Chinese students go Swiss to become world hospitality leaders

Chinese students are flocking to a Lausanne-based hospitality management school widely regarded as the best in the world in a bid to become industry leaders of the future.

Around 600 of the 4,000-or-so students currently enrolled at the EHL (Ecole hoteliere de Lausanne) Hospitality Business School in the Swiss city are from China. That's approximately one-in-seven of the intake and represents a 50 percent increase in Chinese representation since 2019, with only Switzerland and France producing more students.

Ryan Lau, from Hong Kong, recently started a four-year bachelor's degree in hospitality and describes life at EHL as "amazing." He told CGTN Europe: "The atmosphere and the vibe is all really nice. It's very different from a usual university where you study the same thing for one year. Here you get to do different things every week, every two weeks. It's a lot of fun."

Founded in 1893 on the wave of a tourism boom in the Swiss Alps, EHL imposes a strict business dress code and schools students in multiple disciplines. These include culinary and service skills, event planning and entrepreneurship. 

From making beds to laying tables and planning a menu, they learn the business from the bottom up. They're being prepared for an industry which was badly impacted by Covid 19 but which has since made a recovery.

"Profitability is back, big time," Professor Markus Venzin told CGTN Europe. "Most hospitality operations are more profitable than they were in 2019.  I would say the biggest challenge is talent shortage. Companies need to learn how to attract talent and then how to keep them."

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With tuition fees running at over $200,000 across a four-year bachelor degree, EHL is out of reach for many aspiring hospitality students. But the organization is seeking to expand, forming partnerships to deliver its training in China where three schools have been certified. It's currently in the process of working with a local partner in Sanya to offer its bachelors degree program, offering skills that are much in demand.

"In China as you know, we have really high quality infrastructure like facilities like hotels, but we are lacking in a service culture," explained Yong Chen, Associate Professor of Hospitality Economics.

He's taught at EHL for a decade and says it is imperative for the institution to international travelers. "Not because China is huge, not because we have a long history, but because we can provide world class services for these people."

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