What a surprise is was to open the ICHRIE “Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research” and reviewing the article “A World Ranking of the Top 100 Hospitality and Tourism Programs” published in the November 2009 issue (Volume 33, number 4).
My opinion about rankings is herewith confirmed and shows that you can measure different criteria, taking a different sample and get a totally different ranking outcome.
This new ranking clearly explains the research method applied and research programmes according to published research articles by their faculty. The result of this ranking is therefore clearly based on research output of the faculty of these programmes.
The ranking published and widely used for marketing purposes by Laureate Inc. (Glion/Les Roches), however measures employability of graduates but does not provide such information as the Hotel schools / Programmes which were included in the survey, nor the definition and relative criteria of “hiring managers” (a term which I have never come across, and which is unclear from the profile of the sample used, as only 21% can be defined as “managers”).
One can find only 3 schools being ranked in both surveys but in rather different positions, with the exception of Cornell University, ranked 2nd and 4th respectively. EHL is ranked 2nd / 83rd and Oxford Brookes is ranked 6th and 49th.
“César Ritz” colleges was ranked 9th by the “Laureate ranking” and does not appear in the ranking published in “A World Ranking of the Top 100 Hospitality and Tourism Programs”, simply because of our own limitations in size and resources to compete with academic universities. However I am very proud to note that our long term affiliated universities, Washington State University (WSU) is ranked 11th worldwide and 9th in the US institutions and our English partner Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) is ranked 23rd worldwide an 2nd in Britain. Partner universities of other Swiss schools are either not ranked or ranked behind our partners.
The academic ranking of our partner universities show our sincere and continuous desire to cooperate with top ranked research based universities, which impose high standards on our curriculum, faculty and learning resources’ – a definite advantage for the more competitive students.
Thus, the question remains: which hotel school is the right one for you? Are academic standards important? Yes! Are careers important? Yes! “César Ritz” Colleges and our partners are highly ranked in both surveys.
Martin Kisseleff
President.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
An open letter about hotel school rankings
Open letter - an opinion concerning a recently published ranking of Swiss Hotel schools.
I would like to make some observations about rankings in education and specifically some comments about the ranking of Hotel schools, mandated and paid for by Laureate, owner of Glion and Les Roches, amongst many other universities.
How seriously can I take a survey, paid for by an owner of “for profit” hotel management schools measuring what “hiring managers” say of a non-published list of so called “best hotel schools in the world”?
With increased competition, global offers in education, mobility of students and other different aspects in choosing the “best education” for a particular person, rankings are becoming an important tool for the future student. I do recognise that a ranking is an important marketing instrument for all providers, obviously including hotel schools.
Who is mandating and paying to conduct rankings, what is being measured, who is being surveyed and which schools are being presented as a choice or better benchmarked?
Should the ranking include: quality of students, faculty, facilities, programme contents, research and publications, partnerships, alumni networks, career services?
The ranking, mandated by Laureate surveys the opinion of “hiring managers” who were able to chose from a list of 40 schools worldwide. The question which then immediately arises, is, what exactly is a “hiring manager” and who chose the sample? This is as important as the question, who chose the schools and which were the 40 schools included in the survey? (only the top 10 schools were published). I would therefore like to ask this question, because the study indicates that “a list of 40 schools providing University level programmes was produced”, and surprisingly the ranking lists our “Institut Hôtelier César Ritz” (IHCR) as 9th in the world. Great news for our students, faculty and other stakeholders, but there is a problem here because the people who selected the 40 schools probably did not know that the IHCR, part of “César Ritz” Colleges (CRC) does not, and never has offered a University level degree. Such degrees, Bachelor and Master Degrees are offered at CRC, but at the Brig campus the University Centre “César Ritz”!
The 10th ranked school, IHMI/ ESSEC in Paris offers only a MBA like hospitality Master programme, accepting a select group of 30 students each year and being ranked as one of the top Business schools in Europe. What is being benchmarked? Diploma, Bachelor, Master Programmes? A Master programme graduating 30 students per year, entering the business in management positions compared with some of the listed schools, graduating 300/400 diploma and undergraduate students, looking for management training or entry positions?
I do not know how many hotel schools exist in the world, but given that there must be hundreds, if not thousands, it would therefore seem that ranking is more complex than simply taking 40 schools with such different programmes, different nationalities amongst the students and benchmarking them with “employment managers” from around the world.
A U.S. website (http://www.library.uiuc.edu/) has a comprehensive list of various international rankings with a variety of quality criteria. It is also of interest to read first “caution and controversy” about rankings and to end by reading (by clicking on) “humor and satire”. The site provides links to many articles which have been published about “rankings”.
To conclude, the ranking of hotel schools, mandated by a company which owns and manages at least two hotel schools in Switzerland themselves, and are as well owners / shareholders of hotel schools in at least 4 other countries, ranks a very limited number of schools (40) of which 10 are publicly known. The people who actually ranked these 40 schools were “hiring managers” from all over the world.
I believe that this ranking is a good marketing tool, but not more. Should these schools be so competitive, it must be hard to gain admission?
Confused?
I guess you must be confused! I therefore suggest that you check out which is the best hotel school for you! Why not visit us and our competitors, spend a couple of days, take classes, talk to students and faculty, check out the career services, student activities and do your own ranking of programme, value for money, career prospects, alumni, admission standards, student mix (Europe - Asia) class sizes, faculty, research and publications?
Yours sincerely
Martin Kisseleff
President “César Ritz” Colleges
http://www.ritz.edu/
N.B. We do not claim to be the worlds best Hotel schools, simply because we have not participated (nor have we been asked to) in such a ranking exercise. At this moment in time, there is only one Swiss hospitality programme quality control agency and this is ASEH. Yes, ASEH is private, but controlled by the Swiss Hotel Association, Gastrosuisse and the Gastro and Hotel Union. Who else could establish quality outcomes for hospitality employees / managers? ASEH does not rank schools, but controls the quality and recognises that all member Swiss hotel schools are different – the future student has to decide which is the best school for you! Good luck.
I would like to make some observations about rankings in education and specifically some comments about the ranking of Hotel schools, mandated and paid for by Laureate, owner of Glion and Les Roches, amongst many other universities.
How seriously can I take a survey, paid for by an owner of “for profit” hotel management schools measuring what “hiring managers” say of a non-published list of so called “best hotel schools in the world”?
With increased competition, global offers in education, mobility of students and other different aspects in choosing the “best education” for a particular person, rankings are becoming an important tool for the future student. I do recognise that a ranking is an important marketing instrument for all providers, obviously including hotel schools.
Who is mandating and paying to conduct rankings, what is being measured, who is being surveyed and which schools are being presented as a choice or better benchmarked?
Should the ranking include: quality of students, faculty, facilities, programme contents, research and publications, partnerships, alumni networks, career services?
The ranking, mandated by Laureate surveys the opinion of “hiring managers” who were able to chose from a list of 40 schools worldwide. The question which then immediately arises, is, what exactly is a “hiring manager” and who chose the sample? This is as important as the question, who chose the schools and which were the 40 schools included in the survey? (only the top 10 schools were published). I would therefore like to ask this question, because the study indicates that “a list of 40 schools providing University level programmes was produced”, and surprisingly the ranking lists our “Institut Hôtelier César Ritz” (IHCR) as 9th in the world. Great news for our students, faculty and other stakeholders, but there is a problem here because the people who selected the 40 schools probably did not know that the IHCR, part of “César Ritz” Colleges (CRC) does not, and never has offered a University level degree. Such degrees, Bachelor and Master Degrees are offered at CRC, but at the Brig campus the University Centre “César Ritz”!
The 10th ranked school, IHMI/ ESSEC in Paris offers only a MBA like hospitality Master programme, accepting a select group of 30 students each year and being ranked as one of the top Business schools in Europe. What is being benchmarked? Diploma, Bachelor, Master Programmes? A Master programme graduating 30 students per year, entering the business in management positions compared with some of the listed schools, graduating 300/400 diploma and undergraduate students, looking for management training or entry positions?
I do not know how many hotel schools exist in the world, but given that there must be hundreds, if not thousands, it would therefore seem that ranking is more complex than simply taking 40 schools with such different programmes, different nationalities amongst the students and benchmarking them with “employment managers” from around the world.
A U.S. website (http://www.library.uiuc.edu/) has a comprehensive list of various international rankings with a variety of quality criteria. It is also of interest to read first “caution and controversy” about rankings and to end by reading (by clicking on) “humor and satire”. The site provides links to many articles which have been published about “rankings”.
To conclude, the ranking of hotel schools, mandated by a company which owns and manages at least two hotel schools in Switzerland themselves, and are as well owners / shareholders of hotel schools in at least 4 other countries, ranks a very limited number of schools (40) of which 10 are publicly known. The people who actually ranked these 40 schools were “hiring managers” from all over the world.
I believe that this ranking is a good marketing tool, but not more. Should these schools be so competitive, it must be hard to gain admission?
Confused?
I guess you must be confused! I therefore suggest that you check out which is the best hotel school for you! Why not visit us and our competitors, spend a couple of days, take classes, talk to students and faculty, check out the career services, student activities and do your own ranking of programme, value for money, career prospects, alumni, admission standards, student mix (Europe - Asia) class sizes, faculty, research and publications?
Yours sincerely
Martin Kisseleff
President “César Ritz” Colleges
http://www.ritz.edu/
N.B. We do not claim to be the worlds best Hotel schools, simply because we have not participated (nor have we been asked to) in such a ranking exercise. At this moment in time, there is only one Swiss hospitality programme quality control agency and this is ASEH. Yes, ASEH is private, but controlled by the Swiss Hotel Association, Gastrosuisse and the Gastro and Hotel Union. Who else could establish quality outcomes for hospitality employees / managers? ASEH does not rank schools, but controls the quality and recognises that all member Swiss hotel schools are different – the future student has to decide which is the best school for you! Good luck.
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