Best academic culinary all rounder of the year

Culinary Academy of India is a brand and strives at excellence and making learning a joyful experience. Once you join the college you become a part of the Chefs network and are always in constant contact with the college welfare. The management works day and night to be able to cope up with the changing trends in the industry and never falls back on providing the best to its students. The course in itself is a continuous training process and also creates a platform for the emerging future chefs that the college can provide to the society at large.

Gave an all India Entrance Examination constituting of an Aptitude test , group discussion and a personal interview . Each round was based on an elimination process to chose the students fit for the course.

The course curriculum has been created in such a way that a lot of special importance has been given to the Culinary Arts and Kitchen Management. The reason why I joined this particular college was first the in the detailed curriculum they had planned, the infrastructure and the equipment are the colleges were offering. In the first year all the general hotel management subjects like Food Production, Housekeeping, Front office, Hygiene and Sanitation,Food and beverage, French, Environmental Studies along with practicals are taught, giving more emphasis to the culinary(Indian And Continental) aspect of the curriculum. In the second year food and nutrition, Hygiene and sanitation, Pastry and Confectionery, Ethnic Indian Bulk Cooking, Food and Beverage, Hotel Accountancy, Culinary French are taught in detail so that the students are well prepared for their Industrial Training in the second half of the academic year. The industrial training is compulsory to get a college degree and is, therefore, a part of the curriculum. The college Placement Coordinator helps each student personally to get training done in a hotel of their choice anywhere in India. It is a 16-week training process after which the student is expected to come and share their experience with their fellow students and give a presentation they are given on any culinary topic before the start of their training. This presentation carries a lot of weight-age to help clear the second year. The third year starts off with the students generally choosing their area of interest in the culinary world, it could be Pastry, Indian, Continental or Garde Manger. Each student is personally trained in their chosen area for over a month and then the elite ones choose to represent the college at the State level and National level competitions held throughout the year. The theory aspect for the third year is only 30% with about 1 class a day,where as a lot of importance is given to the practical aspect with a practical class held from 9 am - 3 pm. The Practicals in the third year consist of Garde Manger, Advanced Edible Sculpture & Culinary Arts, International Visual Confectionery, Bread Art, Oriental & Far Eastern Cuisine along with Food and Beverage Practicals. The theory subjects are International Baking and Artisan Breads, Materials Management, Marketing Management, Cuisine Facility Planning & Design, Culinary Art & Concepts, European Confectionery, Food & Beverage Matching - II and Hotel Law.

The college does provide internship for the Second Year Second Semester as it is part of the curriculum. It is generally called as an Industrial Training Program for a period of 16 weeks(4 months). The college helps the student get placed in their Hotel of choice which generally is a 5-Star property and where in India. In case a student wants to do the training abroad the college gives permission but doesn't help with the placement. The student themselves will have to apply on their own and them get an approval from the college. The stipend generally varies depending from property to property but is approximately between Rs.1000/- to Rs.5000/-. Top notch hotels such as Marriott Group, Ritz-Carlton, Oberoi Group of Hotels, Taj Group of Hotels, ITC Hotels, Fairmont, The Park, Le Meridian, Trident, Hyatt, Novotel, Sheraton, etc are the options the students are given with. During the training, the interns are rotated to different kitchens within the hotel and get an experience of the actual hotel industry and as to how the kitchens work. They are given hands-on training along with weekly evaluation as to their performance during the entire week.

As soon as the final year begins the college placements start. The college tries to place all the students but it is up to the students if they want to take the placement or not. Hotel chains such as ITC Hotels, Taj Group, The Park, The Oberoi, Marriott, etc come for placements and have always provided the college students with an offer letter. The college also provides placement for students wanting to work on a cruise liner. Companies like P&O Cruise, Costa Cruise, and Princess Cruise come for placement every year in the month of February to the college campus. The college has a good placement record and every year placement details can be viewed on the Alumni page on our college website.

The college has some or the other event being celebrated every other week. They are generally food festivals of the Cuisines of India for which the second years prepare the food for. We also have State level Competitions and National Level competitions in which we participate in with great enthusiasm. Events such as Sports week, Inter class quiz, Culinary Competitions, Fruit and Vegetable Carving competitions, Republic Day, Independence Day, etc are conducted with great valour. Each year an enormous buffet called 'Gala Buffet' is celebrated to enjoy and cherish the field of culinary arts in the Christmas week. For which eminent guests and chefs from the culinary field are invited to be a part of.

When compared to other colleges the fee structure is very feasible. The University prescribed tuition fee is Rs.40,000/- per annum. The college also provides study materials, uniforms, tool kit, journals and a two- piece suit. The working lunch is provided by the college on the days the student has classes in the college, for all of which the student needs to pay as an additional fee apart from the tuition fee which will be informed during the time of admission.

The college does provide with scholarships for merit students and students who emerge as winners in National Level Competitions. Student can also apply with Osmania University for scholarships but the student must fall under the scholarship eligible criteria. I was Awarded 'The best academic all rounder of the year' and was also given a cash prize.

The college is nothing less than a military academy with long working hours and rigorous hands on training. The college tries its best to give the students the right kind of training which is required for us before joining the actual industry. Campus life is fun if you make learning fun which the faculty surely do. When it comes to practical classes in the labs discipline is most sort out by the faculty because chef's best friend is a knife and fire. We have the best infrastructure that no other college can provide with. There are 7 fully equipped labs in the college. Basic Training Kitchen, Bread Art Lab, European Culinary Fundamentals Kitchen, a'la carte kitchen, Pastry and Confectionery lab, Cruise Galley and Advanced Training Kitchen. The college also has two training Bars and two fully equipped restaurants. Five classrooms with fully equipped over head projectors. Each batch consists of about 60 students divided into two batches for the practical classes. About 33% of the class consists of girls. Students from all over India from states such as Punjab, Bihar, Kolkata, New Delhi, Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala, etc along with neighbouring nations such as Tibet and Nepal. We also have other NRI students who join the college.

The college does provide hostel facility but only for the boy on sharing bases. The college encourages students to try out different cuisines available in Hyderabad and to explore the street food that it is famous for and therefore doesn't provide mess facility. In case the student doesn't want to stay in the hostel there are lots of Paying Guest Accommodations available for both girls and boys within the locality which do provide food and bed on sharing bases which will cost approximately about Rs.4000/- per month.

We do have the college Alumni Association. The Alumni students generally come and do share their college days experience and how the world outside in the industry is. They give the aspiring chefs an insight as to what to expect from the hotel industry. Few also come and conduct guest lectures and take master classes. Many of the Alumni have become executive chefs, entrepreneurs, few joined as faculty members in different colleges because of their love for teaching and most others in very good positions in the industry.

The Three Year course consists of 6-semesters. The practical exam is out of 75 marks consisting of 25 marks for Internals and 50 marks for the Externals.There are two Internal Theory tests conducted each semester for 30 marks in which an average is considered out of 30 and an External Theory Examination for 70 marks conducted by Osmania University. The student must have passed the Internal Test to be eligible to attend the final examination. All semesters are conducted in the same manner. Only in the Second Year Second Semester does the pattern change with marks based on the Training Log-book submitted by the student and the Training Report given by the Human Resource department of the hotel, along the presentation given by the student on the given topic.

After filling in the admission form we were given a date for the All India entrance examination for which we had to appear in person formally attired with proper grooming. We were first made to sit for the Aptitude exam after which we were given a briefing about the college the curriculum and as to why there is a need for a separate course called culinary arts for the aspiring chefs out there. Then the students were divided into groups of 8-10 for the group discussion round which consisted of a panel of two. The elimination process started here. After a long wait the students selected for the final personal interview round are called out. The principal himself Chef Sudhakar N Rao along with another panel member conduct the Personal Interview. This was the end of the selection process. After two days the final list of selected students is put up on the college website along with a list of wait listed students in case there are any drop outs to fill the gap. The selected students are requested to pay the admission fee within 10-12 days after the list is out. In case any student drops out of the admission process the wait listed students are given a call and are asked to join the college.

The faculty and the staff of the college are very cooperative. They are always willing to teach and get their knowledge imparted to each and every student. All the faculty members are highly knowledgeable in their own field and the college doesn't select but the best faculty to teach the students. Most of the faculty have worked abroad in different countries and trained and worked with well-known renowned chef's all around the globe.The Chef's are through with their practical skills and leave no stone un-turned until they have taught everything in their calibre. Our Principal/Director is a Chef himself who started the college to teach the skills a student requires to become a chef. He is self driven person who supports the students to try out new trends taking place in the kitchen. Unlike other colleges sending only students to participate in culinary competitions the college encourages the Faculty to take part in National Level Professional Competitions and have emerged victorious many a times.