Top 10 things to think about when choosing the right university
10.
Vibrant alumni community
Does the university have an active and vibrant alumni community, with a worldwide presence and bespoke benefits offered to alumni?
Now 16,000 strong, and with members spanning generations and continents, the Les Roches alumni community is a priceless networking resource. As you build your career, or business, after Les Roches, we’re by your side all the way. It’s part of the commitment we make to those who study with us, and it includes lifelong career support from our specialized team. Your fellow alumni will be with you too, sharing advice and insights, providing job opportunities or simply offering a friendly face in a new city. We strive every day to ensure that membership of this wonderful global community brings benefits to all.
of alumni agree that Les Roches provided them with a strong network.
Employment rate of job seeking graduates
World’s top 5 higher education institutions in the world for hospitality industry management*
*QS World University Rankings, 2024
9.
Internships and professional opportunities
Does the university produce career-ready graduates, and does it enjoy a strong reputation among employers?
The two professional internships (in semesters 2 and 5) form an essential component of our Bachelor’s degree. Why? Because employers value this real-world experience just as highly as academic achievement, so it makes our alumni stand out from the competition for the best roles. We have dedicated Career Services teams on both our campuses. As well as guiding and supporting you, they’ll set up interviews, help you prepare and give advice on your career options. And they have worked tirelessly throughout the years to partner with the industries we serve and nurture contacts with key recruiters – that’s why we receive around 300 visits to our campuses every year from leading brands keen to recruit students for internships and full-time roles, while prospective employers also submit hundreds of opportunities to our dedicated online job platform. Students who make full use of the range of tools and counseling we provide can regularly look forward to multiple job/internship offers from which to choose. As a Les Roches alumni, you’ll benefit throughout your career from our global status; one that places us among the world’s top 5 higher education institutions for hospitality industry management, according to the latest QS World University Rankings.
8.
Personalized, highly supportive student experience
Does the university offer a personalized, ‘boutique’ education that makes each student a name, not a number?
We pride ourselves on offering a bespoke experience to educate tomorrow’s leaders in hospitality. Amid our highly compact campus communities, every one of our students is recognized for who they are – a name, not a number. Our highly personalized approach to education begins in the classroom, with faculty able to take advantage of our commitment to small class sizes by getting to know every student on a one-to-one level, offering support and advice on demand. The same is true for our bespoke career counseling, which begins on a student’s first day on campus and now extends beyond graduation and into the professional lives of our alumni.
Student to faculty ratio
Total students across Les Roches campuses
nationalities on campus
7.
Multicultural learning environment
Does the university attract an international student body, enabling students to experience different cultures in order to enhance their intercultural fluency?
If your intention is to forge a career in a global industry such as hospitality, a crucial soft skill to possess is intercultural fluency. This means an understanding – and appreciation – of cultural differences; enabling you to integrate easily within multicultural teams and adapt to different international environments. At Les Roches, with two international campus locations, a world of internship opportunities, plus a student community of around 100 nationalities, you can live, study and work without borders.
6.
International study pathways
Are there opportunities to study in other locations domestically or internationally?
There’s no more diverse a business than hospitality, so it makes sense for Les Roches to prepare the industry’s future talents for globetrotting careers by giving them exceptional international study pathways. As a Bachelor student, you’ll have opportunities to experience our Swiss and Spanish campuses through our international campus transfer program, as well as international transfer opportunities offered through our partner institution.
5.
Campus locations
Where is the university located? Does the location contribute to the overall student experience?
As a student you want to feel safe and happy in your place of study, so location is important. At Les Roches, we have campuses located in three prestigious resort destinations: Crans-Montana in the Swiss Alps, Marbella on Spain’s Costa del Sol and Abu Dhabi. Crans-Montana is world-renowned as a winter sports destination, but the area is equally alive during the rest of the year, becoming a magnet for hikers and mountain bikers as well as boasting a world class golf course. Moreover, Switzerland’s position at the heart of Europe makes it an ideal launchpad for weekend adventures to neighboring countries such as Italy, France and Germany. Marbella is the jewel of Spain’s Costa del Sol, offering year-round sunshine (an average of 320 days each year!), 24 unique beaches, an unbeatable array of sporting and leisure activities, as well as a gastronomic scene headed by four Michelin-starred eateries. It makes the city a living hospitality laboratory for our students. Abu Dhabi Hospitality Academy – Les Roches is a partnership between Les Roches and The Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi. It will combine conventional hospitality education programs with specialized Emirati-centric courses delivering tailored training to the local talents who are the future of the UAE hospitality sector.
4.
Comitted to applied learning
Does the university commit to applied learning to deliver knowledge and skills which are suited to the real world?
At Les Roches, we are pioneers of the Swiss model of hospitality education, which means our transformative education is hands-on, immersive, and focused on ‘learning by doing’. For example, the first semester of our Bachelor’s degree provides students with 20 weeks of practical immersion in key operational areas such as F&B, front office, rooms division etc. This delivers a range of operational and soft skills (such as teamworking) which prepares them for their first international internship, as well as acting as a foundation for the managerial and leadership skills learned later in the program. The BBA program continues to offer applied learning through to graduation, notably through working on real-world, applied hospitality innovation projects with partner companies, enabling students to develop their project management and presentation skills, while also nurturing an innovative mindset. Then, in the final semester, are invited to choose a career-focused specialization from a variety of topics. These specializations deliver intensive learning with a level of subject-matter focus that you won’t find in many other hospitality management Bachelor’s degrees. They’re both a gateway to your chosen career path as well as a significant asset for your resume.
3.
Academic ethos
Will the university teach you what you need to succeed in your chosen career?
Exceptional employability and career progression represent the key ‘return on investment’ from studying with Les Roches. And this is reflected in our academic grading rubric. Our degree programs have four key elements of evaluation, which develop and intensify as your study progresses. They are: Knowledge and understanding Cognitive skills Professional competencies Transferable skills (across a range of disciplines such as ‘information literacy’ and ‘working with others’) These credit level descriptors emphasize personal development planning, interpersonal and communication skills. Such skills are transferable across professional disciplines and they enhance our graduates’ employability while also providing them with a solid platform on which to build throughout their professional lives.
2.
Student life
Does the university offer world class student facilities, a broad range of clubs and societies, as well as weekend events and excursions?
At Les Roches our motto is “it’s not just a school, it’s a way of life”, which is our way of saying that students enjoy a fully-rounded experience that balances academic achievement with a fun and invigorating life outside the classroom. Our Crans-Montana and Marbella campuses are compact and caring environments that are perfect for friendship-building, with dedicated student life teams who create an ever-changing program of events and excursions that make the most of their exclusive resort locations in the heart of the beautiful Swiss Alps and Spain’s vibrant Mediterranean coast. From their first day on campus students can enjoy dedicated health & wellness areas, as well as access to numerous student-led clubs and societies and more than 80 fully supported sports and cultural activities each semester. Students also have the opportunity to create and lead their own clubs based on their interests and skill sets.
1.
Accreditation and recognition
Does the university have a recognized global accreditation, allowing it to offer its own degrees?
Accreditation is a rigorous procedure which provides students and their sponsors with the guarantee that their chosen institution has successfully completed an independent assessment of its education, faculty and facilities. Les Roches is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE), which also accredits world renowned institutions like Harvard, Yale and MIT.
Recently, Les Roches has been officially accepted as a candidate for Swiss federal accreditation as a University of Applied Sciences Institute. This is an important step in the process towards Swiss Institutional Accreditation. In addition, we have been awarded 5 Stars overall (Excellent) in the QS Stars higher education rating system.
