New Swiss Hotel School Player Climbs Ranking Ladder

New Swiss Hotel School Player Climbs Ranking Ladder
By Habib Souleiman, Bachelor of Arts in Hotel Management

Are you planning to study Business-BBA/MBA, Hospitality management, Hotel, Tourism or a mix of one or more of these fields in Europe?

Here is my story:
During my last year of my secondary education in the Middle East, my family asked me, what my plans were for my future career. As I was unsure what I could do and did not want to join the ranks of the unemployed after completing my education, I went to the career advisor of my school to get some sound advice. She informed me of careers in the various sectors of the economy. I was not interested in manufacturing, or primary sector jobs and I finally decided to make my career in the services industry, after finding out that more than 50% of the Fortune 500 companies were in that part of the economy. I am an outgoing person, enjoying interactions with people from many walks of life. I know I would not be happy to work cooped-up in an office all day, so I settled on the hotel and tourism industry. My plan was to work after graduation in one of the local 5 star hotels, hoping to be transferred after a time, within the hotel company into the various exotic locations were they have hotels.

I formed my decision after talking to the daughter of a friend, who came back home three years ago after her studies abroad in Switzerland. She told me, that after she had completed her education with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Hotel Management, she managed to get a management internship through the placement office of the Swiss school. She works now as a manager for one the prime hotel companies in town, training front of the house staff in their hotels all over Asia.

From her I found out, that when she planned her studies, she was faced with an overwhelming choice of offers for education in many countries. In the end she choose Switzerland, because she felt that she would get the most comprehensive education there, had the ability to learn French and she found in her research a number of Swiss Alumni working as managers in hotels in her home town.

Obviously things have changed since her graduation and for others wanting to pursue this education I have added my school selection criteria and the research that led me to make my choice where to study.
My criteria were:

• A good education at the most reasonable price
• The shortest path to a degree
• An accredited degree
• City location
• Possibility of foreign work experience
• Paid industry training (I need this to partly finance my education)
• Placement guarantee by the school into an industry training
• Ability to learn German
• Good ranking (this was difficult because in some countries this is not available)
• Successful Alumni

Today (31.10.2011) I was surprised to learn, that my school ranks first in AMAZON.com (Alexa), the world's largest Web Services Company, among students looking to study in a Swiss Hotel and Tourism School.  Of course, I am not surprised about this, because for me “value for money” a short study time” and “accredited degree” was the main criteria for me to choose a school. It is good to know, that other prospective students have the same emphasis.
For the record, I have listed the schools in order of popularity.

Top 10 Hotel Schools in Switzerland are:
1. Business & Hotel Management School
2. Glion Institute of Higher Education
3. Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL-Lausanne Hotel School)
4. César Ritz Colleges Switzerland - Hotel School
5. Les Roches International School of Hotel Management
6. International Hotel Management Institute (IMI University Centre Switzerland)
7. Swiss Hotel Management School (SHMS-Switzerland)
8. HIM - Hotel Institute Montreux
9. Les Roches-Gruyère University of Applied Sciences (in Clarens, Bulle and Bluche)
10. IHTTI-Neuchatel School of hotel management - Hospitality – Tourism (Member of ASEH)

Of course, there are lots of other places to study and many prospective students have other criteria for their choice of education or place to study than mine. For these people I include a link, were one can find some more schools: Swiss Universities Handbook – Swiss Hotel Management School – Top Universities in Switzerland.
I am writing this article from my desk here in Switzerland, having successfully graduated a short while ago and working now in my first management position with good prospects for further promotion. You may ask, were did he study in the end and did he reach is goal? Well for me the criteria listed above led me to my school and the name of it is BHMS Business and Hotel management school located in the tourism capital of Switzerland the City of Lucerne. I am very proud for my school to be topping the AMAZON ranking list.

Oh… did I reach my goal? You Bet!!
Are you interested to know more about Hospitality industry in Switzerland feel free to contact me at habibals@gmx.ch