[FONT="]I am[/FONT][FONT="] working for [/FONT][FONT="]an international hotel chain[/FONT][FONT="] as a [/FONT][FONT="]HR manager[/FONT][FONT="]. I’m writing to share some of my opinions on[/FONT][FONT="] the heat topic in the internet [/FONT][FONT="]of [/FONT][FONT="]“Top 10 International Hospitality Management Schools in the World (made by Taylor Nelson Sofres[/FONT][FONT="] (hereafter TNS[/FONT][FONT="])”.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Nowadays, an increasing number of [/FONT][FONT="]young people [/FONT][FONT="]would like to launch their career[/FONT][FONT="] in hospitality management[/FONT][FONT="] industry[/FONT][FONT="], [/FONT][FONT="]for some well-off families, they prefer to send their children to overseas to receive the hospitality education. I am concerned [/FONT][FONT="]with their choices for hospitality management [/FONT][FONT="]schools, because[/FONT][FONT="] confusions are eas[/FONT][FONT="]y[/FONT][FONT="] to be caused among thousands of hospitality management schools[/FONT][FONT="]around the world. [/FONT][FONT="]P[/FONT][FONT="]arents [/FONT][FONT="]and [/FONT][FONT="]students are [/FONT][FONT="]long for guidance such as[/FONT][FONT="] ranking lists based on the fact that [/FONT][FONT="]u[/FONT][FONT="]niversities in British and America always have their own rankings. [/FONT][FONT="]Unfortunately, this mindset is [/FONT][FONT="]take[/FONT][FONT="]n[/FONT][FONT="] advantage [/FONT][FONT="]by c[/FONT][FONT="]ertain institutions or groups[/FONT][FONT="]; they [/FONT][FONT="]fabricate biased ranking lists [/FONT][FONT="]f[/FONT][FONT="]or [/FONT][FONT="]their own benefits[/FONT][FONT="]. [/FONT]
[FONT="]Background:[/FONT]
[FONT="]As early as[/FONT][FONT="] 2007, Laureate Hospitality Education[/FONT][FONT="] (hereafter LHE)[/FONT][FONT="] invited [/FONT][FONT="]TNS[/FONT][FONT="],[/FONT][FONT="]a marketing research [/FONT][FONT="]company in UK[/FONT][FONT="], to design a survey on [/FONT][FONT="]“[/FONT][FONT="]Top 10 International Hospitality Management Schools in the World for an International Career[/FONT][FONT="]”[/FONT][FONT="]. [/FONT][FONT="]By the year[/FONT][FONT="] 2010, another [/FONT][FONT="]“[/FONT][FONT="]Top 10 International Hospitality Management Schools in the World for an International Career[/FONT][FONT="]”[/FONT][FONT="] was [/FONT][FONT="]published in the website of LHE[/FONT][FONT="] and various overseas education agencies, which turned out to be another show made by LHE. I couldn’t accept such kind of academic fraud as a Top [/FONT][FONT="]H[/FONT][FONT="]otel HR Manager. Thanks to the internet, I am able to apply my experiences in hospitality industry to tell truth from falsehood.[/FONT][FONT="]I did not mean to start a war of words but to ask those fellows [/FONT][FONT="]who are in the[/FONT][FONT="] hospitality industry to [/FONT][FONT="]look at[/FONT][FONT="] the so-called ranking list with acute judgments.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Now let’s move on to the main part of the article that how to look at this survey report of ranking list scientifically. I would like to compare it with ranking lists made by British and America. Let’s ma[/FONT][FONT="]ke[/FONT][FONT="] it simple and to the point, to answer the question [/FONT][FONT="]whether [/FONT][FONT="]the ranking list reliable or not, we must look at it in[/FONT][FONT="]three [/FONT][FONT="]key[/FONT][FONT="] aspects, they are[/FONT]：
[FONT="]1[/FONT]）[FONT="]W[/FONT][FONT="]ho initiate[/FONT][FONT="]s[/FONT][FONT="] it[/FONT][FONT="]---- The stand of the ranking list[/FONT]
[FONT="]2[/FONT]）[FONT="]Who is involved [/FONT][FONT="]----- [/FONT][FONT="]A key factor in the investigation report, i.e. where does source of data come from? [/FONT]
[FONT="]3[/FONT]）[FONT="]Who recognize it[/FONT][FONT="] --- [/FONT][FONT="]feedback from the authoritative institute[/FONT]
[FONT="]TNS ranking list[/FONT][FONT="]:[/FONT][FONT="]Laureate Hospitality Education [/FONT][FONT="]is i[/FONT][FONT="]ts initiator [/FONT][FONT="]as well as[/FONT][FONT="] financial[/FONT][FONT="]c[/FONT][FONT="]ontributor[/FONT][FONT="]. LHE[/FONT][FONT="] is the parent company of Les Roches International School of Hotel Management[/FONT][FONT="] Switzerland[/FONT]，[FONT="]Glion Institute of Higher Education, [/FONT][FONT="]both [/FONT][FONT="]ranked No.2[/FONT][FONT="]nd[/FONT]，[FONT="]Les Roches International School of Hotel Management, Marbella of Spain, ranked No. 6[/FONT][FONT="]th[/FONT]
[FONT="]American ranking list[/FONT]：[FONT="]The most authoritative ranking list of universities in America is made by the magazine of US News & World Report. Because its [/FONT][FONT="]nominee[/FONT][FONT="] is recognized by the authoritative institution made of professionals from American council on Education.[/FONT]
[FONT="]British ranking list[/FONT]：[FONT="]So far, The Times[/FONT]，[FONT="]The Financial, The Daily Telegraph and Guardian has released different ranking lists of British universities. Owing to the long history and complete data, the ranking list made by The Times is accepted by most overseas students[/FONT][FONT="]. R[/FONT][FONT="]anking lists[/FONT][FONT="] in UK are[/FONT][FONT="] renewed [/FONT][FONT="]over time [/FONT][FONT="]since 1992[/FONT][FONT="], till now,[/FONT][FONT="] there are [/FONT][FONT="]already[/FONT][FONT="]110 [/FONT][FONT="]universities[/FONT][FONT="] included.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Obviously, most university ranking lists in British and America are made by [/FONT][FONT="]either [/FONT][FONT="]acknowledged media [/FONT][FONT="]or [/FONT][FONT="]research institutions to ensure its fairness and [/FONT][FONT="]truthfulness[/FONT][FONT="], which reveals the ultimate intention of r[/FONT][FONT="]anking lists[/FONT][FONT="]. [/FONT][FONT="]It is a worldwide tendency that an evaluation [/FONT][FONT="]system[/FONT][FONT="]will stands o[/FONT][FONT="]utside the[/FONT][FONT="] regular[/FONT][FONT="] education[/FONT][FONT="]al system and be the[/FONT][FONT="] model of separating teaching and evaluating.[/FONT][FONT="] Even those r[/FONT][FONT="]anking lists[/FONT][FONT="] made in [/FONT][FONT="]British and America faced with [/FONT][FONT="]acrid critics, most of [/FONT][FONT="]them[/FONT][FONT="] point out that these ranking surveys [/FONT][FONT="]depend on[/FONT][FONT="] their own standards. Some critics argue[/FONT][FONT="]d[/FONT][FONT="] that these ranking lists could lead to some “Numbers Game” among universities, while some university administrative staff confess[/FONT][FONT="]ed[/FONT][FONT="] that they would adopt the strategy of hurting reputation of rivals during investigation and some even refuse to cooperate with media that initiates the ranking survey in avoidance of being enslaved to the media. Those comparative unbiased ranking lists are even doubted by public[/FONT][FONT="], how could the [/FONT][FONT="]ranking list of [/FONT][FONT="]“[/FONT][FONT="]Top 10 International Hospitality Management Schools in the World for an International Career[/FONT][FONT="]”[/FONT][FONT="]i[/FONT][FONT="]nitiated by the biggest beneficiary of this survey[/FONT][FONT="] be reliable?[/FONT][FONT="] In addition, TNS never made any survey on British universities. Could it come to the conclusion that its objectivity and justification could not be recognized by British[/FONT][FONT="]? [/FONT]
[FONT="]In terms of statistics, the position of the survey should be classified as [/FONT][FONT="]conclusive research[/FONT][FONT="], which is supposed to be formal market research activity. It is an open and [/FONT][FONT="]referable[/FONT][FONT="] report, but not random, internal exploratory research. When exterminating sampling method and sample size, it is necessary to consider the objective and investigation of the survey [/FONT][FONT="]as well as[/FONT][FONT="] the requirement of accuracy (i.e. sampling error). Besides, the possibility of [/FONT][FONT="]viability, the control of non-sampling error and the consideration of budget should also be included. However, the investigative report from TNS do[/FONT][FONT="]es[/FONT][FONT="] not contain all these factors.[/FONT]
[FONT="]First, let us analyze the whole sample: when sampling in conventional manner, the larger the sample size is, the higher the estimation accuracy and the cost will be. As a market research company, TNS point[/FONT][FONT="]ed[/FONT][FONT="] out that the potential respondents of this survey (target population) are up to 50,000, while 10,000 of which opened this e-mail. And only 181 samples (less than 275 samples in 2007) are used for analysis, although the sample size does not depend on the size of the target population. Where do the other 819 questionnaires go to? Are these questionnaires filled blank or invalid? Dose the [/FONT][FONT="]selection process involved in artificial filter? I will keeping questioning until these question are answered. “Under the case of sufficient financial resources and considerable objectives, the survey company has the ability to obtain more data and more accurate information when making important decisions, which requires a larger sample." (Bobby, "Social Research Methods", 2005). However, the sample size TNS used does not reached 20% of the overall sample. Thus, I believe that there is a great error in reporting data.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Second, in the light of investigative dimensions: it’s known from the report that this research is based on “the graduates’ preference to the schools". Therefore the limitation is obvious. Do the respondents know about or even hear of the listed 74 [/FONT][FONT="]hotel management schools? Have the respondents interviewed, recruited, or contacted with graduates from all these 74 institutions? Which schools are included in the list? What are the criteria of choosing these schools?[/FONT]
[FONT="]In the original text of this report, a very important point is highlighted: "Provision of instruction in English was a requirement for inclusion in the list of international hospitality management schools"[/FONT][FONT="], w[/FONT][FONT="]hich means that all the listed 74 schools must adopt English as their teaching language. However, [/FONT][FONT="]i[/FONT][FONT="]t is funny that two schools out of ten can not meet this requirement, they are: Vatel Hotel Management School (France), ranked [/FONT][FONT="]7th[/FONT][FONT="], and Geneva Hotel Management School (Switzerland), ranked [/FONT][FONT="]10th[/FONT][FONT="]. In [/FONT][FONT="]Vatel[/FONT][FONT="] Hotel Management School (France), most courses are taught in French. For example, in Paris, Lyon, Bordeaux campus, French is the only teaching language. While in Nimes campus, only one course is taught in English. And there are no courses taught in English [/FONT][FONT="]in[/FONT][FONT="] Geneva Hotel Management School.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Out of the 10 schools on the rank, there are already 2 schools do not satisfy the criteria of the survey. When it comes to the remaining 64 schools, [/FONT][FONT="]h[/FONT][FONT="]ow many unqualified nominee will be come out?[/FONT]
[FONT="]Besides, in order to pro[/FONT][FONT="]ve[/FONT][FONT="] the reliability and objective of the survey, the report has quoted in the Key Finding that “interviewees can list the name of the hotel school that they think to be the best, if they are not provided as choices from the survey”. The doubtful fact is that, if neither Les Roches International School of Hotel Management nor Glion Hotel School are out of the list for choice, but needed to be filled in when comes to interviewee’s mind, would the result of such survey be [/FONT][FONT="]the same with[/FONT][FONT="] the existing one?[/FONT]
[FONT="]As early as 2008, the most authoritative association among swiss [/FONT][FONT="]hotel schools – ASEH in Switzerland has published a pronouncement against the Laureate and the rank made by TNS in 2007. In the pronouncement, ASEH has stated clearly that “Currently, there is no officially and publicly recognized rank for hotel management schools. Several organizations have created ranks about Swiss, European, U.S. and even global hotel management schools with various nasty aims.”, “Students can hardly obtain concrete and reliable information from such ranks. Any students who would like to make precise decisions after reading the rank should understand and be clear with the key information underneath: The benchmark of the ranks.” Unfortunately, the main purpose of producing these ranks is simply the marketing strategy of the schools on the rank. They attempted to claim themselves “The Top” or “The First One” based on some uncertain standards.[/FONT]
[FONT="]All in all[/FONT][FONT="], according to the a[/FONT][FONT="]bove [/FONT][FONT="]mentioned analysis,[/FONT][FONT="] I[/FONT][FONT="] believe that the report is greatly inaccurate. The report is controlled by[/FONT][FONT="] human factors which can not be a reference.[/FONT][FONT="] The reasons are[/FONT][FONT="] concluded as below:[/FONT]
[FONT="]1.[/FONT][FONT="]The founder of the survey is the most benefited party of the survey - Laureate Hospitality Education [/FONT][FONT="]( LHE is the parent company of Les Roches International School of Hotel Management Switzerland[/FONT][FONT="], [/FONT][FONT="]Glion Institute of Higher Education, both ranked as No.2[/FONT]，[FONT="]Les Roches International School of Hotel Management, Marbella of Spain, ranked No. 6)[/FONT]
[FONT="]2.Due to the[/FONT][FONT="] rough and [/FONT][FONT="]unprofessional investigating method[/FONT][FONT="],[/FONT][FONT="]unclear data and[/FONT][FONT="] c[/FONT][FONT="]ontradictions[/FONT][FONT="] can be seen[/FONT][FONT="] throughout the report.[/FONT]
[FONT="]3.[/FONT][FONT="]The pronouncement published by the authoritative organization, ASEH stating its strong dissent against the rank (Please fin[/FONT][FONT="]d[/FONT][FONT="] the pronouncement from attachment 3)[/FONT]
[FONT="]History[/FONT][FONT="] and tradition[/FONT][FONT="], [/FONT][FONT="]school equipments,[/FONT][FONT="]professionals[/FONT][FONT="]profile, [/FONT][FONT="]students[/FONT][FONT="] feedback[/FONT][FONT="]and industry [/FONT][FONT="]recognition[/FONT][FONT="]should be the [/FONT][FONT="]key[/FONT][FONT="] factors in evaluating a hotel management school. A [/FONT][FONT="]renowned[/FONT][FONT="] school would definitely[/FONT][FONT="] stand on [/FONT][FONT="]its reputation, but the reputation can never be quantified, nor measured. As the Academic Dean of the University of Tulsas said, “The reputation of a school is like the frog floating from the sea to land. You know where it is, but you could never hold it.”[/FONT]
[FONT="]Reputation can no way be built [/FONT][FONT="]or[/FONT][FONT="] created by such business actions from 181 pieces of below-standard questionnaires. [/FONT][FONT="]I[/FONT][FONT="] do hope the greedy [/FONT][FONT="]owners[/FONT][FONT="] of [/FONT][FONT="]hotel management [/FONT][FONT="]schools stop using fake ranks and reports [/FONT][FONT="]for their own benefits, which will mislead the future hotelier.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Nowadays, an increasing number of [/FONT][FONT="]young people [/FONT][FONT="]would like to launch their career[/FONT][FONT="] in hospitality management[/FONT][FONT="] industry[/FONT][FONT="], [/FONT][FONT="]for some well-off families, they prefer to send their children to overseas to receive the hospitality education. I am concerned [/FONT][FONT="]with their choices for hospitality management [/FONT][FONT="]schools, because[/FONT][FONT="] confusions are eas[/FONT][FONT="]y[/FONT][FONT="] to be caused among thousands of hospitality management schools[/FONT][FONT="]around the world. [/FONT][FONT="]P[/FONT][FONT="]arents [/FONT][FONT="]and [/FONT][FONT="]students are [/FONT][FONT="]long for guidance such as[/FONT][FONT="] ranking lists based on the fact that [/FONT][FONT="]u[/FONT][FONT="]niversities in British and America always have their own rankings. [/FONT][FONT="]Unfortunately, this mindset is [/FONT][FONT="]take[/FONT][FONT="]n[/FONT][FONT="] advantage [/FONT][FONT="]by c[/FONT][FONT="]ertain institutions or groups[/FONT][FONT="]; they [/FONT][FONT="]fabricate biased ranking lists [/FONT][FONT="]f[/FONT][FONT="]or [/FONT][FONT="]their own benefits[/FONT][FONT="]. [/FONT]
[FONT="]Background:[/FONT]
[FONT="]As early as[/FONT][FONT="] 2007, Laureate Hospitality Education[/FONT][FONT="] (hereafter LHE)[/FONT][FONT="] invited [/FONT][FONT="]TNS[/FONT][FONT="],[/FONT][FONT="]a marketing research [/FONT][FONT="]company in UK[/FONT][FONT="], to design a survey on [/FONT][FONT="]“[/FONT][FONT="]Top 10 International Hospitality Management Schools in the World for an International Career[/FONT][FONT="]”[/FONT][FONT="]. [/FONT][FONT="]By the year[/FONT][FONT="] 2010, another [/FONT][FONT="]“[/FONT][FONT="]Top 10 International Hospitality Management Schools in the World for an International Career[/FONT][FONT="]”[/FONT][FONT="] was [/FONT][FONT="]published in the website of LHE[/FONT][FONT="] and various overseas education agencies, which turned out to be another show made by LHE. I couldn’t accept such kind of academic fraud as a Top [/FONT][FONT="]H[/FONT][FONT="]otel HR Manager. Thanks to the internet, I am able to apply my experiences in hospitality industry to tell truth from falsehood.[/FONT][FONT="]I did not mean to start a war of words but to ask those fellows [/FONT][FONT="]who are in the[/FONT][FONT="] hospitality industry to [/FONT][FONT="]look at[/FONT][FONT="] the so-called ranking list with acute judgments.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Now let’s move on to the main part of the article that how to look at this survey report of ranking list scientifically. I would like to compare it with ranking lists made by British and America. Let’s ma[/FONT][FONT="]ke[/FONT][FONT="] it simple and to the point, to answer the question [/FONT][FONT="]whether [/FONT][FONT="]the ranking list reliable or not, we must look at it in[/FONT][FONT="]three [/FONT][FONT="]key[/FONT][FONT="] aspects, they are[/FONT]：
[FONT="]1[/FONT]）[FONT="]W[/FONT][FONT="]ho initiate[/FONT][FONT="]s[/FONT][FONT="] it[/FONT][FONT="]---- The stand of the ranking list[/FONT]
[FONT="]2[/FONT]）[FONT="]Who is involved [/FONT][FONT="]----- [/FONT][FONT="]A key factor in the investigation report, i.e. where does source of data come from? [/FONT]
[FONT="]3[/FONT]）[FONT="]Who recognize it[/FONT][FONT="] --- [/FONT][FONT="]feedback from the authoritative institute[/FONT]
[FONT="]1[/FONT]、[FONT="]who initiate[/FONT][FONT="]s[/FONT][FONT="] i[/FONT][FONT="]t: Laureate Hospitality Education[/FONT]
[FONT="]TNS ranking list[/FONT][FONT="]:[/FONT][FONT="]Laureate Hospitality Education [/FONT][FONT="]is i[/FONT][FONT="]ts initiator [/FONT][FONT="]as well as[/FONT][FONT="] financial[/FONT][FONT="]c[/FONT][FONT="]ontributor[/FONT][FONT="]. LHE[/FONT][FONT="] is the parent company of Les Roches International School of Hotel Management[/FONT][FONT="] Switzerland[/FONT]，[FONT="]Glion Institute of Higher Education, [/FONT][FONT="]both [/FONT][FONT="]ranked No.2[/FONT][FONT="]nd[/FONT]，[FONT="]Les Roches International School of Hotel Management, Marbella of Spain, ranked No. 6[/FONT][FONT="]th[/FONT]
[FONT="]American ranking list[/FONT]：[FONT="]The most authoritative ranking list of universities in America is made by the magazine of US News & World Report. Because its [/FONT][FONT="]nominee[/FONT][FONT="] is recognized by the authoritative institution made of professionals from American council on Education.[/FONT]
[FONT="]British ranking list[/FONT]：[FONT="]So far, The Times[/FONT]，[FONT="]The Financial, The Daily Telegraph and Guardian has released different ranking lists of British universities. Owing to the long history and complete data, the ranking list made by The Times is accepted by most overseas students[/FONT][FONT="]. R[/FONT][FONT="]anking lists[/FONT][FONT="] in UK are[/FONT][FONT="] renewed [/FONT][FONT="]over time [/FONT][FONT="]since 1992[/FONT][FONT="], till now,[/FONT][FONT="] there are [/FONT][FONT="]already[/FONT][FONT="]110 [/FONT][FONT="]universities[/FONT][FONT="] included.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Obviously, most university ranking lists in British and America are made by [/FONT][FONT="]either [/FONT][FONT="]acknowledged media [/FONT][FONT="]or [/FONT][FONT="]research institutions to ensure its fairness and [/FONT][FONT="]truthfulness[/FONT][FONT="], which reveals the ultimate intention of r[/FONT][FONT="]anking lists[/FONT][FONT="]. [/FONT][FONT="]It is a worldwide tendency that an evaluation [/FONT][FONT="]system[/FONT][FONT="]will stands o[/FONT][FONT="]utside the[/FONT][FONT="] regular[/FONT][FONT="] education[/FONT][FONT="]al system and be the[/FONT][FONT="] model of separating teaching and evaluating.[/FONT][FONT="] Even those r[/FONT][FONT="]anking lists[/FONT][FONT="] made in [/FONT][FONT="]British and America faced with [/FONT][FONT="]acrid critics, most of [/FONT][FONT="]them[/FONT][FONT="] point out that these ranking surveys [/FONT][FONT="]depend on[/FONT][FONT="] their own standards. Some critics argue[/FONT][FONT="]d[/FONT][FONT="] that these ranking lists could lead to some “Numbers Game” among universities, while some university administrative staff confess[/FONT][FONT="]ed[/FONT][FONT="] that they would adopt the strategy of hurting reputation of rivals during investigation and some even refuse to cooperate with media that initiates the ranking survey in avoidance of being enslaved to the media. Those comparative unbiased ranking lists are even doubted by public[/FONT][FONT="], how could the [/FONT][FONT="]ranking list of [/FONT][FONT="]“[/FONT][FONT="]Top 10 International Hospitality Management Schools in the World for an International Career[/FONT][FONT="]”[/FONT][FONT="]i[/FONT][FONT="]nitiated by the biggest beneficiary of this survey[/FONT][FONT="] be reliable?[/FONT][FONT="] In addition, TNS never made any survey on British universities. Could it come to the conclusion that its objectivity and justification could not be recognized by British[/FONT][FONT="]? [/FONT]
[FONT="]2[/FONT]、[FONT="]A key factor in the investigation report[/FONT][FONT="]—[/FONT][FONT="]“who is involved”, i.e. where does [/FONT][FONT="]the [/FONT][FONT="]source of data[/FONT][FONT="] come from?[/FONT]
[FONT="]In terms of statistics, the position of the survey should be classified as [/FONT][FONT="]conclusive research[/FONT][FONT="], which is supposed to be formal market research activity. It is an open and [/FONT][FONT="]referable[/FONT][FONT="] report, but not random, internal exploratory research. When exterminating sampling method and sample size, it is necessary to consider the objective and investigation of the survey [/FONT][FONT="]as well as[/FONT][FONT="] the requirement of accuracy (i.e. sampling error). Besides, the possibility of [/FONT][FONT="]viability, the control of non-sampling error and the consideration of budget should also be included. However, the investigative report from TNS do[/FONT][FONT="]es[/FONT][FONT="] not contain all these factors.[/FONT]
[FONT="]First, let us analyze the whole sample: when sampling in conventional manner, the larger the sample size is, the higher the estimation accuracy and the cost will be. As a market research company, TNS point[/FONT][FONT="]ed[/FONT][FONT="] out that the potential respondents of this survey (target population) are up to 50,000, while 10,000 of which opened this e-mail. And only 181 samples (less than 275 samples in 2007) are used for analysis, although the sample size does not depend on the size of the target population. Where do the other 819 questionnaires go to? Are these questionnaires filled blank or invalid? Dose the [/FONT][FONT="]selection process involved in artificial filter? I will keeping questioning until these question are answered. “Under the case of sufficient financial resources and considerable objectives, the survey company has the ability to obtain more data and more accurate information when making important decisions, which requires a larger sample." (Bobby, "Social Research Methods", 2005). However, the sample size TNS used does not reached 20% of the overall sample. Thus, I believe that there is a great error in reporting data.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Second, in the light of investigative dimensions: it’s known from the report that this research is based on “the graduates’ preference to the schools". Therefore the limitation is obvious. Do the respondents know about or even hear of the listed 74 [/FONT][FONT="]hotel management schools? Have the respondents interviewed, recruited, or contacted with graduates from all these 74 institutions? Which schools are included in the list? What are the criteria of choosing these schools?[/FONT]
[FONT="]In the original text of this report, a very important point is highlighted: "Provision of instruction in English was a requirement for inclusion in the list of international hospitality management schools"[/FONT][FONT="], w[/FONT][FONT="]hich means that all the listed 74 schools must adopt English as their teaching language. However, [/FONT][FONT="]i[/FONT][FONT="]t is funny that two schools out of ten can not meet this requirement, they are: Vatel Hotel Management School (France), ranked [/FONT][FONT="]7th[/FONT][FONT="], and Geneva Hotel Management School (Switzerland), ranked [/FONT][FONT="]10th[/FONT][FONT="]. In [/FONT][FONT="]Vatel[/FONT][FONT="] Hotel Management School (France), most courses are taught in French. For example, in Paris, Lyon, Bordeaux campus, French is the only teaching language. While in Nimes campus, only one course is taught in English. And there are no courses taught in English [/FONT][FONT="]in[/FONT][FONT="] Geneva Hotel Management School.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Out of the 10 schools on the rank, there are already 2 schools do not satisfy the criteria of the survey. When it comes to the remaining 64 schools, [/FONT][FONT="]h[/FONT][FONT="]ow many unqualified nominee will be come out?[/FONT]
[FONT="]Besides, in order to pro[/FONT][FONT="]ve[/FONT][FONT="] the reliability and objective of the survey, the report has quoted in the Key Finding that “interviewees can list the name of the hotel school that they think to be the best, if they are not provided as choices from the survey”. The doubtful fact is that, if neither Les Roches International School of Hotel Management nor Glion Hotel School are out of the list for choice, but needed to be filled in when comes to interviewee’s mind, would the result of such survey be [/FONT][FONT="]the same with[/FONT][FONT="] the existing one?[/FONT]
[FONT="]3. Who recognize it? - Feedback from the authoritative institute – Association Suisse Des Ecoles Hoteliers (ASEH) published a pronouncement against the academic fraud.[/FONT]
[FONT="]As early as 2008, the most authoritative association among swiss [/FONT][FONT="]hotel schools – ASEH in Switzerland has published a pronouncement against the Laureate and the rank made by TNS in 2007. In the pronouncement, ASEH has stated clearly that “Currently, there is no officially and publicly recognized rank for hotel management schools. Several organizations have created ranks about Swiss, European, U.S. and even global hotel management schools with various nasty aims.”, “Students can hardly obtain concrete and reliable information from such ranks. Any students who would like to make precise decisions after reading the rank should understand and be clear with the key information underneath: The benchmark of the ranks.” Unfortunately, the main purpose of producing these ranks is simply the marketing strategy of the schools on the rank. They attempted to claim themselves “The Top” or “The First One” based on some uncertain standards.[/FONT]
[FONT="]All in all[/FONT][FONT="], according to the a[/FONT][FONT="]bove [/FONT][FONT="]mentioned analysis,[/FONT][FONT="] I[/FONT][FONT="] believe that the report is greatly inaccurate. The report is controlled by[/FONT][FONT="] human factors which can not be a reference.[/FONT][FONT="] The reasons are[/FONT][FONT="] concluded as below:[/FONT]
[FONT="]1.[/FONT][FONT="]The founder of the survey is the most benefited party of the survey - Laureate Hospitality Education [/FONT][FONT="]( LHE is the parent company of Les Roches International School of Hotel Management Switzerland[/FONT][FONT="], [/FONT][FONT="]Glion Institute of Higher Education, both ranked as No.2[/FONT]，[FONT="]Les Roches International School of Hotel Management, Marbella of Spain, ranked No. 6)[/FONT]
[FONT="]2.Due to the[/FONT][FONT="] rough and [/FONT][FONT="]unprofessional investigating method[/FONT][FONT="],[/FONT][FONT="]unclear data and[/FONT][FONT="] c[/FONT][FONT="]ontradictions[/FONT][FONT="] can be seen[/FONT][FONT="] throughout the report.[/FONT]
[FONT="]3.[/FONT][FONT="]The pronouncement published by the authoritative organization, ASEH stating its strong dissent against the rank (Please fin[/FONT][FONT="]d[/FONT][FONT="] the pronouncement from attachment 3)[/FONT]
[FONT="]History[/FONT][FONT="] and tradition[/FONT][FONT="], [/FONT][FONT="]school equipments,[/FONT][FONT="]professionals[/FONT][FONT="]profile, [/FONT][FONT="]students[/FONT][FONT="] feedback[/FONT][FONT="]and industry [/FONT][FONT="]recognition[/FONT][FONT="]should be the [/FONT][FONT="]key[/FONT][FONT="] factors in evaluating a hotel management school. A [/FONT][FONT="]renowned[/FONT][FONT="] school would definitely[/FONT][FONT="] stand on [/FONT][FONT="]its reputation, but the reputation can never be quantified, nor measured. As the Academic Dean of the University of Tulsas said, “The reputation of a school is like the frog floating from the sea to land. You know where it is, but you could never hold it.”[/FONT]
[FONT="]Reputation can no way be built [/FONT][FONT="]or[/FONT][FONT="] created by such business actions from 181 pieces of below-standard questionnaires. [/FONT][FONT="]I[/FONT][FONT="] do hope the greedy [/FONT][FONT="]owners[/FONT][FONT="] of [/FONT][FONT="]hotel management [/FONT][FONT="]schools stop using fake ranks and reports [/FONT][FONT="]for their own benefits, which will mislead the future hotelier.[/FONT]