Top Universities for Hospitality and Leisure Management in 2021

Of the 38 European countries represented in the hospitality ranking, the majority are in Switzerland with 15 universities featuring and eight of these making it into the global top 10.  

Switzerland is also home to the best university in the world for hospitality and leisure management: Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL), earning a perfect score in academic reputation and employer reputation.  

The school credits its success to its alumni, faculty and associate, who it says meet the growing, changing needs of the industry. EHL is the only hospitality school in Switzerland to be associated by convention to the HES-SO (the largest of the eight Universities of Applied Science (UAS) in Switzerland) and to be accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE) of the United States.  

Outside of the top 10, Switzerland’s other top 50 entries include Hotel and Tourism Management Institute, Switzerland (13th); IMI-Luzern - International Hotel Management School, Switzerland (15th); Ecole Hoteliere de Geneve (joint 40th) and Swiss School of Tourism and Hospitality (SSTH, joint 44th). 

The UK also performs well, with 10 representatives in the hospitality and leisure subject rankings. While none of these make it into the global top 10, University of Surrey just misses out in 11th place. Other well-performing UK universities include Oxford Brookes University (14th) and Bournemouth University (16th), all earning high scores in the academic reputation indicator.  

Elsewhere in Europe, the Netherlands’ Hotel school The Hague places in fifth – the only other European school to be featured in the global top 10 outside of the UK and Switzerland. Sweden has a single entry this year, with Lund University in 51-100.  

Spain, France, Italy and Russia each have two entries this year. Both of Spain’s featured universities can be found in the top 50, with its highest ranked university, Escuela Universitaria de hosteleria y turismo de Sant Pol de Mar in 24th. France’s Hotel School Vatel ranks 19th in the world, with an excellent score in the employer reputation indicator.  

Asia is the world’s fastest growing region for tourism and there are 11 Asian universities featuring in the hospitality and leisure management subject rankings this year.  

The only Asian university to make it into the global top 10 is Hong Kong’s The Hong Kong Polytechnic University in ninth. The school combines theory and practise with customer-service orientation to produce graduates who can perform in a variety of tourism and events industry positions. Overall, Hong Kong is home to three universities offering hospitality and leisure management programmes this year. 

Malaysia offers the highest number of hospitality and leisure management courses this year, with four universities featuring in the index. The highest ranking of these is Taylor's University in 17th, earning a high score in the academic reputation indicator.  

Macau’s two entries include Macao Institute for Tourism Studies (IFTM) in 30th. Taiwan and Singapore each have one university featuring in the subject rankings this year, with Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in joint 27th and Taiwan’s National Kaohsiung University of Hospitality and Tourism in joint 50th. 

Six Australian universities are ranked among the world’s best for studying a hospitality degree, led by Griffith University in 21st.  

Griffith University aims to provide students with knowledge of service industries combined with professional leadership and business management skills. They also teach students to think creatively and sustainably as well as encouraging creativity, to prepare themselves for the future of hospitality.  

Other notable Australian universities include Blue Mountains International Hotel Management School (BMIHMS, 26th) and The University of Queensland (UQ, joint 31st). 

New Zealand has two representatives in the ranking, with Victoria University of Wellington and Auckland University of Technology (AUT) both placing in 51-100.  

Two Latin American universities are featured in the hospitality and leisure management ranking. Brazil’s Universidade de São Paulo (USP) places in joint 37th, earning its highest score in the academic reputation indicator. Meanwhile, Chile’s Universidad de Chile ranks 51-100.  

Africa has one university in the index this year for hospitality and leisure management: South Africa’s International Hotel School (51-100).