‘I learned about job prospects I hadn’t even considered’: the Swiss business school training leaders of the future
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One crisp morning in Lausanne, Switzerland, a six-person team of final-year students present their recommendations to the International Olympic Committee. The brief is real (designing amenities and non-sporting experiences for the Youth Olympic Games), and some of the recommendations will be acted upon. For past-student Marina Campbell, this is the culmination of her experience at EHL Hospitality Business School, as part of her bachelor’s degree in international hospitality management.
“Having the opportunity to work with a world-renowned institution, being trusted to create, test and roll out a plan through months of research, design and review, and then seeing it put into place, and our work coming to life – it was surreal,” she says. And it’s a snapshot of what makes the EHL bachelor’s degree fundamentally different.
EHL, formerly known as the Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne, was founded in 1893. Today, it teaches management, business strategy and finance through the lens of its historical roots in hospitality and is ranked top in the QS World University rankings for hospitality and leisure management. Its flagship bachelor programme is rigorous, demanding and designed for a world that values soft skills as much as business skills.
Associate dean of undergraduate degrees Cédric Poretti has a background in private banking and a PhD in financial accounting. He describes EHL’s foundations as broad and business-led. “Our programme is firmly rooted in experiential learning, starting with an immersive preparatory year centred on hands-on practice.” From day one, students develop “key interpersonal skills essential for their future careers, and transferable to various industries such as hospitality, healthcare, luxury and banking”.
The structure of the bachelor programme reflects the ambition to produce versatile graduates. Alongside modules in corporate finance, marketing, economics and strategy, students apply their learning continuously through internships, real company cases and consulting-style projects. Later, they specialise in areas such as property and finance, entrepreneurship and innovation, or strategy and leadership, before completing the student business project: a nine-week consulting mandate for an external partner.
“The outcomes of these student business projects are not merely academic exercises,” says Poretti. “They result in actionable recommendations and solutions that can be directly applied by the partner companies.” Which is all the more impressive when you learn that these partner companies range from Villeroy & Boch to Nespresso and Hyatt.
For Tabitha Watkins, a recent alumna now working in consulting and valuations in London, this balance between theory and application is vital. “It’s very much a business degree, with modules ranging from real estate finance and asset management to marketing and corporate strategy,” she says, “but each is linked to the hospitality industry.” So students are not simply learning hotel management, but understanding how organisations create value through people, operations and experience.
Schooled in the UK and initially planning a traditional university route, Watkins admits she was hesitant about studying abroad. “Once I was accepted, I realised I hadn’t heard much about it, nor did I know many people who’d left the UK for university,” she says. What convinced her about the move was “the internships, being able to work anywhere and actually doing the unusual thing in the end”.
Those internships took her from Lake Como to Sydney, while an exchange semester in Singapore broadened her professional horizons: “There were weekly trips to businesses in the city, where I learned about job prospects that I hadn’t even considered.”
This international exposure is intentional. EHL’s bachelor in international hospitality management is taught in English, within a highly multicultural campus, and supported by a global network of industry partners. Campbell credits this network as one of the school’s most tangible assets. “There are alumni everywhere – it’s like running water!” she says. “Every brand, country, across sectors, there truly is always an EHL link.” That reach, she says, translates directly into opportunity and confidence in navigating career transitions.
Neither Watkins nor Campbell has followed a linear “hospitality” path. Campbell’s career has spanned PR, marketing, events and ultimately commercial property in London, while Watkins says that her EHL study has made her “more mobile and flexible”.
Poretti emphasises that employers value EHL graduates not just for their expertise in working in hospitalty, but because they can lead teams, analyse complex problems and operate across cultures. The school’s status as a stand-alone hospitality business management institution reinforces this focus.
“Our DNA lies in our hospitality roots,” he says, “fostering a culture of service excellence, adaptability and a strong sense of community that permeates every aspect of the student experience.”
That human-centric dimension is often what surprises students as one of the most valuable things they learn at EHL. “A key thing for me was learning how to communicate with different stakeholders, particularly with differences of opinion,” says Campbell. “Presentation and public speaking skills have been important too. But mostly it’s given me the ability and confidence to meet people, go to places and try new experiences that I otherwise never would have.”
Together, these voices paint a clear picture. EHL is for you if you’re ambitious, adaptable and energised by the idea of working with real clients before graduating. If you see hospitality as a way to understand how businesses and people thrive, you might be the perfect fit. “As a bonus, there’s a phenomenon called the ‘EHL spirit’,” says Campbell. “It sounds cliched but it truly does exist. It’s an unpindownable energy for the new and exciting; to learn, develop and thrive. And let me tell you, it does not fade, it sticks.”
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