Excelia Business School Speciality : Tourism & Hospitality
programme: Bachelor Parcours Hotel Management

Excelia Highlights: Courses taught by professionals in the industry, case studies, many group work projects with oral presentations for each, going abroad for professional internships and studies, option for a fully English-taught BA and you also get taught 2 extra languages (I did Italian and Chinese, but you can do French, Spanish, Russian, German..). You can also do your BA fully in French. Every week is different, some modules continue longer but it isn’t a set schedule with the same courses every week. You get a lot of CV, Linkedin, cover letter help and interview prep and can get a professional coach to help you even more – for free. You get to pass some certifications in design thinking and sustainability, for example.

The La Rochelle campus is very international, it’s lovely to meet lots of people from different backgrounds and being close to the sea in a mid-sized town is really nice. There are many activities and events. You can be an international buddy for a classmate which is great for cultural exchange. The Tours campus has a lot more french people, but the city is still nice.

Since Excelia is an “École de Commerce” – Business School, even in the BA in Tourism and Hospitality management you will have recurring topics like Marketing & communication, Business, Sustainability and some accounting and finances – but related to the industry.

I also did a 6-month fast-track business program (Bachelor first year) which gave me 60 ECTS (like a 1 year one), and I gained a very good business foundation. We did a lot of business games, and some real world projects like a communication strategy for 2 non-profits, and also worked on imaginary/simulation projects.

Strengths: you get to study abroad at least once (I studied in Bangkok for 5-months as Srinakharinwirot University International College for Sustainability studies. It was amazing: Thai people are the nicest and I got to participate in and help organise many events, for a project I worked in luxury hotels and we also had enriching field trips in rural Thailand).

Then for internships at excelia: you get 1-3 months professional internship mandatory in 1st year and 5 months mandatory in 3rd year. You also have to complete a mandatory 2 months volunteering internship in the social sector (Humacité) and another mandatory one in the environmental sector (Climacité).
You do have to find your internships by yourself but you have a list of where people are and where they went, and can ask your teachers or alumni if they know of internships.

You do get some field trips in companies (mostly in the more business bachelors), but I think there has been some development for the BA in Tourism and Hospitality management.

Grading: you are graded mostly based on group presentations, individual term exams and the completion of your internships with their reports, and in the final year you have to pass a “Grand Oral” – presenting what you learned during your time at excelia, soft and hard skills and wether you are ready to tackle the job market.

Courses examples: Global Code of ethics, HACCP, sustainability development, Mice Industry, consumer behaviour in Tourism, marketing and sales in hospitality…

Weaknesses: We had a lot of 2-4 days of intensive courses, so topics mostly stayed surface level and not extremely detailed. But basic important concepts are well underlined. We also didn’t get any software courses, it would have been nice to get CRM or reservation software skills for the hospitality or event industry. You don’t always get detailed comments regarding your grades. Almost every 6-months you have to prepare the logistics for a new internship (visa, accommodation, travel), it can get a bit tiring and overwhelming – but you learn a lot.

What I enjoyed the most at excelia: having international friends, courses in English, going abroad, doing internships, and getting to know the main concepts and trends in the tourism and hospitality industry.

An amazing school and very full and diverse program. I was able to learn a lot about different subjects like marketing, economics, law, accounting and more with amazing professors who are experts in their fields of work. Furthermore, I was able to experience other ways of teaching. Getting a French wine certificate, roaming the streets of the city trying to find information for an assignment and field days with the entire graduate program are only some of the things you get to do as a student at Excelia. All of which you get to do before your humanitarian/environmental volunteer work at the end of the year (which can take place anywhere in the world).

Overall, studying in Excelia was a very important milestone in my professional and personal life. I made a lot of international friends, learned a new language and expand my horizons. There are definitely things that I would change in terms of courses or programs , another that I admire, but I feel that is a decent option to study