Glion Institute of Higher Education, a renowned Swiss hospitality management school, and ESSEC Business School, a major French business and management school, have partnered to launch a Global Executive Master’s in Hospitality Leadership. The two schools unveiled details about their new course at Hôtel Splendide Royal Paris on 17th February.
In the drawing room of the Relais & Châteaux member, Francine Cuagnier, Director of Marketing at Glion Institute of Higher Education, Claire Szlingier, Head of Recruitment & Marketing at ESSEC, and Ashok Som, a Professor at ESSEC’s Management Department, presented the 2023-24 Global Executive Master’s.
The Global Executive Master’s in Hospitality Leadership will welcome its first students on 13th November 2023 and run until November 2024. It will be taught entirely in English. The first intake will be “human-sized and international”, it is expected to be made up of 15-30 students from the four corners of the globe.
The hybrid course is designed for students already in employment and will primarily take the form of distance-learning. Students will continue working in their jobs whilst studying the course’s four 12-week modules. There will be one session per module, where learning will take place on Glion and ESSEC campuses in Europe and Asia.
The breakdown of the four modules is as follows:
Module 1: New frontiers in hospitality (November 2023)
It will include one Residential Week at Glion’s Montreux campus in Switzerland, and a Masterclass entitled Metaverse, a revolution for the hospitality industry?
Module 2: Driving financial performance (February 2024)
It will include one Residential Week at ESSEC’s Singapore campus, and a Masterclass on blockchain technology in hospitality.
Module 3: Delivering operational excellence (May 2024)
It will include one Residential Week at Glion’s London campus, and a Masterclass on crisis management in hospitality.
Module 4: Leading the transformation (November 2024)
It will include one Residential Week at ESSEC’s Paris campus, and a Masterclass on the new challenges of talent retention.
The Residential Weeks will last six days and consist of face-to-face classes, meetings with visiting experts, tours of leading hotels, and teambuilding between course participants. Finally, a Capstone or Applied Business Project will complete the course.
The course is designed for professionals who have already demonstrated leadership potential in their career. The minimum age for entry is 27 years of age and candidates should already have at least five years’ work experience, including managerial experience. The average age of the first intake is expected to be between 30 and 35.
The Global Executive Master’s in Hospitality Leadership will be accredited by AACSB, EQUIS, and NECHE. The degree will have a value of 30 US credits. The tuition fees and Residential Weeks fees are approximately €42,500.
Claire Szlingier and Ashok Som of ESSEC explained at Hôtel Splendide Royal Paris that the hybrid nature of the course is a response to the evolving further education needs of students post-Covid. Furthermore, the Executive Master’s will train the managers of tomorrow in a way adapted to the continued premiumisation of the upper-upscale and luxury segments with the arrival of brands such as Dior and Louis Vuitton in the hospitality industry.
Hospitality management is constantly evolving and progressing with the acceleration of new technologies and new customer demands. This programme will offer the opportunity to develop both soft skills in terms of leadership and innovation and to master the financial and economic fundamentals necessary to develop a solid and successful long-term strategy.
Francine Cuagnier, Director of Marketing at Glion Institute of Higher Education
Thanks to this partnership of excellence, ESSEC is strengthening its expertise and academic offer in the field of hospitality to enable professionals to train and transform themselves by acquiring cutting-edge knowledge as well as the savoir-faire and interpersonal skills that will enable them to be responsible and influential leaders in the hotel industry, able to combine value creation and sustainability.
Vincenzo Vinzi, Dean & President of ESSEC Business School
