Why is EHL at the top of hospitality school rankings?
Year after year, École hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL) consistently achieves top spots in hospitality management school rankings which compare all of the universities around the world offering hospitality, tourism and leisure management programs. Each hotel school ranking study uses specific criteria and methodologies to reach the final results, but they all focus on the criteria that matter most for hospitality graduates, including academic quality, employer reputation and contributions to research. At EHL our focus is to provide dual excellence: advanced academics and excellence in practical arts. With this unique model of education, our students graduate with an all-rounder experience and a mix of hard and soft-skills that make them highly sought for employees by a variety of industries.
Here is a breakdown of the EHL’s awards and recognitions for best hospitality management school, and for our student training restaurant which is a key part of our hospitality management degree program.

Best Hospitality Management Schools Rankings 2020
This year, EHL achieved the number one spot in two international university ranking studies:
- QS World University Rankings, Hospitality & Leisure Management, #1 worldwide, #1 in 2020, #1 in 2019 and #2 in 2018
- CEO World Magazine - Best Hospitality And Hotel Management Schools In The World, #1 in 2020, #1 in 2019
What are the top hospitality management schools measured by?
EHL was ranked Best Hospitality & Leisure Management School 2020, in the QS World University Ranking for shining in three of the four categories: academic and employer reputation, and research. *
The first metric of Academic Reputation assesses the reputation of the school for having high quality academics based on courses, accreditation, admissions standards and other academic criteria.
Likewise, the Employer Reputation metric measures the reputation of the school as an excellent source to recruit from based on the responses of 42,000 graduate employers worldwide.
QS also assesses universities based on the number of Research Citations by Papers authored by department faculty members that have been cited in other publications.
*The fourth metric used by QS, the H-Index, measures the productivity and impact of faculty members within the industry based on academic citations. As of 2019, none of the hospitality programs assessed by QS had any measurable H-Index score, so it did not impact the rankings.
CEOWORLD ranking
CEOWORLD placed EHL in top position as well. It evaluates schools and programs based on seven metrics that assess the reputation of the school as well as the quality of education provided. Each metric is weighted by a percentage and the Overall Score (100%) is the sum of the following metrics:
- Perceived Global Brands Influence (20%)
- Recruiters Responses (20%)
- Academic Reputation (20%)
- Admission Eligibility (10%)
- Specialization (10%)
- Job Placement (10%)
- Employers Feedback (10%)
The data they use comes from publicly available sources, as well as their own research, and surveys of graduates, recruiters, employers, and other industry professionals.
Recent Hospitality & Hotel School Rankings
- Masters Ranking in Hospitality Management, Eduniversal, worldwide, #2 in 2019
- Top 10 Universities to Study Hotel Management, Educations.com, #2 in 2019
- Innovation in an Educational Program, Worldwide Hospitality Awards, Paris, #1 in 2019
The Best Hospitality School Training Restaurant
- Le Berceau des Sens, One Michelin star, 2019, and 2020
- Le Berceau des Sens, rated 16/20 by Gault & Millau, 2018, 2019 and 2020

Where are the best hospitality and hotel management schools in the world?
Swiss hotel schools generally occupy at least one or two of the top ten spots in any international hospitality schools ranking survey. EHL can claim some credit for this, being the first hospitality management school in Switzerland and the world, our school pioneered the methods that have made Swiss hospitality schools so successful and well reputed. Switzerland is also generally well perceived for tertiary education, with other Swiss universities regularly featuring among the best universities in the world for STEM subjects and for MBA.
