PULLMAN, Wash. A new program offered by the WSU College of Business in partnership with Switzerland’s César Ritz Colleges will allow students to prepare for a rewarding career in hospitality and business management (HBM), one of the world’s largest industries.Students from around the world will study and live in Switzerland while completing this unique WSU bachelor’s degree in hospitality business management. WSU is one of few business schools to offer a hospitality degree accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB).
College of Business Dean Eric Spangenberg and César Ritz Colleges Managing Director Ronan Fitzgerald made it official June 6 at a signing ceremony in Switzerland.
“This is a rare opportunity for students to gain global business perspectives from a traditional Swiss hospitality school in concert with a large American research university,” said Spangenberg. “Our longtime, collaborative partnership with César Ritz Colleges has set the stage for this new venture, which will strengthen both of our institutions’ international reputations.”
The new program stems from a successful partnership established 30 years ago between WSU and César Ritz Colleges and will be a coordinated activity involving faculty and staff of both institutions. The goal is for students to receive both the César Ritz Colleges bachelor’s degree in international business and the WSU bachelor’s degree in hospitality and business management.
“We are very excited to have strengthened our long-term relationship with WSU and believe that this program offers fantastic benefits to students from both institutions,” said Fitzgerald. “A program that combines the best of Swiss hospitality studies with American business ideals is a partnership designed with our student’s future career success in mind.”
Students may choose to begin studying at either the Bouveret or Lucerne campuses of César Ritz Colleges and will complete the degree at the Brig campus. Local WSU faculty will teach courses on-site in Brig.
The degree program may be completed in three years and includes two, six-month industry internships. The WSU curriculum will be delivered via a hybrid of online and onsite courses and will focus on hospitality and business management topics.
“César Ritz will provide fundamental hospitality instruction and also deliver coursework aligned with WSU’s university-wide core curriculum,” said David Sprott, associate dean for Graduate, International, and Professional Programs. “Students meeting WSU admission standards will then be admitted to WSU to complete more advanced business and hospitality topics on site in Switzerland.”
César Ritz students in the new curriculum program will begin WSU courses in October 2012.
To learn more, visit http://business.wsu.edu/WSU-CR/.
The WSU College of Business is accredited at the baccalaureate, masters, and doctoral levels by the AACSB. The college spans campuses across WSU with the largest campus in Pullman, a thriving online campus, and urban campuses located in Vancouver, the Tri-Cities area, an emerging campus in Everett, and global partnerships in China, Switzerland, Thailand, Greece, and many other locations. The college conducts scholarly and applied research, and offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in a variety of business disciplines, and in hospitality business management, supplementing face-to-face offerings through innovative online learning and international programs. For more information, visit the college’s Web site at www.business.wsu.edu.
César Ritz Colleges is one of the Switzerland’s leading hospitality education establishments with a reputation that is perpetuated through the success of its graduates. With three state-of-the-art campuses located throughout Switzerland, students are able to draw from the traditions of Swiss hospitality and experience its diverse cultural and linguistic regions. Industry specific programs, enhanced by periods of professional internship ensure that students graduate ready to take on the challenge of a career in the hospitality industry. For further information visit www.ritz.edu.
———————————