Les Roches and Glion are two hospitality education providers in Switzerland that are keen to stress their close ties to the industry – in the former’s case through its board of directors as well as through the employer representatives who make campus visits each year to recruit future employees and interns. As a result, it is quick to respond to changes in demand trends.

Noting the finding of a recent study that 56 per cent of managers in the luxury hotel sector prefer graduates who have trained in more than one country, Joel Reeves, Media Relations Spokesperson for Glion Institute of Higher Education www.glion.edu and Les Roches www.lesroches.edu reports that in 2014 Les Roches introduced a BA in Global Hospitality Management, in which students study at the institution’s campuses in Switzerland, Spain and China in turn and develop first-hand knowledge of the service culture and business practices of these key tourism markets. Then, in January 2015, it launched a new Master’s programme in Hospitality Leadership.

A further trend it has noted is increased interest among employers outside the traditional hotel industry in employing hospitality-trained graduates. This led it to create a new specialisation, Health & Wellness Management, within its existing BA degree. This, says Joel, teaches specific knowledge and skills to manage spa and health operations on top of the managerial soft skills and professionalism.

Glion has also been proactive in response to this trend, Joel observes, with the introduction in 2014 of a new specialisation in Luxury Brand Management within its BA Hospitality Management programme. Glion has also taken on board the strong need for industry professionals to further their skills in specific areas, and this has seen the introduction of its executive certificates.

From 2017, Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL) www.ehl.edu will also offer certificates for online courses, as well as a blended MBA, which is studied partly online and partly on campus. According to Sherif Mamdouh, the school is also focusing on meeting the demand for a more global approach, having launched a new Master’s programme in Global Hospitality Business, which is taught in Lausanne (Switzerland), Hong Kong and Houston (USA).

In the future, Les Roches comments that it will strive to profit further from its “unique network of campuses across the globe, offering students even more international exposure through transfers and study abroad options”, which, underlines Joel, “will benefit their learning experience and ultimately their employability”.

These institutions, offering full undergraduate and postgraduate degree courses are at one end of the spectrum. At the other is the six-week F&B (food and beverage) programme offered by F&B Training International http://fbsti.com. Yet Chief Executive Officer, Christian Cargouet, is quick to emphasise that the prospects of these students are ultimately no worse than those of students who have completed a degree, since “all have to start at the bottom”.

The hospitality sector is one of the most dynamic industries in the world, according to Joel. Quoting the World Travel & Tourism Council, he says, “Due to the continuous growth of the labour-intensive and productivity-reliant travel & tourism industry, the sector is expected to experience some difficulties in providing enough qualified talent for the forecasted 80 million new jobs created over the next 10 years.”

The majority of those completing the short, basic training programme provided by F&B Training International go on to work for a hotel chain, where they enjoy good promotion prospects, Christian underlines.

Among graduates of Glion, says Joel, an average of 86 per cent have one or more job offers by the time they have completed their course. Entry-level positions taken up by 2016 graduates of Les Roches include: Innovation & Quality Management at the Soneva Group in Thailand and Assistant Account Manager at Kayak Europe headquarters in Switzerland.

Sherif, meanwhile, recounts that some of EHL’s graduates join large hospitality groups as assistant F&B managers or junior event managers, while others go into different fields such as luxury brands, while still others “decide to live their entrepreneurial dreams and start up their own companies”. jvs@studytravel.network

Strong global demand

Thanks to the prestige of Swiss hospitality management schools, they attract an unusually high percentage of international students – and perhaps none more so than Les Roches, where the ratio of 97 per cent spans 90 countries. The institution has branch campuses including Spain and China in order to meet industry demand for qualified talent, explains Spokesperson, Joel Reeves. At Glion Institute of Higher Education, nine out of 10 students are international, of which 60 per cent are European.

At Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne 55 per cent of students come from other countries. In total, 107 nationalities are represented, with the highest representation coming from France and China, notes Sherif Mamdouh. The main drivers of demand are the economic prospects of students’ countries and the outlook of the industry. For these reasons, the school is expecting an increase from Asia in the coming year.

The F&B Training model is one where training is carried out wherever there is demand. With the high cost of living in Switzerland, this makes it an attractive option financially, highlights CEO Christian Cargouet. Greatest demand comes from India and Russia, with the USA also currently showing considerable interest.

Hospitality management in Switzerland – Study Travel Magazine