Tuli College of Hotel Management, HOD: Dr. Sonnal Karnnik Interview

Dr. Sonnal Karnnik is Head of Department at Tuli College of Hotel Management. She obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Hotel Management & Catering Technology, a Master’s in Hospitality Management, and a Ph.D. in Hotel Management & Catering Technology from RTMNU, Nagpur. She has teaching experience in the reputed Institutes for more than 27 years. She had cracked an MPSC interview to get placed in the Government Institute of Hotel Management & Catering Technology, Nagpur. She was invited to deliver a guest lecture on Purchasing, Issuing, and Storage on 28th September 2015 for M.SC I semester (Food Science and Nutrition).

What helps you in managing key positions at educational institutions?

“Teaching is my passion, not my profession”

The key purpose of Hotel Management & Catering Technology is to make students familiar with management techniques, processes, and methods used in the hotel and hospitality business globally.

Tuli College of Hotel Management offers the following courses: 

• BHMCT (4 years) graduate degree Affiliated RTMNU
• 3 years BSC in Hospitality Affiliated KKSU
• 1-year Diploma in Hospitality Studies (2 years) 
• M.Sc in Hospitality Studies affiliated to KKSU master degree, which provides professional training and new inventions in the business of hotels and catering. 

Hospitality Education is one of the most versatile sectors than any other sector in education as it allows a person to reach the grassroots level as several hospitality courses are offered right from short term to one-year diploma three and four-year degree courses. It allows me to reach the various demands of students which keep me connected to the education sector as it is a challenging task. It was a great experience as we are always working with the latest trends as per the hospitality Industry.

What are your roles and responsibilities towards the students?

“Providing Students with Practical Knowledge of Theoretical Knowledge”

Our Roles and responsibilities include:

• Teaching practical and theory subjects online
• Mentoring the students
• We arrange webinars on current topics
• Arranging educational tours for the students 
• Arrange extracurricular activities
• Motivate the students in participating in various competitions
• We also arrange parent-teacher meetings on-line 

Do you have any extracurricular activities to enhance the skills of the students?

“Exposing students to real-world Challenges by organizing extracurricular activities”

Ans: We believe in giving exposure to our students even during the pandemic our college hosted Webinars on current topics to keep the students knowledgeable about the post-pandemic effects of hospitality education. Also, we started the Learning Management System Portal which helped the students during online education.

The Institute Conducted Webinars Successfully on the following topics:

• Bouncing back of hospitality Industry Post Covid by eminent Speakers like Prof Sudhir Andrews, Mr. Suresh Mathur, Mr. Manoj Bali, Arjun Singh Arora, and Dr. Urvashi Yashroy.
• Hospitality Education During and Post Covid by eminent speakers like Mr. Sudhir Andrews, Mr. Ramesh Hande, Mrs. Rina Sinha.
• Campus to Career ready to face the future by Mrs. Gauri Kher
• Hospitality Industry & Food Industry Post Covid-19 by Chef Ankit Rao
• HR Perspective on Jobs - Post-Coivid – 19 by Mr. Gurudutta Irde
• The 2 Day Annual National Conference – Amelioration – 2021 - “ Reawakening of Hospitality Industry By Fostering Knowledge & Capacity Building” was conducted online wherein sessions by prominent persons from the Hospitality Industry were conducted.
• A 2-day workshop on Faculty Development was conducted by Dr. Sudhir Andrews, Father of Hospitality Education with emphasis on Self Learning and E-Learning

How does the curriculum of college ensure that the students are being prepared for the future?

“Encourage students to think out of the box”

We train our students to participate in various competitions so that the students develop creative thinking and think out-of-the-box ideas. We also encourage our students to do experimental research projects in the final year which helps them to become better entrepreneurs in today’s changing scenario.

We take personality development sessions, resume-building communication skills, and mock interview sessions.

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How do you try to make subjects industry-oriented?

“Providing Students with Mock Interviews and Training”

Tuli college of hotel management arranges mock interviews with experts which is a common feature that helps the students in assessing their knowledge and competencies. We also arrange expert guest lecturers now for the students to enhance their interview skills. We also arrange Industrial exposure training in India and abroad for our students. We invite Industrial Experts in our Institute which enables our students to know the latest trends in the Industry.

What are the approaches you bring in apart from curriculum to teaching the students?

“Providing Students with Online Quizzes and Puzzles”

We take online quizzes, puzzles and also give assignments to train and teach them. We also have a system of LMS as mentioned earlier which monitors the performance of each student.

What would you like people to know about your College they may not know?

“Focus on Learning by doing”

We offer 100% placement to our students in India and abroad. We focus on Learning by Doing. We organize various Mock Interviews and industrial-oriented sessions. The sessions on Soft Skill Development and Personality Development are also organized.

What do you see as the greatest strengths of College?

“Provides Safe Abode Away from Home for our students”

It gives a wonderful career to the students without any limits. The students learn vital skills necessary for hospitality education soft skills are what recruiters demand now. We have a chain of hotels so students become a part of hospitality’s most powerful network. We have overcome all the challenges during the Pandemic and are already focusing on online education but the application of theory classes is done only in theory classes.

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Any suggestions you would like to give to the current youth and the aspiring students?

“Hotel Management is not only a career, but It also changes the life perspective”

Hotel management is not only a career choice for Hotel Management candidates but it will change their life’s perspective; the students have to be more creative, innovative and should have a different outlook. We gained knowledge from books, and attitude is gained from life, in the same way, to choose a career in the Hotel Industry, both are necessary to stand tall in the business industry.