In the modern world, the culinary industry has attracted much attention. Print and electronic media elevated this distinctive art and highlighted its importance. When a student wishes to pursue a career in hospitality education, the field of culinary arts is the main draw that makes it possible for them to envision themselves as a chef in the future. The transition from Cook to Chef has been revealed throughout the last few decades. The titles ‘chefs’ and ‘cooks’ have been differentiated in the culinary sector due to several futuristic modifications.
In a situation like this, when an increasing number of students want to enter this field, hospitality educators recognise the value of culinary instruction. Medhavi Skills University is a bright example of a Hospitality and Culinary institute which has left a significant mark.
The journey has been amazing for Medhavi Skills University as it has been successfully resetting the higher education system by bridging the gap by making students skilled and employable. Its students’ success stories in the industry are its objective and satisfaction.
Medhavi Skills University (of which The School of Hospitality and Culinary Arts is a constituent school) aspires to establish a pioneering university model where corporates/industries shall be the stakeholders and influencers in the course curriculum design, program delivery, practical skills training, as well as, for providing on-the-job apprenticeship, with the following mission and vision. The curriculum followed by the school is dynamic and competency-based, and the framework has been developed with the opinions of industry experts. The school also understands the importance of the application of skills, and as such, the curriculum has a minimum of 50 per cent being delivered through practice and application-driven pedagogy, which builds confidence and understanding among the students. The learning is in four dimensions: On-Campus, On-line, On-Site, and On-the-Job, bringing diversity to the experiences and keeping the engagement happening and dynamic. The School of Hospitality and Culinary Arts provide real-world skills, skill certifications from NSDC, and a chance to represent India at World Skills Competitions.
Promoting In-demand Skills
The mission of Medhavi Skills University is:
- To promote in-demand skill integrated higher education linked to assured employability and holistic growth.
- To nurture learners with appropriate attitudes and ethics for sustainable progress in careers and life.
- To promote work-integrated (skill-based) higher education through industry-immersive apprenticeships/on-job learning.
- To facilitate the industry with Go-to-Market workforce solutions through short-term and long-term skill accelerator programmes.
Its vision is to establish an outcome-driven and inclusive ecosystem for skill-integrated higher education.
Empowering Rural Youth
Mr Pravesh Dudani is the Founder and Chancellor of Medhavi Skills University (MSU), Sikkim and the Managing Director of the sponsoring body of the University – Medhavi Foundation. Mr Dudani is an IIT Kharagpur and Stanford University alumni and brings 15+ years of Education and Skills leadership experience to MSU.
Mr Dudani founded Medhavi Foundation in 2012 with the vision to bridge the gap between the employability of rural youths and the human resources requirements of industries. Under his leadership, Medhavi Foundation has partnered with National Skills Development Corporation (NSDC) and various State Skill Missions and Government departments to implement NSQF (National Skills Qualification Framework) aligned skill training mandates and has impacted 1,00,000+ beneficiaries since 2012 via various short-term, long-term and Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) training initiatives.
The Foundation has also become a registered TPA (Third Party Aggregator) with MSDE to promote apprenticeship adoption under NAPS (National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme) and caters to 300+ organisations across India.
In his previous entrepreneurial venture, he co-founded iDreamCareer.com (iDC), which is now India’s one of the largest career planning service provider catering to 50,000 students globally. Mr Dudani made a successful exit from iDreamCareer.com post investment round by Times of India Group.
After graduating from IIT Kharagpur, Mr Dudani worked with renowned education companies to gain experience in various facets of the education domain. He worked with Educomp Solutions Ltd as head of the K12 assessment space catering to more than 500 schools and later worked with IndiaCan Education Pvt Ltd in the space of vocational education and University education segment.
A New-age Leader
Mr Dudani is ably supported by Mr Kuldip Sharma, who is the Pro-chancellor of MSU.
The academics part is handled by Dr Amiya Singh, Pro Vice Chancellor – Academics, who is one of the new-age leaders in Skill-integrated Higher Education space in India. Before joining MSU, he was a part of Centurion (Skills) University as Dean (Skill Integration).
He comes with 12 years of experience in Education, Research, Technology and Community development. He has B.Tech. in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering from ITER, Odisha, and Ph.D in Wireless Communication Engineering from NIT Rourkela. His efforts were concentrated towards reimagining and re-designing the education system to empower the students holistically.
Dr Singh believes the crisis with the current education system at any level (elementary to university) is its growing emphasis on students achieving monotonous goals rather than learning the process and its diversity. His commitment has been recognised by the 40 Under 40 Educators Award by Indian Express and IVLP Fellowship by the US Dept of State.
He holds experience in the development and nurturing of higher education eco-system, skill development, rural development, grass-root innovations, technology-enabled solutions, and community action learning. His areas of interest and exploration are holistic education in reflection to work-based education, understanding and optimisation of the synergy of children and youth, developing good technologies etc.
Outcome Based Education
The challenge was to lay the genesis aligned with the post-pandemic reformations in education, which will be technology embedded and compliant with the structure of the National Higher Education Qualification Framework (NHEQF) as per National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. MSU is amongst the very few universities in the country to execute Outcome Based Education (OBE) through a competency-driven curriculum, industry-aligned training, continuous and comprehensive assessment, criterion-based grading system, blended learning and innovative pedagogies.
At MSU, the students have the freedom to design their degree by choosing the elective of their choice, which makes them more confident and adaptable in approaching a must for industry needs. For extracurriculars, students have multiple clubs that help students in holistic development. Some of them are as follows:
- Painting
- Music
- Web Development
- Creators Club/Learn and Laugh (Content Creation)
- Cultural Club
- Sports Club (offering both outdoor and indoor facilities)
- Creative Writing Club
Synchronising the Skilling Framework
MSU does not follow STEM-based learning but aims to synchronise the existing skilling framework to promote skills competency-embedded higher education, which is industry-led and can support the Indian youth for better employment opportunities.
The institute offers the following unique programs:
IELTS - Curriculum included for all First Years Students. Preparing students in Reading, Listening, Comprehending and Speaking for a professional cross-country journey after three years. It also adds to the foundation core for students’ communication skill development.
Foundation Core - Foundation in Digital Applications, Introduction to Learning and Applications for 21st Century, Science and World, Introduction to Contemporary Social Problems, English and Communication-essential Skills, English and Communication – IELTS Practice, Quantitative Reasoning, Literature and Creativity.
Skill Drills - Creative Writing Skills, Content Investigation Skills, Spreadsheet and Data Management Skills, Digital Application Skills, Brand Promotions and Marketing Skills, Preventive Healthcare Skills, Hospital Duty and Patient Care Skills, First Aid Service Skills, Customer Service Skills, Restaurant Operation Skills, Kitchen Operation Skills, Learning and Application Skills, English and Communication,
Essential Skills, Tourism Services and Product (Tourism Service Skills).
Learning with Industry – A step and phase-wise development of students by Industry Experience, Industry, Transition, and Industry Immersion.
