Mr. Gaurav Mathur is an Associate Professor of Food and Beverage Services at the College of Hospitality Administration, Jaipur. He is a highly accomplished professional with a diverse skill set. Before taking up his present role, he worked as Faculty of F&B Service at UEI Global Education Pvt. Ltd., and Lecturer at Maharishi Arvind Institute of Hotel Management. In the industry, Mr. Mathur has worked at Amay Tusha Foods Pvt. Ltd., and Ramada (by Prime).

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Being a Faculty of the food and beverage service Department, what are your roles and responsibilities towards the students?

Being a faculty member of the College of Hospitality Administration with a long association and vast teaching and training experience in Food and Beverage service, my role is not only limited to teaching the students as per the curriculum. I also need to design certain pedagogy patterns which include involving the student in trade research, and real-life professional practices and adopting a systematic approach towards every aspect for uplifting their understanding of the subject to build up their desired calibre.

How do you tend to establish healthy relations with the students and fellow faculty?

A positive and healthy environment is one of the major factors in every academic institution’s success. Considering the competitive nature of the industry, I always try to keep my acceptance level high to understand the overall personality of every individual who is training with me. This makes it convenient for me to mould my deliverables accordingly. For my fellow faculty members, I engage in regular discussions about pedagogy design, curriculum development, new trends in the industry and new training methodologies.

How do you try to bring in a practical approach towards subjects and make it industry-oriented?

The subject I teach requires task-centric teaching when it comes to practical learning. In every theory and practical session, my prime emphasis is on systematic and uniform practices, regulating and monitoring the assigned jobs and tasks. I also work at setting up a time-centric approach, team coordination, developing social traits and imbibing selling techniques to make the merchandise and services saleable and acceptable.

What are the best practices offered by the department to the students which help them gain the necessary skills?

The hospitality sector and its training consist of many skills in terms of the performance of an individual. To develop such a skill set in a student, my department creates a customised learning pattern for every single student so that they can understand the objective of teaching based on their level of ideology. This has been done by providing them with the best possible examples related to the tasks and techniques, scheduling practice sessions, discussing facts and figures to keep students updated and providing a platform where students can visit real commercial areas, outlets such as hotels, restaurants, cafes etc. to strengthen their theoretical and practical learning.

How do you strategize the curriculum and how often it gets updated to make it befitting for the students?

For every academic institution, a well-designed curriculum is just guidance about what to teach the students. There are rapid changes in the hospitality industry which must be incorporated into the practical approaches and mechanisms of the curriculum. Considering the same, we try new tactics in combination with conventional methodologies of delivering knowledge. New design aspects in the food service industry always motivate me to be creative and develop mindfulness in my teaching methods. This will help our students to set a benchmark in their careers.

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What are your views on the placements and higher education of the students from your department or how does your department prepare students for Higher education?

Learning is an ongoing process in everyone’s professional and social journey. We always encourage our students to aim for better placement opportunities or higher education. We have an aspirant-centric analysis where our performance review program helps us connect our candidates with their goals. It provides us with an opportunity to discuss every aspect of students’ skills and career aspirations that we use to make appropriate suggestions for their journey.

How do you help your student to cope up with the competition being so high in the outside world?

Wherever any skillset is considered as the impression of any performance, especially in the food service industry, without competition, one cannot even create anything to attract the world towards their products and services. Here at the College of Hospitality Administration, we make our learners participate in competitions and for that, we regularly make them work on enhancing their global know-how.

Do you have any extracurricular activities/ programs to enhance the skills of the students or expose them to the real-world challenges?

Our college is a well-known hospitality education provider, and we are not only recognised for our systematic teaching methodology but are also known for our skill-based activities and specialised training sessions like LEAP- Learning Evaluation Accelerated program. We also have good to great classes, which are advanced teaching sessions and workshops. Basically, in these activities, we consider all those real-world challenges that will be faced by the candidates when they are in the real world.

What are the challenges you faced/ are facing to uplift the quality of education of your department?

Though hospitality has become more globalised in the last 10-12 years, we still must train the students. We need to introduce new courses and upgrade our curriculums so that they maintain the weight of skill-based learning techniques. To that end, we need to organise events like field visits, surveys, research and industry exposures every semester so our students can still be attached to real-life challenges.

When you came to the college, what was your vision and how are you trying to achieve the same?

I always try to work towards the vision and mission of the college. When I came to the college, I learned the vision, which inspired me to help the students learn something new every day related to my subject. While I design such deliverables for the learners, my goal is very clear, to create the next generation of professionals who shine a light on our college and are our pride.

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How does the curriculum of your department/college ensures the best practice of the industry?

Our curriculum is advanced enough to deliver all the necessary knowledge and it provides us with a free hand to train them according to industry standards. The proficient design of the curriculum helps us design our classes to ensure the completion of the course on time. It also leaves time for us to schedule the other specialised sessions for the betterment of the students.

How does the college enhance the skills of the faculty and prepare them according to the industry standards?

The College of Hospitality Administration actively works to improve the faculty members’ skills. The college’s approach towards us is to develop and enhance our skills by organising teacher's training programs, trade workshops, industry visits, article writing, field visits, and sessions on new technologies in academics and trade. These are organised regularly and before each academic year to keep us updated.

What are the interventions and approaches you bring in apart from the curriculum to train/teach the students?

Regular and justified interventions and methodical approaches are an integral part of every teaching profession. We also regularly organise and conduct many skill-based activities and specialised training sessions like LEAP- Learning Evolution Accelerated program, Good to Great classes, advanced sessions, workshops and other interventions. These sessions help us to impart as much knowledge as we can and meet the industry requirements in our students.

What do you see as the department’s/ college’s greatest strengths and how it can be enhanced?

The College of Hospitality Administration and its departments always try to keep the level of training and overall development of every student equal. Its long academic journey of 18 successful years proves how strong the college administration is and what its capabilities are. Every year, under the guidance of our scholarly team, the members of management train us, update us and motivate us to impart confidence in our personalities. This helps us realign ourselves with the college ideology to achieve the college goals.

What valuable advice would you like to the students for them to have a prosperous career ahead?

I would just like to add as advice to young professionals that they should always try to keep themselves updated in terms of receiving and sharing knowledge. They must have a sense of competitiveness so that they can always consider every assignment and task positively given to them. Additionally, they should always respect their co-workers and all cultures as it will help them to adopt a global approach. They will be able to have a wider mindset to create and transform their ideas towards the growth of the hospitality industry.