Ferrières enters a new chapter in its story!

Ferrieres, faithful to its values of Audacity and Innovation, Humility, Work, and Openness, continues its development and asserts itself as a major player on the international scene in the transmission of know-how and soft skills essential for future leaders to flourish and perform in a rapidly changing world.   

The start of the 2023 school year is currently being prepared and will be more than ever in line with GA Education’s pillars of responsible entrepreneurship, employability, and positive education thanks to the evolution of our programs and the extension of our partnerships.    

Ferrieres School, School of French Excellence becomes Ferrieres, Hospitality & Luxury Management School.    

Ferrieres’ General Manager, Krumma Jonsdottir, explains to us why Ferrieres decided to change its programs, its identity, and its model.    

Hello Krumma, can you explain to us the evolution of Ferrieres’ strategy for the start of the 2023 school year?    

With great pleasure. Let me call it a “maturation” rather than a change of direction… This maturation involves three aspects that we felt were fundamental to writing the next part of the story: international, brand image, and the expression of our ambition.     

In the early years, we focused on the French market and accompanied our French-speaking students of 85% toward international careers.  In addition to our many international academic partnerships, Ferrieres has had its own campus in Barcelona since September 2022, and we plan to expand to other destinations in the near future. Our students will be able to access all our programs on all campuses. In connection with the desire to strengthen our international presence, we have noticed a gap between the way we represent ourselves to the outside world and what we are.   

Since its inception in 2014, each new school year is punctuated by new programs, new academic and professional partnerships, and various projects that allow us to not only meet the needs of an ever-changing market but to influence its evolution. We have an opportunity to be more active in communicating what we do. The evolution of our image is the first step.  

We are not “just” a hotel and gastronomy school. Ferrieres Hospitality & Luxury Management School is an institution that prepares the most effective and efficient players in all professions related to service and customer experience.   

Finally, our ambition to be the preferred school for professionals in the hospitality and luxury industries requires us to offer programs that respond to immediate needs and that put individuals on the market who are immediately operational and capable of anticipating future changes. This is why we have decided to adapt our programs. 

What are the major changes in the curriculum?   

Yesterday, we needed workers and managers. Today we need engaged employees, leaders, and entrepreneurs. Tomorrow, we need intrapreneurs, experience designers, and leader coaches.  Our programs consider the requirements of a constantly evolving market and are revised every year.   

This time the evolution is in the clarification of the pathway from the first to the last year, thus allowing each candidate to project themselves for the years of study as well as the opportunities once graduated. Then, each student can adapt their career path to their professional project, which evolves over the course of the years of study, thanks to the bridges between the programs.   

Our graduates leave equipped with the academic knowledge and technical and behavioral skills appropriate to the market AND to the management of their own careers and lives.   

Read the article Ferrières programs evolve for the start of the 2023 school year!   

Will soft skills always have the same level of importance in your programs?   

Yes, absolutely. It’s true that the terms soft skills or essential skills are in fashion. I would like to take this opportunity to point out that our approach at Ferrieres sets us apart from our competitors.   

If you ask a parent what they want for their child, they will tell you that they want them to be happy, to find their way and their balance. If you look at what has been going on in most schools since the dawn of time it is mostly teaching critical thinking, achievement, conformity, and discipline (Seligman, 1998).   

We are convinced that it is possible to reconcile the two, that being happy and balanced can be learned just as we learn to master sales techniques or financial concepts. That’s why all our programs and administrative processes are based on the principles of positive psychology and positive education.    

The “MyWellbeing” project at Ferrieres accompanies students through courses and conferences in setting up new habits to develop their character strengths and identify their values and behavioral preferences.    

It is work that frees them from the pressure of society and, indeed, from that of family and friends.  They learn that more than 40% of their happiness and balance (and therefore their success) depends on them and no one else; on their lifestyle, on managing their emotions, and on maintaining good relationships with others.     

To give you a few examples, the courses and conferences given throughout the year at the Ferrieres School deal with optimism, the genetics of happiness, resilience, sleep science, stakeholder management, perfectionism, mindful eating, leadership, critical conversations, etc…   

Our ambition is that our graduates become fulfilled people and successful professionals who in turn act and impact positively on those around them.   

In fact, after several years of running our “MyWellbeing” project, we launched a study last September in which we are following several groups of students and measuring the impact of our program on their academic performance and balance. The idea is to follow up with all our students even after they graduate.   

Note that all our partners have access to our “MyWellbeing” project for their employees. 

The Ferrieres slogan is now ACT TO IMPACT. Why this choice and what are the effects on students?   

This slogan illustrates this new momentum and is directly linked to our values of Audacity & Innovation, Work, Humility, and Openness.   

The words are strong, and the motto is deliberately in English.  We prepare the players of the consumer and experience industries. In addition to having to and wanting to meet the expectations of customers, employees, and investors in an innovative and consistent manner, we must be aware of the climate and societal issues. ACT TO IMPACT invites you to act, undertake, and innovate in a creative, ethical, and responsible way. 

What are your long-term ambitions for Ferrieres?    

Until the present, we have presented ourselves as “different”. Now, thanks to our assertive vision, our ambition is to position ourselves as the forerunners of a disruptive and holistic transmission philosophy, thanks to a pedagogical balance that oscillates between technique and positive education.   

In short, a combination of know-how and interpersonal skills are essential today to evolve and innovate in tomorrow’s professional world.