European hotel and hospitality courses

Students with an eye on future job prospects are flocking to Europe to study on hotel and hospitality courses.

“[International students] are interested in the European traditions in hospitality, French cuisine, German/Swiss technical know-how and British management expertise,” says Rod Hardingham from the London Hotel School in the UK. “They still see many expatriate European managers running hotels in their own countries and believe a European qualification will help them get to the top.”

With a tradition of excellence that goes back many years, hotel management and hospitality schools in Europe pride themselves in producing some of the most sought-after graduates in the industry. For many schools, the key to future success in their graduates is providing a comprehensive education combined with a long period of practical experience in some of the best hotels in the world.

“We have a one-year paid internship in a London four or five star hotel,” relates Hardingham. “Students see this as a vital step in their careers as when they return home, if they can show one year’s work in a hotel such as the London Ritz – where they have dealt with guests from all over the world in a very high occupancy situation – they are almost guaranteed a good job.”

At the Institut Hotelier Cesar Ritz in Switzerland, Jonathan Hilton agrees that a quality work experience programme is “vital for students”. He adds, “Our contacts with industry inform us that practical experience is the key to success and placement.”

At another school in Switzerland, DCT International Hotel and Business Management School, Sharon Spaltenstein relates that hotel and hospitality courses are so popular in Switzerland with international students that 98 per cent of their student body comes from overseas. Spaltenstein believes that her school’s popularity largely lies in the number of very specialised culinary arts programmes that are on offer. “They are taught only by highly respected Swiss chefs offering a way for international students to learn European gourmet cuisine and/or about European pastry and chocolate within a reasonable time period – ranging from 11 weeks to 18 months,” she says.

Another selling point for DCT is its University of Massachusetts bachelor degree programme, which can be taken by students in less time and at a less total cost than in the USA, and has been offered since 2003. “DCT’s unique combination of a Swiss Advanced Diploma and a well-respected US Bachelor’s degree helps to open a wide variety of career options for DCT graduates with fast advancement within many types of large corporations or smaller businesses – from international lodging chains to neighbourhood restaurants, major cruise line companies to event organisers,” says Spaltenstein.

Elsewhere in Europe, standards for high quality education in the field of hotel and hospitality management are also evident. Fotine Zijlstra from CHN University Netherlands says that their International Hospitality programme has been ranked for many years as the best in the country. “The knowledge and quality of the European hotel industry is well known outside Europe,” says Zijlstra. “For example, many general managers are graduates of European universities.”

While already popular with international students, CHN has recently introduced new courses to appeal to overseas markets, including an English communication preparation course as well as “transnational education and the grand tour concept”, says Zijlstra. “[Students have] the opportunity to study part of our programmes at one of our campuses in Thailand, Qatar, South Africa and, starting 2007, China,” she explains. “In fact all our programmes have a strong international focus, both in content and structure of the programme as in the mixture of nationalities in the classes, to make it appealing for both the national and international students.”

In France too, Arnaud Bouvier from Eshotel Hotel Management School says that they have recently developed a new Masters in Hospitality programme in order to cater for international student demand. “Management programmes are very popular [with international students],” he says. “[Especially] short programmes like our Master in Hospitality Administration. International students will first study in their country then complete their education with a short, hospitality-oriented programme.”

With global tourism and travel continuing to grow, hotel and hospitality programmes are likely to remain a popular option for international students in the future and European providers of these courses are already planning to expand their marketing outreach. Bouvier comments, “[We recruit international students] exclusively on the Internet today but we plan to participate in student fairs abroad next year.”