Impeccable Stamp Of The Oberois

 

- Meghaa Aggarwal

Walking into the Oberoi Centre for Learning and Development (OCLD) feels a bit like walking into a delectable altar of hospitality history. Founded in 1966 by Rai Bahadur M.S. Oberoi, Founder Chairman of The Oberoi Group, the centre is one of the most popular postgraduate options for hospitality aspirants, as it gives them the opportunity to not just learn from, but also work for one of the best names in the field.

Today, most senior managers with The Oberoi Group – Vice-Presidents, Directors, General Managers and Executive Committee members – are graduates of OCLD, and a reservoir of budding talent is running the group’s restaurants, kitchens, housekeeping and lobbies before proceeding to the next level of their careers.

Course overview

OCLD currently offers two-year postgraduate programmes in Guest Service Management, Housekeeping Management and Kitchen Management. Each of these programmes is divided into three stages – foundation, intermediate and executive.

The foundation stage is designed to develop a strong and consistent technical base in the students. The intermediate stage focuses on imparting skills to effectively manage human, physical and financial resources and the executive stage seeks to nurture the managerial potential of the students. At the last stage, students also work on their individual attributes, motivations and behaviour with assistance from an industrial psychologist and the faculty. This unique component of the course captures what at OCLD is described as a ‘journey of personal and professional development’.

At each of these stages, students undergo 14 weeks of exhaustive theory and practice followed by a lengthy period of professional experience at The Oberoi Group’s hotels.