WGSHA rejoices silver jubilee

Manipal, October 29: It was a glittering Friday, for Welcomgroup Graduate School of Hotel Administration (WGSHA) on the occasion of the silver jubilee celebrations. First the inauguration of a three-year degree course in Culinary Arts and then a grand get together later in the evening. And, presiding over the special day was the ITC chairman, Mr Yogesh Chandra Deveshwar. The Principal, Mrs G Parvadhavardhini gave a brief of the 25 years of WGSHA.

The day was special for many reasons. WGSHA came into existence after Mr Deveshwar and Dr Ramdas M Pai signed an MoU for a joint venture on August 4, 1987. And on Friday, after 25 years later, both were together again addressing the gathering of past and present principals, faculty, staff and students at Fortune Inn Valley View. And, coincidentally, both received Padma Bhushan this year.

Mr Deveshwar said he was extremely happy that this kind of a partnership happened 25 years ago. “Countries are built on the foundation of education and this is an island entirely dedicated to education. If you have a few more such islands, the country would have grown much faster,” he said. He paid tributes to the vision of Dr T.M.A. Pai and lauded the efforts of Dr Ramdas Pai in carrying the good work forward to see it flower.

He had a word of praise for the alumni who came from many parts of the world for the function. “Your contribution to the society is what ultimately creates the brand of your alma mater,” Dr Deveshwar said and, added, “at the end of the day, the proof of the pudding is in the eating”. “The kind of quality of training, the kind of personality building has to be so different that it will not do to have a management school produce leaders for the industry, it has to be a specialized training for this.

The encouraging word for the students was that they had a bright future. “As, almost all the big brand hotels in the industry are in India. And I believe there is going to be a demand for trained manpower as there is going to be a need for people with capable managerial leadership. His advice for the students was; “Create value for the society before you create value for your organization, your shareholders and for yourself”.

Dr Ramdas M Pai, Chancellor Manipal University in his address said that Mr Deveshwar was the driving force behind the creation of this Institute when he was the Chairman of ITC Hotels and the youngest-ever board member of ITC Limited.

Drawing a parallel Dr Pai said, “The two organizations, ITC and Manipal University, go hand-in-hand in promoting foreign exchange reserves of our country. Be it hotel guests visiting India from the far corners of the world or be they students from 52 countries studying at the University, the mission is indeed quite similar”.

He also said, “Manipal Group's endeavors to promote education and awareness and bringing it to the doorstep of the weaker sections of the society through programs like India Skills, Aanganwadi and Aasre are indeed very similar to those of ITC's – that of generating employment and creating career opportunities to a cross-section of the physically and economically challenged segment of society“.

Mr Y.C. Deveshwar addressing the audience at the silver Jubilee function of WGSHA held at Fortune Inn Valley View on Friday.