Legitimising an unusual choice abroad for privileged students: Swiss hospitality management schools as ‘refuge schools’

Abstract

This article aims to bring back into circulation Bourdieu’s concept of ‘refuge school’ to analyse transnational migration for higher education, of privileged students who cannot access the most academically selective institutions. Through the case study of Swiss Hospitality Management Schools (SHMS), I investigate the discursive strategy co-produced by individuals and these institutions to valorise an ‘unusual’ educational choice abroad. Interviews with staff, alumni and students reveal how SHMS are able to appear prestigious by marketing themselves as the best in their area, unique and elitist. I stress that students’ discourses of legitimisation differ according to their home country, which reflects the national hierarchies at play in the field of international higher education. While ‘western’ students emphasise their personality and emotional intelligence as a perfect fit with the hospitality industry to explain their choice, students from Asia present it as a strategy that affords them a second chance at success.