Indian School of Hospitality (ISH) welcomes close to two hundred school and professional counsellors to its Gurugram campus for the seventh edition of the Counsellors’ Retreat. The retreat takes place over four days this month and represents the largest national gathering of counsellors for hospitality and culinary education in India. The scale reflects a growing recognition of hospitality as a discipline that draws from culture, business, behaviour, design, food studies, and leadership.
ISH presents its academic philosophy of liberal hospitality to counsellors who guide student choices across the country. Liberal hospitality places people, culture, experience, and curiosity at the centre of learning. It brings interdisciplinary rigor through subjects that include psychology, anthropology, communication, entrepreneurship, technology, and food studies. This approach prepares students to think, analyse, collaborate, and lead in India’s fast-growing service economy.
The retreat features workshops, conversations, and specialised sessions that give counsellors a direct view of how ISH builds academic depth across hospitality and culinary arts. Faculty members present their teaching frameworks. Students share their learning journeys. Alumni reflect on their career pathways in hotels, restaurants, consumer brands, technology platforms, and service-led businesses. The sessions also include capability building workshops that support counsellors who advise students in an evolving career landscape shaped by new industries and new opportunities.
The seventh edition marks an important moment for hospitality education in India. The participation of nearly ~125 counsellors signals a shift in how families and schools view hospitality and culinary arts. These fields now attract students who seek global careers and leadership roles in industries that rely on creativity, human connection, and interdisciplinary thinking. The retreat reinforces ISH’s long term vision of placing hospitality and culinary education inside India’s mainstream higher education dialogue.
Kunal Vasudeva, Co-Founder and Managing Director at ISH, addressed the gathering and shared the institution’s direction. “India’s consumer economy grows on talent that understands people, behaviour, and service excellence. Hospitality education prepares students for this future. Liberal hospitality builds interdisciplinary thinkers who analyse situations, solve problems, and work with confidence. Our curriculum brings academic depth, work attachments, and structured rigour. Students learn to engage with complex environments and create value for businesses that operate in a fast-growing service landscape.”
