InterContinental Hotels Group and?Indian skills development organisation IL&FS?Skills launched the second IHG Academy branded training centre under their partnership in Kalimpong, West Bengal. The first branded training centre was launched in New Delhi last year.
The Kalimpong centre is set to be one of the largest talent development centres under the IHG Academy programme, attracting young talent from the rural areas of Northeast India.
IHG Academy is a pioneering global collaboration between IHG and local education and community providers which aims to provide local people with skills development and employment opportunities at more than 4,900 IHG hotels across the globe.
There are now over 900 IHG Academy programmes across more than 60 countries globally, and 25 IHG Academy programmes across India.
The collaboration with IL&FS Skills is IHG?s first vocational programme in the country. Under the partnership, IL&FS Skills provides IHG approved vocational hospitality training across the country.
Participants are first trained to IHG’s rigorous and world-class standards in a classroom setting while learning about the Indian hospitality sector, followed by on-the-job training to put what they have learned into practice.
They are then given the opportunity to apply for full-time roles at IHG hotels across the country.
To date, the IHG Academy partnership with IL&FS has trained 44 students across nine batches, and 47 students are undergoing training in the current batch.
Nearly 60 percent of graduates from the programme have joined IHG hotels across the country in full-time employment.
The IHG Academy programme supports the national Skill India Campaign, which aims to equip 500 million Indian nationals with skills by 2022.
Shantha de Silva, Head of South West Asia, IHG says:??As one of the largest hotel companies in the world, we are in a great position to help train local talent and increase the proportion of employable workforce for the hospitality industry. We do this through IHG Academy which is a core pillar of our corporate responsibility strategy.
?Over the next 12 months our target under our IHG Academy partnership with IL&FS is to train 100 students across the country. With this rebranded centre in Kalimpong we are confident of drawing more young local people from Northeast India to undergo our high standards of hospitality training and we are delighted to be able to do our part in ?skilling? local talent to support the growing tourism industry in India.?
IHG currently has over 900 IHG Academy programmes across more than 60 countries. Over 10,000 participants worldwide have benefitted from the IHG Academy programme since it launched nine years ago and the company aims to provide skills training and employability in the hospitality sector to 20,000 local people by 2017.
IHG currently has 22 hotels open across four brands in India: InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express. A further 47 hotels are due to open in the next three to five years.