Benoît-Etienne Domenget, CEO, Sommet Education, shares how has the global hospitality education evolved over the years and what are the brand’s plans to enhance the quality of this sector further!
How Sommet is growing its portfolio of brands as a leading hospitality education provider?
Sommet Education is an education group specializing in hospitality management, committed to offering an exceptional student experience and developing the talents into the hospitality leaders of tomorrow. Our institutions, Glion and Les Roches, welcome students from over 100 countries for both Bachelors and Masters programmes, offering an educational approach based on academic courses and hands-on learning within a multicultural environment. We are the only education group with two hospitality schools ranked amongst the top four in the world for hospitality management and among the top three in the world for employee reputation (QS World University Rankings by Subject 2019).
We strengthened and enlarged recently our leading role in training future generations of skilled professionals from the hospitality to the Culinary and pastry Arts sector through the acquisition of Ecole Ducasse last June 2019.
Please elaborate on Sommet Education’s recent acquisition with Ecole Ducasse.
Ecole Ducasse has been created by worldwide renowned and Michelin-starred Chef Alain Ducasse. Through this acquisition, we enlarged our portfolio of programs offering additional vocational programs addressing the need of talents of the booming food sector worldwide and the appeal for French Gastronomy and know-how.
We are now a unique Group in the education sector, strong of 3 brands, 9 campuses and a geographical footprint in Switzerland, Great-Britain, France, Spain and China.
Future plans for Sommet Education and Ecole Ducasse?
The need for talents in the gastronomy world are endless. Our objective is to make École Ducasse a global reference for trainings in this field worldwide.
École Ducasse aims to provide tailored solutions for all students, from food enthusiasts to seasoned professionals, from adults changing career path to young graduates. Therefore, a large diversity of programs is available from short courses, intensive programs, to Bachelor programs.
the following four types of programs are available: Essential programs which are intensive two-month programs, Bachelor programs, Diploma programs which are two to six months, signature programs which last eight months, and short courses.
Opening in September 2020, the Paris Campus will be a state of the art culinary and pastry school where the secrets of French gastronomy are unveiled by experienced and passionate head chefs, pastry chefs and sommeliers who learned their craft working alongside Alain Ducasse.
How this association is going to benefit the students
With École Ducasse, we will now be able to build on combined knowledge within the fields of culinary arts and hospitality management through concrete synergies between our institutions
For instance, at Glion Institute of Higher Education, students who join the Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in International Hospitality Business have the chance to participate in a two-weeks masterclass at Ecole Ducasse as part of their practical art semester. They will gain a unique insight into France’s world-renowned gastronomic heritage; learning from influential chefs, food producers and restaurant directors – all of them at the forefront of culinary arts innovation and acquire in-depth knowledge of different types of cuisine, while discovering new trends and innovations in gastronomy, service and beverage.
To me, it is the winning combination of the excellence in French gastronomy and the performance of the Swiss educational model combining theory and practice
