Hospitality Education Trends Coming to your classroom in 2018

We asked our Academic Deans across Swiss Education Group what hospitality education trends should we be expecting in 2018 and how teaching models will change in the year ahead.

Attention to detail and personalisation of service

As we move more into the digital world, our need to be recognized in a warm and personalized manner is more important than ever. Through the help of industry partnerships, our students learn to take care of our own bees to create the town's only honey, produce a house perfume to fit a hotel's atmosphere and develop solutions to ensure guests of all ages are being pampered in a way they appreciate.

Tanja Florenthal, Academic Director, César Ritz Colleges Switzerland - Le Bouveret Campus

Hospitality Education to take responsibility for innovation

We know that education is the fertile ground of an economy. What, and more importantly, how hospitality students learn in school, determines who they become as individuals, and their contribution to culture and society as citizens of this world. Education informs how they solve problems, how they work with others, and how they look at the world they live in. In today's innovation economy, education becomes even more important for developing the next generation of innovators and creative thinkers.

Stephan Earnhart, Academic Director, SHMS Leysin

Wellbeing of Hospitality and Hospitality of Wellbeing

It is often said that “health is wealth”! According to the Global Wealth Institute, wellness tourism continues to grow at a faster rate than overall tourism, as more consumers aspire to higher levels of wellness and incorporate this intention into their travels. Our 2018 curriculum focuses on providing students with a sound knowledge of the key areas of health, wellbeing and lifestyle with relation to the global economy, nutrition, innovation, corporate health and wellness resorts, culinary tourism and the ethical environment in which organisations must operate.

Sofia Rodrigues, Assistant Dean César Ritz Colleges Switzerland - Brig Campus

Student-centred Learning

In 2018 we will see the trend continuing where students demand to learn when they want and how they want. Combined with the ever-growing demand from the hotel industry to recruiting graduates with highly developed set of transferable skills, education providers will be further challenged to develop flexible learning environments while providing a true student-centred, even personalised delivery. The most successful (hospitality) business schools will be the ones that can innovate in their delivery models and effectively tailor education to the specific needs and wants of each learner.

Jeroen Greven, Academic Dean, SHMS Caux

Transferability and employability

Hospitality is not just about working in hotels, it is about working with people, creating special moments, exceptional memories and sharing special occasions. Our curriculum places a special focus on soft skills and cultural studies to prepare our students for jobs across industries around the world. With the rise in AI and automation, values and soft skills are more important than ever as they are what sets us apart from machines. As an education institute, we are responsible for ensuring our students are prepared for the workforce of the future.

Ulrika Bjorklund, Academic Dean, Hotel Institute Montreux