Bahrain Institute of Hospitality and Retail (BIHR) has been graded ‘good' and awarded a 'silver' seal by the National Authority for Qualifications and Quality Assurance for Education and Training in recognition of its efforts, it was announced.

“This grading is additional external assurance in relation to our quality and a further demonstration of our commitment,” BIHR managing director Hatim Dadabai said in a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

“This success is a culmination of our efforts during two decades of training and employing Bahraini in various aspects of hospitality and retail,” Dadabai added.

An affiliate of the Abbas Dadabhai Group, the private college was founded in 1999 to meet the needs of the hospitality and tourism industry.

The BIHR is the first private training and education provider in the Gulf to obtain the ISO 9000 (2001) quality assurance certification.

“Our facilities include training kitchens and restaurants, a front office and housekeeping laboratory, a resource centre and state-of-the-art information technology including campus-wide wireless facilities,” he said.

BIHR presently has a sister college in Saudi Arabia with other partners in India, Oman and Pakistan.

The institute has also entered into a partnership with HTMi, Sorenberg, Switzerland, for providing an international standard hotel and tourism management course.

BIHR's internal assessments suggest that Bahrain's hospitality and tourism industry is poised to grow 7.6 per cent this year and there is a need for increased human resource development and training in the hospitality, travel and tourism sector. - TradeArabia News Service