Rise of the gourmand December 8, 2007
Posted by Shel in Education, Trends.add a comment
One of the fields that is really coming into favor with students these days is cooking school. For the longest time, this field has been neglected by the mainstream and was only an option for the elite. Well, that’s not the case anymore. With schools like http://www.chefs.com/ gaining prominence, becoming a chef is a great option for a lot of people, who would never consider it earlier. I think the direction this field is taking is due to the way consumers spend their money these days.
The emphasis on going out and having a good meal is once again becoming all important. People are working harder than ever before and want to be able to enjoy themselves with the great meal. Restaurants are also becoming specialized and offering niche cuisines that were the domain of fancy hotels at one time. In general, gourmet food has become accessible to many more people and has led to a spurt in enrollments in cooking schools. I think this trend will continue for quite many years, and this would be a good career choice for those who are interested in doing something creative and have a flair of cooking.
Do you have what it takes to become a chef? November 26, 2007
Posted by Shel in Education.add a comment
Lately, I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking that I need to further my education and get another degree. Our entire family is big on education and while my current degree is a pretty good one, there’s no harm in getting another one. Instead of going the traditional route, I’m considering signing up at the California School of Culinary Arts, to learn an entirely new subject. I spent some time surfing their site at http://www.csca.edu/ and was pretty impressed at the depth of their courses as well as their alumni.
Since my hubby also has a diploma in this field from one of the best institutions in Switzerland, it will be interesting to do a similar course of study. What is holding me back is that it will require a serious commitment on my part, since it will involve a good amount of time and money invested in the venture. There has been a surge of interest in the culinary arts lately, maybe due to the reality series that we’ve all been seeing on TV or just because a greater number of students are getting interested in this field again.
Retail courses available in India July 20, 2007
Posted by Shel in Education.10 comments
When I studied retail merchandising and apparel and textile marketing at Kansas State University, no one really understood what it was and I constantly had to explain what it entailed. Things have changed a lot in the past few years and with the retail industry taking off, retail courses are in big demand. Since there has been lots of interest from my readers in retail courses so here are some more links to follow up on.
- Indian Retail School has a variety of retail programs, check out their retail courses here. Headquartered in New Delhi and promoted by Deepak Seth of the House of Pearl and Amitabh Taneja of the IMAGES Multimedia Group.
- Loyola in Chennai, one of the oldest and best institutions. (their website is not fully function though)
- Pantaloon has tied up with several institutes across the country. Select your area to see which institutes are offering retail courses.
- Welingkar is located near Matunga in Mumbai and has a detailed program of study in retail.
- Global Retail School has been in the news a lot lately. Check out their prospectus here.
More info on Global Retail School July 18, 2007
Posted by Shel in Education, Retail.add a comment
A lot of people have been asking me about the address for Global Retail School ever since I wrote about it in this post. Well here is the link to the Global Retail School site and this is the link to the pdf file for the prospectus. So good luck with your endeavors at furthering your education.
Peer rankings debate heats up May 10, 2007
Posted by Shel in Education.add a comment
Several college presidents are upset at the annual college rankings that are compiled by US News & World Report, which has added a new peer ranking section for this year’s survey. Lloyd Thacker, founder of the Education Conservancy, thought of the survey as a way for college officials to rate other schools. Colleges have already unhappy at the amount of influence rankings are beginning to have and this new section on peer ranking is making them even ore uncomfortable.
The U.S. News rankings of liberal-arts colleges are conducted using a variety of data and other indicators, which include peer assessment, retention figures, faculty resources, student electivity, financial resources, graduation-rate performance, and alumni giving rage. The peer-assessment section’s 25% weighting makes it the most important statistical component of the survey.
Bharti ties up with Global Retail School for retail mgmt May 10, 2007
Posted by Shel in Education, Retail.101 comments
Bharti Retail has tied up with Chandigarh based Global Retail School to train manpower for the retail industry. The venture is being done via Bharti Resources, a wholly owned subsidiary Bharti Enterprises. Sanjeev Duggal, CEO and Executive Director of Bharti Resources announced that, “We have entered into a strategic partnership with the Global Retail School to bring modern skills, knowledge and progressive training to create employ-ability for young people in the growing retail sector of India.”
GDS will not only train students for retail but also for the insurance and telecom sectors, where Bharti has businesses as well. There will be 15,000 students trained in the first year in a variety of courses covering retail management, sales and marketing, visual merchandising, space planning, logistics, store operations and much more.
Edited to add:
Here is the link to the website for Global Retail School: and here is the link for the pdf for the prospectus.
Good Luck everyone!!
Getting an online degree May 8, 2007
Posted by Shel in Education, Personal.add a comment
Ever since I graduated from college with my bachelor’s degree, I have wanted to get a master’s degree but somehow never got around to it and months turned into years. Initially, one is thrilled to finally be in the workplace, to earn some good money and enjoy spending it, but there really is no substitute to having a master’s degree. I am now considering attending courses at an online university, since I feel one must have a specialized degree to maximise one’s career.
Some of the best universities offer courses of study online, including Boston University, University of Notre Dame, Tulane University and the Thunderbird School of Global Management, which is one of the premier institutions out there. One of my friends attended online classes at the University of Phoenix, for her MBA in Health Care Management and is now working with one of the leading health care companies in the area.
When it comes to education, there has to be the right balance of class knowledge and street knowledge. Too much of either one and you’re only going to go so far. It is for this reason that most good MBA programs require that you have worked for 3-4 years before you even attempt doing an MBA. Getting an education which you can not apply is of no use, but online learning lets you apply classroom knowledge to real world situations in a fast and efficient manner.
Retail boom leads to more retail courses May 7, 2007
Posted by Shel in Education, Retail.7 comments
The retail industry is still at a very nascent stage, even though there has been significant progress from where we started. The need for talent is rising as the number of shops and malls increase, and several business schools are getting into the fray by offerings specialized courses on retail. The Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management (IISWBM) tied up with Pantaloon Retail for a two-year retail management program and now NSHM has formed an arrangement with the Retailers Association of India (RAI) for postgraduate programs in retail management. Krishnendu Sarker, head of learning systems at NHSM, says that the program will be for a duration of 18-months and will target high end students, with an entrance that will be similar to the CAT.
On drug issues April 19, 2007
Posted by Shel in Education.add a comment
Our campus in school was huge and situated on a remote hilltop. It was a school that was known for its tough stance on disciple and order and for that reason a lot of famous celebrities would send their kids their in the hope that they would grow up to be normal kids and not spoiled by the accourements of their wealth. So, we had lots of kids with famous parents as our classmates, and along with them stories of the drug treatment their parents had received. Whether they were true or not, one was never sure, but there were always lots of stories about them and other such topics.
A sense of pride and discipline were some of the most notable features of any alumni of the school, as was ‘doing the right thing’ and having high levels of integrity, qualities that a child of celebrities, might not be able to learn at home, since they always got their way regardless of whether they were right or wrong.
An inspiring school Vs. A streetsmart school April 19, 2007
Posted by Shel in Education, Personal.add a comment
Growing up in boarding school in the hills gave us quite a different perspective of the “real world”. In our world at school, honor and integrity were the order of the day, whereas in the real world in regular schools in the city, they were simply words to be used in essay competitions. We lived a life of disciple and routine since we our school has a military history, they couldn’t even be bothered with words like discipline. We were taught to be gentlemen and ladies, to be cultured and charming, they were taught that being brash was the only way to achieve their goals. The end result is that the majority of our school’s alumni are great at being statesmen, but not neccesarily businessmen, although they are lots of successful businessmen (and women) but they were unlikely to be inspired to become that from their time in school.
