Choosing the right Hotel School

Once you have chosen the career that you want to pursue, the next step is finding a school to study at. It sounds easy but it actually isn’t. There are a lot of schools out there that offer you everything under the sun. You need to do some homework to decide which is the best for you.

Once again, research the school that you are looking at, and make an informed decision.

Questions to ask

Are they a registered education training provider?
Who are they registered with?
Are their courses accredited?
Who are they accredited with?
Is their qualification internationally recognised?
How many countries is it internationally recognised in?
And most importantly what are they offering, a certificate or a diploma?
Do they place students in practicals, or do you have to find your own?

Researching a school will enable you to make the right choice as to whether it is the right school to take you to where you want to go.

Our answers to these questions

To save you some time we thought we would answer these questions for you.

Is IHS registered?

Yes, IHS is registered with the education departments mentioned below…

Who is IHS registered with?

The South African Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) as a Private Higher Education institution and provisionally registered with the Department of Higher Education and Training as a Private FET College. Our programmes are accredited by the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA). Our CATHSSETA and City and Guilds qualifications are also registered with SAQA.

When choosing a place to study, make sure that the institution and its courses are registered with the DHET and you are not wasting your money.

Are IHS courses accredited and if so, by whom?

Yes, they are accredited with the following:

Council for Higher Education (CHE)(for our Higher Education programmes, the 3 year Management programmes)
Our FET programmes are accredited with CATHSSETA and Umalusi.

Is the IHS qualification internationally recognised?

Our American Hotel & Lodging Education Institute (AHLEI) programmes and our City and Guilds programmes are all internationally recognised qualifications.

How many countries are these qualifications recognised in?

The AHLEI qualification is recognised in 54 countries and is taught in over 120 education institutions worldwide. City and Guilds operates in over 100 countries world wide

And most importantly, what is IHS offering you, a certificate or a diploma?

IHS offer a number of programmes. Our Full-Time programmes are all national and/or international diploma programmes. Our traineeships are international diplomas and national diplomas with some certificate courses as part of the overall programme. Our Christina Martin Culinary Arts programmes are national and/or international certificate and diploma programmes. We also offer a number of shorter certificate programmes.

Does IHS place students in practicals, or do you have to find your own?

IHS will place you for your experiental learning practicals. We have a number of leading Hospitality establishments where we place our students.

Click here to download the IHS 2013 Prospectus (14459)

What next?

Why choose The International Hotel School?

Come to an Open Day

Contact us!

What our students say

You asked where my dreams have taken me since I left IHS in 2006, I’ve been working in Cape Town at 5 star hotels, then this year I decided I wanted a change, and overseas was the way to go.

Ever since, I have been working in Spain, France, Ibiza, Croatia, and Italy on private yachts … that’s my career!

Bevin Tyronne De Lange Next

My experience after IHS has been amazing. I started studying hotel management, not interested in the kitchen side of things at all, but by 2nd year I’d changed my whole aspect and studied to be a chef. I started in airline catering (extremely interesting), then went into restaurants, managing and running different establishments. It’s had some tough moments, but then you take a step back and look at what you’ve achieved … with every bad day, there are 10 good days, which motivate you and make you push on!

Tammy Meredith Next

After leaving IHS, I went to Dubai and flew for Emirates. I traveled the world to expose myself to world standards of business and service, staying in 4 and 5* hotels. While I was there, I started Elro Business Furniture. We specialise in business, hospitality and educational furniture. In my spare time I do wedding cakes and cakes for special events! I also do events, and weddings occasionally. I wouldn’t change doing my internship with IHS for anything! It was hard work, but I learnt so much!

Crystal Coetzee Next

I started searching for hotel schools and came across quite a few colleges within the country offering “hotel management” or “chef courses”. The International Hotel School was one of them. We booked for an Open Day and my family and I found it very informative and we were very impressed with the presentation that the college offered. This really opened my mind as to what I want to do. That is going into hotel management, rather than being a chef, as I know that it will open many doors for me in the future. You can go anywhere in the world with this Diploma (Hotel Management) - you can do all these things and MORE! I feel that by doing the Hotel Management course, I can learn all the other subjects in running a hotel or restaurant and still get to “cook”. The International Hotel School far outshines the other hotel schools that we have attended for their open days. This was not only noticed by me, but by my parents as well AND we have heard many good things about the school from various people in the industry.

Greg Gooderham Next