HIT Scotland Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne Scholarship
HNC Hospitality Operations student Josefina Neira won a scholarship opportunity by HIT Scotland to attend the prestigious EHL Hospitality School in Lausanne Switzerland for an intensive two-day course on ‘Creating Value in Service’.
Founded as the Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL) in 1893, EHL pioneered the methods of Swiss hospitality management education and is regarded as the best hospitality school in the world. It trains students aiming towards managerial careers in the hotel and hospitality industries.
Josefina - along with another ten other students from colleges and universities around Scotland - travelled with Shirley Simpson (UHI Perth Hospitality Lecturer), Amanda Stewart (UHI Inverness Hospitality Lecturer) and Alyson Gray (HIT Scotland) and had an extremely valuable learning experience, returning home after creating firm friendships with staff and students.
Josefina Neira
My experience at Ecole Hotelier Lausanne was incredible!
We were a diverse team of eleven hospitality students representing different universities from across Scotland and we had an amazing two-day course at the very first and finest hospitality school in the world.
We experienced first-hand what it means and what entails to deliver five-star service as the school is designed to teach and build in you the best standards. From the impressive building - to the business dress code and packed schedule.
The course content was about creating value in service and was perfectly suited for us. It was dynamic and interactive, with useful content to apply in industry. We discussed different scenarios with customers and the way to address them, to give outstanding service, we analysed a customer service case study response and how it could improve, how to put into practise service recovery and the importance of taking and giving feedback, what questions to ask in order to gather information, and offer tailored responses that will make customers feel valued and heard.
The most enjoyable part, it’s difficult to pick only one, but it would be the lunch at the Brasserie 1893. The food was delicious and the ambiance full of light and comfortable. On the academic side, I particularly enjoyed the personality classification according to colours; it is not only useful as a tool to understand the different and varying needs and wants of customers, but also to understand oneself and how to communicate effectively in daily life with a range of different people, as those traits are going to be very influential in our perception of reality.
Overall, it was a mind-opening experience of learning and meeting new people with aligned career goals. It was also super fun! I would encourage everyone to apply for such a valuable experience of excellence, for the networking and to boost your studies motivation and CV as well.
Shirley Simpson
The HIT Scholarship trip to Lausanne was an inspiring learning experience for Josefina and the other students. We had a packed itinerary of dynamic and interactive workshops, a tour of the state-of-the-art campus, eating in the amazing restaurants on campus which included the Brasserie and the Vegan Restaurant - which are both student led. We also managed a visit to a vineyard, a 5* hotel, and a couple of trips to local restaurants in the evenings.
All the students represented themselves very well and I am especially proud of Josefina who engaged with all elements of the trip with confidence and professionalism and did herself and UHI Perth proud. It was brilliant that we had students from UHI Moray and UHI Inverness represented too. Thanks to HIT Scotland for the fantastic opportunity, what an amazing and memorable trip for us all!
With highly commended programmes delivered in partnership with the crème de la crème of industry professionals, UHI Perth offer invaluable skills to prepare you for your career.
