently appeared among the best schools for hotel management and culinary arts in the country and globally too. Currently the institute is ranked among the top 50 hospitality schools worldwide.
WGSHA also praised for being among the very best in India, with GHRDC surveys rating it to No. 1 and India Today, Outlook, and The Week consistently placing it among the top three nationally. Having a glowing placement record and a outstanding alumni list featuring the Michelin star chef Vikas Khanna and celebrity chef Maneet Chauhan, and Chief Operating Officer of ITC Hotels Anil Chadha, the institute has provided leaders who have transformed hospitality and culinary industries across continents and generations.