Students practice their acquired knowledge in the most famous hotels of Switzerland. We met Irina Khmeleva from St. Petersburg in one of them – the luxurious Les Sourses Des Alpes in Leukerbad //Photo by Dmitry ONISHCHUK
Knowledge and Skills
The essence of the European (also known as Swiss) model is the combination of theoretical classes with practical work in "real-time" conditions, based on an operating hotel. At the same time, the future manager must sequentially go through all departments of the hotel business and acquire practical skills in each of them. Management implies control, and it is impossible to effectively control the work of subordinates if you yourself do not thoroughly understand it, proponents of this model believe. That is why a hotel manager who has been educated at one of the schools in Switzerland not only knows what each hotel service does, but also can do everything that his employees do. It is no coincidence that in Swiss schools of hotel management, the academic year is clearly divided into two semesters: the first semester students spend in the classroom, and the second – directly in the hotel, where they often live. This approach allows training specialists focused on working specifically in the hotel business.
Overall, education in the field of hotel management in Switzerland is among the expensive ones. The average cost of a year of study here is about $18-20 thousand. Well, as they say, you have to pay for quality...
Choosing a School
Swiss hotel management schools - and there are about thirty of them - are overwhelmingly educational institutions with big names, known far beyond the Alpine republic. But even against this far from "average" background, there are leaders that stand out.
One of them is the Lausanne Hotel School (Ecole hoteliere de Lausanne, EHL), which in 2003 celebrated its 110th anniversary. Its prestige is spoken by dry figures - every year about a thousand students from 60 countries come here to obtain the qualification of an hotelier - that is what hotel managers are called all over the world. They are taught by 250 highly qualified teachers. Instruction at the school is in two languages - French and English. The school offers a wide range of programs - from bachelor's to MBA. The curriculum includes disciplines such as marketing and finance, human resource management, information technology, and all of this applied to the hospitality industry. Holders of an EHL diploma have no problems with employment, thanks in part to the activities of the active Alumni Club, whose members live and work in more than 100 countries.
The second largest Swiss hotel management school - Swiss Hotel Management School (SHMS) - is located in the French-speaking part of the country, in Montreux, but instruction is in English. The full bachelor's course is designed for three and a half years of study, but, as in most Swiss schools, it is not necessary to complete it entirely. After the first two years, one can obtain a professional diploma that allows finding a job in a hotel at a mid-level position. Thanks to the school's cooperation with foreign partners, its students also have the opportunity to simultaneously obtain another diploma - from the American Hotel & Lodging Association. They do their practical training (which takes about half of the study time) at such famous hotels as President Willson, the UN hotel complex in Geneva, and others. An interesting detail - many SHMS graduates start their own business soon after graduation.
Also in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, in Neuchâtel, is the Institute of Hotel and Tourism Management (IHTTI School of Hotel Management), which has existed since 1984. The institute's training base is an operating hotel. Students of the three-year bachelor's program spend practically the entire first year here, getting acquainted in practice with all types of hotel service work: they learn to serve dishes and drinks, participate in room cleaning, work at guest reception, etc. The second year and part of the third are mainly devoted to studying management theory, and the remaining time students prepare for the defense of their diploma thesis. A mandatory component of the first two years of study is a 20-week internship at a hotel, for which students receive a salary - from $1,500 per month. Since 2004, IHTTI also has a master's program (Graduate Diploma in Hotel Operations Management), which accepts specialists with higher education of any profile.
In German-speaking Switzerland, the HTMi School of International Hotel and Tourism Management, located in Sorenberg, is well-known. This is a famous ski resort, from which it is easy to reach Bern, the capital of the Swiss Confederation, in just 40 minutes. The school occupies two hotel buildings. The professional training programs are diverse, ranging from a one-year program culminating in a certificate with the right to work in "junior" positions (e.g., waiter), to a four-year bachelor's program leading to an international Bachelor of Arts in International Hospitality and Tourism Management. There is also a postgraduate program, Postgraduate Courses, aimed at those who intend to make a truly brilliant career in this business. Compared to the schools described above, HTMi can be considered a small educational institution - there are only 120 students. But it is precisely this that allows the teachers, most of whom are highly qualified specialists, to guarantee each student increased attention and an individual approach. Instruction at the school is also in English.
During the internship, which, according to the model adopted in Switzerland, accounts for about half of the study time, students are paid a full salary of 2,000 Swiss francs. After paying taxes and expenses for housing and food, they have about $1,000 left per month. So some adjustments should be made to our previous discussions about the high cost of Swiss education. However, a diploma obtained here will definitely pay off - and much faster than many think.