GURUGRAM, India : Sommet Education, world leader in hospitality and culinary education, which owns globally renowned institutes including Les Roches, École Ducasse and Glion Institute of Higher Education recently entered a strategic partnership with Indian School of Hospitality (ISH), founded by hospitality veteran Dilip Puri.

The partners aim at offering a global standard of education to a larger number of hospitality and culinary arts aspirants in the years to come, in India and neighbouring countries. Through this partnership, worldwide education reference in culinary and pastry arts École Ducasse has now its first campus in India at ISH, and Les Roches, one of the world’s leading hospitality business schools enters in an academic alliance with ISH for its undergraduate and postgraduate hospitality management programmes.

At an event in Delhi NCR to celebrate the partnership, Benoît-Etienne Domenget, CEO, Sommet Education and Dilip Puri, Founder & CEO, Indian School of Hospitality announced their future development plans for India. The first step of this plan is to expand the current ISH Gurugram campus, which will feature an additional 25,000 sq. ft of classrooms, training kitchens, and student experience areas. This expansion will take up the capacity of the campus to over 500 students per intake with an overall capacity of 1,200 students per year. New facilities are under construction and will be operational by early 2022.

While ISH has set benchmarks with their global curriculum, faculty, and state-of-the-art infrastructure; expansion of the campus will lay grounds for more talented students to choose the exciting field of hospitality and culinary arts and become future leaders who will steer the industry towards success.

In terms of expansion outside the Gurugram campus, Sommet Education and ISH are evaluating opportunities for a second campus to be located in Mumbai, Bengaluru, or Hyderabad. They also intend to launch a network of Ecole Ducasse studios in select cities across India. These culinary institutes will cater to the needs of professionals, enthusiasts, and career changers for upskilling and acquiring new skills. The targeted cities include New Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru.

Together, the partners shared their ambition to become the largest hospitality and culinary arts education player in India in the next 3 years, supported by global expansion plans.

Dilip Puri, Founder & CEO, Indian School of Hospitality commented: “ISH shares similar values of an entrepreneurial and developmental mindset with Sommet Education. The higher education landscape in India is rapidly transforming in order to meet the needs of a young demographic. ISH intends to be at the vanguard of this transformation by bringing the world’s best education brands to create a talent pool that’s not just global but also equipped with a future-proof skillset.”

Speaking on the occasion, Benoit-Etienne Domenget, CEO, Sommet Education, said: “India is one of the fastest growing countries in the world, with hospitality and tourism contributing to a large share of economic growth and employment. As a dynamic young economy, India is the perfect development platform for international education brands to invest in and innovate.”