Why hospitality education must become more specialised

Hospitality careers are no longer limited to what we might call the traditional pathway, which can be summarised as moving into an operational or management training position in a hotel and working up from there. Today, students who are interested in hospitality as a career tend to want to move into more specialised fields right from the outset, be that guest experience, entrepreneurship, wellness or luxury.

At the same time, employers are telling us that they are now looking more for specialised people to fill specialised roles, rather than taking on a generalist and training them up. We have spoken extensively with the industry over the past year, and the new structure of Glion’s Master’s in International Hospitality Business is a direct response to those conversations.

From 2027, following a common semester focused on essential hospitality industry knowledge, students will select one of three career-focused pathways: Guest Experience and Service Design; Entrepreneurship and Innovation; or Wellness and Longevity.

These specialisations are the headline change, but when you look deeper into the curriculum, you find elective subjects, industry projects and Industry Weeks that put students directly in front of potential employers. This gives them more options to curate their learning journey according to their career ambitions.

For our typical student profile, who may be a recent graduate, career changer or career accelerator, there is a need to develop a strong foundation of hospitality operational and leadership knowledge if they want to be recruited into the sector.

During that process, and as they meet and work with people from the business, students start to build a picture of where they see themselves and where they can add value. This will naturally lead them towards their ideal specialisation, as well as the elective subjects they can choose to fill specific knowledge gaps.

How students learn must also evolve. Our approach means lecturers open their courses online, complete with reading lists, in the days leading up to the live classroom session. When the class begins, the first hour covers that material, which students need to have prepared for. The next two hours go much deeper, working through comparative case studies and posing problems for students to resolve. This is where we bring them to a much higher level of mastery.

The learning process becomes more intensive because today’s students will inevitably use AI to support their work. We must accept this reality. We have therefore structured certain courses to include an examination in which students must demonstrate their own critical analysis and research faculties, with no AI support allowed.

We also organise group projects where we select the groups. Students cannot simply slip into their friendship circles; they must work with people who do not think like them and with whom they may not have a personal affinity, because this is exactly what they will face in the real world of work.

In my view, this degree offers a new level of industry exposure, not just for Glion but also for our sector more generally.

A major focus is the Industry Business Project that students undertake during their specialisation semester. This is a real project for a real company, completed in teams as if the students were employed by a consultancy. On Monday, the company presents its problem; on Tuesday, we teach theoretical courses relating to it; Wednesday brings a site visit; on Thursday, students work in groups to solve the issue; and on Friday, they present their recommendations to the company.

If you are placed in front of 10 to 15 senior industry figures throughout your year of study, you have plenty of opportunities to make the kind of impression that is going to get you hired.

Hospitality education must also reflect the international nature of the industry. The perceptions of students from China will not be the same as those coming from India, the US or Europe. They bring different ideas and approaches, which are important to appreciate in a business as global as hospitality. From my own industry experience, I know that today you could be working in Switzerland, but tomorrow you could be heading to Korea, Japan or India. Without this broad, multinational perspective, you are less likely to succeed.

Ultimately, our Master’s degrees connect knowledge, industry exposure, professional confidence and career direction. The Master’s in International Hospitality Business adds flexibility and a customised experience which echoes that of a boutique hotel.

Students will learn how hospitality creates value in the modern experience economy, whether through experience design, new commercial ventures or wellness and longevity offerings. This will equip them with the real-world knowledge and exposure they need to transform their ambition into a professional reality.

Joseph Karam is Dean of Graduate Studies at Glion Institute of Higher Education, part of Sommet Education.

Further reading: Glion reshapes its Master’s portfolio to develop business leaders for the experience economy