EHL Hotel School Passugg is a Swiss professional hospitality school in Passugg, Canton of Graubünden, and part of EHL Group. Its principal tertiary programme belongs to Switzerland’s higher professional education system, specifically the Höhere Fachschule (HF) sector. The institution is therefore distinct from a Swiss university or university of applied sciences.
The school’s history began in Chur in 1966 and later moved to the former Spa Hotel Passugg property, which has served as its main educational site since the early 1990s. Its academic identity combines hospitality operations, management education, compulsory workplace experience, and residential campus life. EHL Hotel School Passugg also has a defined progression route into the separate Bachelor of Science delivered by EHL Hospitality Business School within the HES-SO university-of-applied-sciences system.
| Institutional fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Official English name | EHL Hotel School Passugg |
| Legal name | EHL Hotelfachschule Passugg AG |
| Location | Hauptstrasse 12, 7062 Passugg, Switzerland |
| Canton | Graubünden |
| Institutional origin | 1966 in Chur |
| EHL Group relationship | Part of EHL Group since 2013 |
| Institution type | Higher professional education provider, Höhere Fachschule (HF) |
| Main tertiary route | Professional Bachelor in Hospitality Management / HF hospitality qualification |
| Protected HF title | dipl. Hoteliere-Gastronomin HF / dipl. Hotelier-Gastronom HF |
| Teaching languages for the HF programme | German and English |
| Other main education route | Hotel Communications Specialist EFZ apprenticeship |
| Physical site | EHL Campus Passugg |
| External hospitality accreditation | THE-ICE C2Q accreditation for specified English- and German-language hospitality-management programmes |
EHL Hotel School Passugg is not a standalone university. Its main post-secondary hospitality programme belongs to Swiss higher professional education, a tertiary branch that is separate from universities, universities of applied sciences, and universities of teacher education.
Within this branch, programmes at Höhere Fachschulen, usually shortened to HF, provide advanced occupational education leading to federally recognised professional qualifications. The Passugg hospitality-management programme is classified within this system. Switzerland’s career-information service identifies EHL Hotelfachschule Passugg as a provider of the three-year Dipl. Hotelier-Gastronom / Hoteliere-Gastronomin HF qualification.
This classification is important because EHL also operates EHL Hospitality Business School, which has a different legal and academic role. EHL Hospitality Business School delivers the Bachelor of Science HES-SO in Hospitality Management within the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland, known as HES-SO.
EHL Hotel School Passugg, EHL Hospitality Business School, EHL Campus Passugg, and the HES-SO Bachelor of Science are therefore related but not interchangeable entities or qualifications. EHL Campus Passugg is the physical site. EHL Hotel School Passugg is the professional education institution based there. EHL Hospitality Business School is the EHL entity responsible for the academic Bachelor of Science.
The institution traces its origins to 1966, when Dr. Markus Christoffel established a hotel secretariat school in Chur. A programme for students with higher entry qualifications followed in 1969 and later became part of the development of the school’s higher professional hospitality education.
English-language courses were introduced in 1972. In 1979, the Hotel- und Touristikfachschule HTF was established in Chur and added a tourism course leading to a Swiss state-approved vocational qualification.
A major institutional move took place in 1991 when HTF/SSTH acquired the former Spa Hotel Passugg. The property became the school’s hotel-education site and remains central to its identity.
The campus buildings predate the school’s move to Passugg. An earlier guest house at the site was converted into Spa Hotel Passugg in 1883, with additional buildings and extensions developed during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. These dates belong to the history of the property rather than the founding of the educational institution.
The school later established academic relationships with institutions outside Switzerland. Its historical record includes a University of Delaware partnership beginning in 1992 and later Bachelor collaborations involving Queen Margaret University and Edinburgh Napier University. These belong to earlier stages of institutional development rather than the school’s present awarding arrangements.
In 2013, Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne/EHL Group acquired SSTH. The school entered the EHL holding structure in 2015. A progression arrangement allowing HF graduates to complete an EHL Bachelor route through additional study was introduced in 2018.
The institution adopted the EHL Swiss School of Tourism and Hospitality, or EHL SSTH, identity in 2019. In 2025, EHL SSTH Swiss School of Tourism and Hospitality Ltd. was officially renamed EHL Hotelfachschule Passugg AG / EHL Hotel School Passugg Ltd.
Older references to SSTH, Swiss School of Tourism and Hospitality, and EHL SSTH therefore refer to earlier names or stages of the same institutional development.
EHL Hotel School Passugg operates within EHL Group while retaining entity-level governance.
The EHL Foundation is the sole owner of E.H.L. Holding S.A., under which the Group’s operating entities are organised. Individual entities have their own boards of directors and management teams. EHL Hotel School Passugg accordingly has a board responsible for strategic oversight and a management team responsible for school operations.
Its legal form and its education classification serve different purposes. EHL Hotelfachschule Passugg AG is a Swiss stock corporation within the EHL Group structure. Its principal educational activity, however, is higher professional education rather than university education.
This structure also explains why institutional characteristics attached to another EHL entity cannot automatically be assigned to Passugg. University-level accreditations or rankings associated with EHL Hospitality Business School do not become accreditations or rankings of EHL Hotel School Passugg unless they explicitly cover the Passugg institution or programme.
EHL Hotel School Passugg is located at Hauptstrasse 12, 7062 Passugg, near Chur in Graubünden. The physical site is known as EHL Campus Passugg.
The campus occupies the former spa-hotel property acquired by the school in 1991. Its earlier hospitality use remains visible in the way the site is organised. Teaching spaces, student accommodation, food-service operations, and hospitality-practice areas are located within the same wider campus.
Named campus and residential areas include the main hotel-school building, Fontana, Riedwiesli, and Bachelor Village. The main building combines educational rooms with hospitality-practice spaces, accommodation, and food-service functions.
This arrangement is closely connected to the institution’s teaching model. Students can practise food preparation, restaurant service, guest interaction, and other operational procedures within educational hospitality settings before applying those skills during external workplace periods.
Passugg’s specialist teaching facilities reflect the operational content of hospitality education. They include a demonstration kitchen, pastry facilities, restaurant-service areas, and food-service outlets used for practical instruction.
These spaces are teaching facilities rather than separate programme offerings. Their purpose is to give students supervised exposure to food production, service procedures, hospitality operations, and guest-facing work.
Student accommodation is available within several campus buildings and, where required, in the surrounding area. The main school-hotel building, Fontana, Riedwiesli, and Bachelor Village are among the residential locations associated with the campus.
Communal and recreation facilities are also available, with access to additional sports facilities in Chur. The result is a campus in which study, practical hospitality work, accommodation, and student activities are closely connected geographically.
The principal tertiary programme at EHL Hotel School Passugg is the three-year Professional Bachelor in Hospitality Management. It is offered in German and English and belongs to the HF higher professional education system.
The protected Swiss professional qualification is dipl. Hoteliere-Gastronomin HF / dipl. Hotelier-Gastronom HF. English-language institutional and accreditation materials also use the description Advanced Federal Diploma of Higher Education in Hospitality Management.
The programme is structured around successive areas of professional competence rather than a conventional university major system. Earlier stages cover hospitality operations such as culinary theory and practice, service theory and practice, beverage management, hygiene and food safety, communication, information technology, and language study.
Management subjects become more prominent as students progress. These include rooms division, finance, sales and marketing, project management, statistics, facility management, tourism management, organisational and quality management, human resources, leadership, revenue management, law, strategy, and business planning.
Students also select one of three specialisation areas:
Culinary Arts
Spa & Wellness Management
Sustainable Management
These specialisations remain part of the HF hospitality-management qualification rather than separate degrees.
The term Professional Bachelor requires particular care because it can be misunderstood by readers accustomed to university degree terminology.
Swiss legislation introduced the protected title suffix Professional Bachelor for eligible graduates of recognised higher professional education programmes, including HF programmes, on 1 October 2026. The suffix is used together with the protected professional qualification.
At Passugg, this means the Professional Bachelor wording remains attached to a Swiss higher professional education qualification. It does not convert the HF diploma into a university Bachelor of Science.
Swiss qualification-level classification does not remove this distinction. A professional qualification placed at level 6 does not become an academic bachelor’s degree simply because the two qualifications occupy comparable levels within a qualifications system.
The distinction has practical importance at EHL because a separate Bachelor of Science exists within the same wider Group. The Passugg HF qualification and the HES-SO Bachelor of Science are different awards delivered through different branches of Swiss tertiary education.
The educational model at Passugg combines operational hospitality training with management study. Students encounter food production, service, rooms-related functions, communication, and guest interaction before and alongside later management subjects.
Assessment is also broader than conventional written examinations. The HF study regulations include portfolios, project work, practical performance, and a formal final qualification procedure.
The final qualification procedure contains three equally weighted components: Profiles, an Assessment Portfolio, and a Business Plan. Successful completion of the required components is necessary for award of the HF diploma.
Affective Hospitality forms another recurring part of the curriculum. The concept addresses emotional awareness, self-reflection, interpersonal interaction, and leadership-related behaviour in hospitality work. It appears within the formal study structure rather than operating only as a separate extracurricular activity.
EHL has linked development of this approach with the University of Geneva’s Center for Affective Sciences. The collaboration relates to the development of Affective Hospitality and does not give EHL Hotel School Passugg the status of a university research institution.
Practical work outside the campus is a formal part of the HF programme. Students complete two internship periods of approximately six months each, giving the programme about twelve months of structured workplace experience.
The first internship is oriented toward hospitality operations. Depending on programme stage and placement, the second can include operational, administrative, supervisory, or management-related work.
Placements may take place in Switzerland or abroad within programme requirements. The relationship between campus practice and external experience is deliberate: students first develop hospitality skills in supervised educational settings and then apply them in commercial workplaces.
Career Services supports this part of the programme through internship preparation, placement searches, individual coaching, administrative coordination, employer communication, and contact with students during their workplace periods.
For placements in Switzerland, monitoring can include workplace visits. Students completing internships abroad can remain in contact with the school remotely.
The school also works with Movetia, Switzerland’s national agency for exchange and mobility, in connection with internships and learning experiences abroad. These arrangements provide organised mobility and internship support without implying a guaranteed overseas placement or later employment result.
Recognition attached to EHL Hotel School Passugg comes from several different sources, and each has a separate function.
The main HF hospitality-management programme belongs to the Swiss system of federally recognised higher professional education. Swiss career information independently classifies the programme as a Diplom Höhere Fachschule HF and identifies EHL Hotelfachschule Passugg as the provider.
The International Centre of Excellence in Tourism and Hospitality Education, or THE-ICE, lists EHL Hotel School Passugg as a C2Q Accredited Member. Its accredited programme listing includes the English- and German-language Advanced Federal Diploma of Higher Education in Hospitality Management.
THE-ICE accreditation is distinct from Swiss federal recognition. The first concerns external programme quality review in tourism and hospitality education; the second concerns the legal standing of the Swiss professional qualification.
EHL Hotel School Passugg is also identified as a member of HotellerieSuisse. This is an industry affiliation rather than academic accreditation.
These distinctions prevent institutional claims from being combined incorrectly. Recognition of the Passugg HF qualification, THE-ICE accreditation, HotellerieSuisse membership, and the higher-education status of EHL Hospitality Business School each refer to different relationships.
The connection between Passugg and EHL Hospitality Business School is close, but the institutions perform different academic roles.
| Topic | EHL Hotel School Passugg | EHL Hospitality Business School |
|---|---|---|
| Education branch | Higher professional education | University of applied sciences |
| Main qualification discussed here | HF hospitality qualification / Professional Bachelor | Bachelor of Science HES-SO |
| Main institutional role | Professional hospitality education and vocational training | Academic higher education |
| Relationship to Passugg graduates | Provides the HF qualification | Provides the separate direct-entry Bachelor pathway |
HES-SO identifies EHL Hospitality Business School as the school delivering the Bachelor of Science HES-SO in Hospitality Management. The degree consists of 180 ECTS and belongs to the university-of-applied-sciences system.
The distinction also applies to accreditation. Higher-education accreditations belonging to EHL Hospitality Business School should not be used to describe the Passugg HF programme unless the accreditation itself expressly includes it.
Graduates holding the relevant Passugg HF hospitality qualification can apply for a shortened direct-entry route into the Bachelor of Science delivered by EHL Hospitality Business School.
The route requires three academic semesters and includes study across Passugg and Lausanne. Keeping the campus description at this level avoids confusion between earlier and later versions of the pathway while preserving the established institutional relationship.
The progression route is a separate academic step. Completion of the HF qualification does not automatically award the Bachelor of Science, and the HF diploma itself does not become a university degree.
Eligible graduates must enter and complete the remaining requirements of the separate Bachelor programme. Admission to other higher-education institutions is likewise governed by the requirements of the receiving institution.
The pathway is significant because it connects two distinct branches of Swiss tertiary education within the EHL structure: professional hospitality education at Passugg and university-of-applied-sciences education through EHL Hospitality Business School.
EHL Hotel School Passugg also provides the Hotel Communications Specialist EFZ apprenticeship, commonly referred to as the Hotel Communications Apprenticeship or HoKo.
This is a three-year German-language vocational programme leading to the Federal Vocational Education and Training Diploma, the Eidgenössisches Fähigkeitszeugnis (EFZ).
Its study areas include guest service, reception, hotel administration, food service, housekeeping-related operations, communication, marketing, and coordination across hotel departments. School-based education is combined with practical periods in hotels.
The HoKo apprenticeship and the HF hospitality-management programme occupy different places in the Swiss education system. The EFZ is an upper-secondary vocational qualification, while the HF programme belongs to tertiary higher professional education. They should therefore not be grouped together as equivalent degrees.
Admission requirements at EHL Hotel School Passugg depend on the programme.
For the HF hospitality-management route, applicants generally require an appropriate completed upper-secondary or vocational qualification and adequate language preparation for the chosen German- or English-language study route.
Previous hospitality employment is not required for every applicant because substantial practical training is incorporated into the programme. Applicants with certain relevant Swiss vocational backgrounds can be treated differently in relation to specified practical components.
The Hotel Communications Specialist EFZ apprenticeship follows separate vocational-entry requirements. Its admissions structure is connected to completion of compulsory schooling and a German-language selection process.
This programme-specific approach reflects the different educational levels involved. Entry to a vocational EFZ apprenticeship and entry to a tertiary HF programme are governed by different qualification requirements.
Career Services has a defined role during the HF programme, particularly around compulsory internships. Students receive preparation for workplace periods, assistance with placement processes, individual coaching, administrative coordination, and contact while away from campus.
This service is part of the programme structure rather than evidence of a guaranteed employment outcome. No institution-wide graduate employment percentage is necessary to explain the academic role of Passugg, and such figures can vary by cohort and reporting period.
After graduation, Passugg alumni become part of the wider EHL alumni structure. This gives graduates access to alumni and career-related connections associated with EHL without changing the separate institutional status of the Passugg school.
International participation has been part of the school’s development since English-language courses were introduced in 1972. The HF programme is offered in both German and English, giving the institution a multilingual academic structure.
International activity also occurs through workplace learning. Internship placements can take place outside Switzerland within the programme’s rules, and the school’s cooperation with Movetia supports mobility connected to internships and experiential learning.
The progression route to EHL Hospitality Business School also links the Passugg institution with study across EHL sites in Passugg and Lausanne.
Earlier university partnerships contributed to the school’s historical international development, but they should be read as part of institutional history rather than as present degree-awarding relationships.
EHL Hotel School Passugg is not a research university. Its documented knowledge-development activity is tied more closely to professional teaching, hospitality practice, institutional projects, and collaboration with outside organisations.
Affective Hospitality is one example. Its inclusion in the HF curriculum links interpersonal and emotional competencies with professional hospitality teaching, while the relationship with the University of Geneva’s Center for Affective Sciences provides an external academic connection to its development.
Sustainability is another identified area of activity. Sustainable Management is one of the HF programme’s three specialisations. The school also operates a Sustainability Lab connected to hospitality practice, resource use, regional cooperation, food sourcing, mobility, and campus operations.
These activities fit the institution’s professional education role: academic content is connected to operational hospitality questions and applied projects rather than a research-intensive university model.
EHL Hotel School Passugg occupies a clearly defined position within the EHL Group and the Swiss education system. It is a professional hospitality school whose main tertiary qualification belongs to higher professional education, not a standalone university.
Its development from a hotel secretariat school founded in Chur in 1966 to an EHL Group institution in Passugg explains both its professional orientation and its physical character. The former spa-hotel campus combines teaching rooms, hospitality-practice facilities, food-service functions, accommodation, and communal spaces within the same site.
The academic model connects operational training with management study and compulsory workplace experience. The HF programme culminates in a federally recognised professional qualification, while eligible graduates have a separate route into the HES-SO Bachelor of Science through EHL Hospitality Business School.
Understanding these institutional boundaries is essential to understanding Passugg itself. The school’s identity rests on Swiss higher professional hospitality education, applied operational teaching, structured internships, residential study in Passugg, and its defined place within the wider EHL organisation.
No. EHL Hotel School Passugg is a Swiss higher professional education institution operating within the Höhere Fachschule (HF) sector. It is part of EHL Group but is institutionally distinct from EHL Hospitality Business School, which delivers the HES-SO Bachelor of Science in Hospitality Management.
EHL Hotel School Passugg is located at Hauptstrasse 12, 7062 Passugg, in the Canton of Graubünden, Switzerland, near Chur. The physical site is known as EHL Campus Passugg and occupies a former spa-hotel property acquired by the school in 1991.
The institution traces its history to 1966, when Dr. Markus Christoffel founded a hotel secretariat school in Chur. The school later moved to Passugg and became part of EHL Group in 2013. Its current name, EHL Hotel School Passugg, was adopted officially in 2025.
The principal tertiary programme is the Professional Bachelor in Hospitality Management within the Swiss HF higher professional education system. The protected Swiss qualification is dipl. Hoteliere-Gastronomin HF / dipl. Hotelier-Gastronom HF. English-language institutional materials also use the description Advanced Federal Diploma of Higher Education in Hospitality Management.
No. The Professional Bachelor terminology applies to recognised Swiss higher professional education qualifications. It does not convert the HF qualification into a university or university-of-applied-sciences bachelor’s degree. The separate Bachelor of Science pathway is delivered by EHL Hospitality Business School within the HES-SO system.
The HF hospitality-management programme is offered in German and English.
The HF hospitality-management programme lasts three years and combines academic study, practical hospitality training, management education, and two internship periods.
Yes. Students complete two internship periods of approximately six months each. The first is oriented toward hospitality operations, while the second can include operational, administrative, supervisory, or management-related responsibilities according to the placement and stage of study.
Students can choose from three specialisation areas:
Culinary Arts
Spa & Wellness Management
Sustainable Management
These are specialisations within the HF hospitality-management programme rather than separate degrees.
Affective Hospitality is a recurring part of the HF curriculum that addresses emotional awareness, interpersonal communication, self-reflection, and leadership-related behaviour in hospitality work. Development of the concept has been linked with the University of Geneva’s Center for Affective Sciences.
Yes. In addition to the HF hospitality-management route, the school offers the Hotel Communications Specialist EFZ apprenticeship. This is a three-year German-language vocational programme leading to a Swiss Federal Vocational Education and Training Diploma.
The HF hospitality-management programme operates within Switzerland’s federally recognised higher professional education system. EHL Hotel School Passugg is also listed by THE-ICE as a C2Q Accredited Member for specified English- and German-language hospitality-management programmes. These forms of recognition serve different purposes and should not be treated as equivalent.
Eligible graduates of the Passugg HF hospitality qualification can apply for a shortened three-semester direct-entry route into the Bachelor of Science delivered by EHL Hospitality Business School. The route includes study across Passugg and Lausanne and is separate from the HF qualification itself.
EHL Hotel School Passugg provides higher professional hospitality education within the HF system. EHL Hospitality Business School operates within the university-of-applied-sciences sector and delivers the HES-SO Bachelor of Science. Both belong to the wider EHL organisation but have different academic roles and qualification structures.
Yes. Student accommodation is available through several residential areas associated with EHL Campus Passugg, including the main school-hotel building, Fontana, Riedwiesli, and Bachelor Village.
The campus includes facilities used for hospitality instruction, including a demonstration kitchen, pastry facilities, restaurant-service areas, and food-service settings. These spaces support practical training in food production, service procedures, guest interaction, and hospitality operations.
