Les Roches International School of Hotel Management - History

History

The Ecole des Roches, an international boarding school for young people, was founded in 1954 by Messrs Marcel and Jean-Pierre Clivaz. In 1979, Les Roches International School became “Les Roches” Hotel and Tourism School and was the first hospitality school in Switzerland to offer all courses in English. The main campus was virtually destroyed by a fire in April 1985. Despite considerable destruction to the property and its contents, the school only lost one day of classes as arrangements were made to house students and teaching facilities in three hotels in Montana, which were rented for a three-year period. Construction of entirely new buildings began in May 1986. In June 1987, the school moved into its new buildings.

On June 21, 1986, the owners of Les Roches, (Gesthotel SA), signed a management contract with the Swiss Hotel Association which is recognized by the Swiss Federal Department of Economics. Since January 1, 1987, Les Roches has been approved by the Swiss Hotel Association, changing the schools name to Les Roches Swiss Hotel Association Hotel Management School. The name was changed again in 2007 to Les Roches International School of Hotel Management. In November 2000, Les Roches became a part of the Sylvan International Universities, a branch of Sylvan Learning Systems, now known as Laureate Education Inc. Since 2003, Les Roches and Glion Institute of Higher Education, also part of Laureate Education Inc, are governed by the same administration. The Laureate Education Inc. university network includes 42 accredited institutions in Asia, Europe, Australia and the Americas.

Since 2006, Les Roches has expanded its facilities with four extra buildings to accommodate additional students. In 2007, Les Roches opened a newly renovated library complex, auditorium, specially designed front office demonstration theater and a rooms division laboratory.