Train Routes

You could work in the following institutes.

Nursery / Primary Schools:

Nursery and primary school teachers have a huge responsibility in the sense that, it is what children learn and experience during their early years that shape their views and affect success or failures later in their lives. Thus teachers play a vital role in the social and intellectual development of children. They introduce children to numbers, language, science; social studies as well social interactions. Here games, music, artwork, computers and other tools are used to teach basic skills. While kindergarten teachers deal with children of 3 to 5 years, primary school teachers deal with those of 6 to 12 years.

Secondary Schools:

The secondary school teachers instruct students from 8th to 12th standard. Usually they deal with one particular subject in which they specials. Good base in the subject is a must.

Colleges/Universities:

In universities or colleges in India as well as abroad there are lecturers and professors who specialize in a particular field. They give lectures, guidance and help the students in their academic and research work. Those who have organizing ability have a further scope to become a principal, vice-chancellor in the management level.

Special schools:

A challenging area in the field of teaching is that of dealing with children having physical and mental handicap and learning disabilities. The work is emotionally and physically demanding which needs a lot of patience. They have to work in close association with parents and medical professionals like speech therapist, physiotherapist etc. It is different from the normal teaching norms, as each child needs special care depending on his/her disability.

Pre-primary Most polytechnics and vocational training centers conduct training for pre-school teachers. The preferred eligibility is Class XII with 50% aggregate. Personal attributes are, however, more important. There is Montessori teacher training schools, which are privately owned in some large cities.

Primary teacher training

Teachers with diplomas in education / Bachelors in education teach the primary classes. Graduates of Home Science also serve as primary teachers.

Secondary and senior secondary teachers

Teachers having B Ed Degrees after graduation are called Trained Graduate Teachers (TGTs), after post graduation they are called postgraduate trained teachers (PGTs). This training is imparted in teacher training colleges.

Some universities offer these courses through correspondence for in-service teachers to get trained. There are contact programmes for giving practical orientation.

In 1996, the National council for Teacher Education (NCTE) has regulated the training of teachers. Correspondence/distance education courses are meant for teachers who are currently working.

Lecturers

College lecturers require a good academic record with at least 55% or an equivalent grade at master’s degree level in the relevant subject from an Indian University or a foreign University. The eligibility test for lecturers, National Eligibility Test (NET), is conducted by UGC, CSIR or similar tests accredited by the UGC. The State level test SLET is for appointments within the state. The promotion is based on performance, duration of service, and research publications.

Leading academics go on to complete Ph D theses. A doctorate (Ph D) is fast becoming a must-have for teaching postgraduate classes in leading universities.

After Class X/XII (any subject) Nursery teachers Training of 1-2 years at Polytechnics/ Vocational Training Institutes.

After Class XII (any subject) Early childhood education / preschool education courses offered by several universities. After Graduation (any school subject), Bachelors in Education (B Ed) for TGT Grade Jobs After Post graduation (any school subject), B Ed for PGT grade jobs. After Post graduation / M.Phil take the NET/ SLET Exam for College Teaching. Teachers may opt for writing text books/ conducting online / distance education classes.

Places to Study

B.Ed. / M.Ed. courses are offered by the following universities to graduates and postgraduates in any subject

Colleges Overseas

USA

UK

Australia

Event management is very closely related to advertising and marketing. Events can be thought of as another means of advertising and brand building. Courses in Event management involves conceptualizing, planning, organizing and finally executing an event which could be a concert, a conference, an exhibition, a product or a brand launch, an international celebrity appearance or even a fashion or charity show.

This industry is only about ten years old in India, but holds but is slated to hit the Rs 500 crore mark in the next five years.

The two routes into this sector are:

An Events Coordinator with a corporate, handling their launches and publicity events. This role in India is mostly merged with the Public Relations Management or Marketing and Advertising role

An Events Management Entrepreneur, working on projects with varied corporate clients. While this industry attracts many creative, enthusiastic youth, distinguishing oneself and building a client network take time and many young entrepreneurs drop out of the race.

Event management requires visualization, creativity, meticulous planning and venue management.

An event management entrepreneur holds the additional responsibilities managing the affairs of the business.

People in the industry count the pluses as being the opportunity to travel, to be creative, to work on varied projects and to meet many different types of people.

The cons include financial risk and liability and unpredictable schedules which often-requiring one to work late hours.

As an entrepreneur, of course, earnings are unpredictable. All you need to begin is a phone, a fax machine and a first project. The industry is expanding at a very fast pace and should accommodate many successful entrepreneurs before it peaks. However, one’s earnings are dependent on one’s entrepreneurial skills.

For most young people, it makes sense to join either an event management firm or the public relations department of a company before striking out on their own.

Many independent event managers do not have formal education in the field. Practical experience in the field is the best training that anyone in the field could have. Experience in marketing, vendor services, and time management are key training attributes.

A post graduate degree in Public relations, Marketing, Advertising, Human resources, or General business management would be useful and would command a starting premium in the corporate sector.

What is often more critical is one’s experience in handling events of many types and one’s reputation or references.

A high school or undergraduate student hoping to enter the field should build experience through projects and internships. It is also a great idea to volunteer at college and community events and take on responsibility. This will both hone one’s skills and provide future employers with proof of one’s abilities and enthusiasm.

Undergraduate courses in Public Relations – 4 to 6 month diplomas

Postgraduate courses in Public Relations

The first option is to do a course in hotel management at a reputed professional institute. The 19 institutes registered under the National Council of Hotel Management provide excellent training in the field.

Pre-requisites and admission process

Institutes under the National Council offer a three-year diploma course while private institutes offer a four-year Bachelor’s programme.

Apart from these, there are institutes run by reputed hotel chains and some private institutes with foreign affiliations and approvals from the All India Council for Technical Education.

Courses run by reputed hotel chains are considered more credible because of their infrastructure, faculty and the future prospects offered. They are the best bet in terms of exposure to a working hotel and they enable one to imbibe the exacting levels of service. One may also be absorbed by the parent company post the training.

These institutes are run by three premium hotels graded as best in this category:

Another option is to train at a renowned institute abroad.

Institutes abroad

The advantages of joining a professional institute are that many of them have campus placements so one is likely to command a higher remuneration and work with better industry brands. Since you are trained in various hospitality disciplines, this knowledge could come to use when starting your own business venture.

You could join a Food Craft Institutes which are in cities like Aligarh, Alwaye, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Darjeeling, Delhi, Faridabad, Gangtok, Patna, Pondichery, Pune, Tiruchapalli, Udaipur, Visakhapatnam after Class X or XII. Such institutes exist in many states and provide training in catering and food processing. Courses are generally 6-18 months long.

One can join a hotel at a junior level after such a course and reach a supervisory level in about six to seven years. This is a quicker option and is apt for those who are absolutely focused on becoming a chef and do not want to dabble in other fields of hotel management at all.

The drawbacks of this route are that there is no concept of campus placement. You may not get a job with the best brands and may get a lower salary. However, the course cost and duration is less as compared to at a professional institute. And, of course, your progress would also depend on your own effort and aptitude too.

In today’s competitive markets, it is often the quality of customer service that determines the winners and losers.
‘Customer service training can be the magic ingredient that makes a business or organisation stand out from the crowd.’ says Mike Wilkinson, Chief Executive of Lancashire and Blackpool Tourist Board and Chair of the North West Tourism Sector Skills and Productivity Alliance for Tourism in the North West.
‘Great customer service training makes all the difference when it comes to winning repeat business, and acts as a magnet to quality staff as well as improving staff retention rates.’
Since launch in 1993, over 300,000 people throughout the UK have taken part in Welcome to Excellence- the largest customer service training programme in the UK and the only one recommended by the The Regional Tourist Board Partnerships Ltd.
Clients range from tiny B&Bs to some of the biggest names in tourism and leisure such as Bourne Leisure, De Vere, English Heritage and the new Wembley Arena.
In the North West, Welcome to Excellence has been embraced by thousands of businesses large and small, with more than 2000 people being trained each year.
Mike Wilkinson says ‘Welcome to Excellence currently offers a series of seven interactive one day courses, all of which are frequently updated to reflect changing conditions and legislation.
‘Welcome Host’ is perhaps the most famous of the seven courses, but the Welcome to Excellence programme also includes much more for staff at every level. For example, ‘Welcome All’ focuses on how to provide a top class welcome to people with disabilities, ‘Welcome International’ provides an insight into how to deal with people from other cultures and ‘Welcome Management’ is designed especially for managers, showing how to develop a business-wide customer service strategy.
‘Welcome to Excellence is already widely regarded as the gold standard by the tourism, leisure and hospitality sectors, but we are now seeing it being increasingly sought after by other businesses and organisations for which customer service is critical such as local authorities, transport operators and retail outlets.’
‘Fantastic!’ is how Jackie Mottershead of Oswaldwhistle Mills, describes the impact of Welcome to Excellence on the shopping village near Blackburn, which is the third biggest tourist attraction in Lancashire.
Oswaldwhistle Mills employs 60 staff of its own, all of whom took part in Welcome Host training, in addition to 70 staff employed by concessionary retail outlets based in the shopping village.
‘I was amazed and thrilled by the scale of the impact’ says Jackie. ‘The staff had a huge improvement in motivation and our sales increased by 20 per cent in the six months following the training. Welcome to Excellence was certainly the biggest single factor in this achievement.’
Mike Williamson comments ‘It’s always exciting to see evidence of the huge difference that great customer service training can make.’
The Imperial War Museum North is an award winning building created by world famous architect Daniel Libeskind in a stunning waterfront location in Manchester. Danielle Hird, Volunteer Coordinator at the Museum, was determined that the quality of customer service should be as impressive as the design of the building. She turned to Welcome to Excellence to raise standard in customer service amongst the front of house volunteers on whom the Museum depends. Over the last two years, more than 70 volunteers have benefited from both the ‘Welcome Host’ and ‘Welcome All’ training courses.
Danielle says ‘We chose Welcome to Excellence because it allows volunteers to gain an accredited customer service certificate.
‘The Welcome to Excellence courses are great. They help increase the volunteers’ awareness and understanding of the vital importance of their role. For many, it is also a real confidence boost and shows them how to deal with tricky customer situations. It also helps inspire them to make the most of their role and really try to improve the customer experience. Importantly, our customers really notice the difference. We get very positive comments about the quality of customer service at the Museum. The culture of the organization has stepped up a gear – customer service is now something that all staff and volunteers see as central to what we provide’
This is a viewpoint shared by Charles Quinn, Visitor Services Officer at Grosvenor Museum in Chester, which has made extensive use of the Welcome to Excellence programme.
Charles says ‘Local authority services such as ours are constantly striving to deliver best value and Welcome to Excellence has been extremely useful in helping us maintain high levels of customer service. Our staff invariably return from the courses more positive and motivated, with a fresh perspective on the importance of their role. This makes all the difference to the quality of the customer experience.’
Welcome to Excellence training is available throughout the year at a number of local venues. However, another option is to train your own in-house Welcome to Excellence trainer. This was the route preferred by Centre Island, an independent Liverpool based hotel group comprising two Crowne Plaza hotels, four Holiday Inns, two Express by Holiday Inns and a boutique hotel, 62 Castle St.
Dee Keeley, Group HR Manager says ‘ We see customer service training as absolutely crucial to helping us achieve and keep the edge we want in the marketplace.
‘ We opted for Welcome to Excellence because it is an established programme and it is also constantly being refreshed and developed. Welcome to Excellence was also cost effective, compared to the other options we considered. What’s more, the programme can be delivered in-house by our own team, something we think is very important to keep the momentum going.’
For Centre Island, being able to train and support their own in-house trainer through Welcome to Excellence was an essential part of the appeal. ‘It gives us complete flexibility’ says Dee ‘It means that the trainers can tailor the courses to make them completely relevant to our business and also makes it simple to run the courses frequently. We run a training programme every two months in each of our nine hotels.’
Mike Williamson says ‘We believe passionately in the value of customer service training and are actively involved in assisting with customer service training for the Capital of Culture in Merseyside in 2008. We are delighted that subsidised Welcome to Excellence training is available in the North West, with approximately 50% of the funding from the North West Development Agency.’
Looking to the future, Welcome to Excellence is set to introduce a stream of new courses over the coming years as well as refresh the existing courses.
Sue Gill of The Regional Tourist Board Partnerships Ltd says ‘With the Olympics and Paralympics Games in London in 2012, The eyes of the world will be on the UK and the event will interface with all parts of the UK’s customer management and service offering. There has never been a more important time for all businesses to raise the bar when it comes to customer service training. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for us all to aim to set new world class standards’
Mike Wilkinson is confident about ambitions for the North West.
He concludes ‘We have a great and long tradition of hospitality in the North West of England and through building on that heritage through consistent improvement and customer service training, we can ensure that our businesses continue to lead the way and increase their competitiveness, providing standards of customer service that are second to none.’