While EHL is globally recognised for hospitality education, its graduates pursue a wide range of postgraduate opportunities that extend well beyond hotel management.
These pathways span specialised master’s degrees, general management programmes, elite MBAs, and, later in many careers, executive education at institutions such as Harvard Business School.
What makes this breadth possible is EHL’s positioning as a business school with a strong applied foundation, reinforced by its AACSB accreditation. This status plays a critical role in how EHL degrees are perceived by other top academic institutions worldwide.
Why AACSB Accreditation Changes the Equation
Before looking at the specific master’s and MBA pathways available after EHL, it helps to understand why EHL degrees travel so well academically.
One of the main reasons is accreditation. AACSB accreditation places EHL within a globally recognised group of business schools that meet rigorous standards in curriculum design, faculty quality, learning outcomes, and academic governance.
This matters not in abstract terms, but in how EHL qualifications are read and evaluated by other institutions. In practical terms:
Admissions committees recognise EHL as a business school, not a narrow vocational institution.
Credits, coursework, and academic rigour translate cleanly into other top-tier business programmes.
Career-switching master’s degrees and MBAs become realistic, even outside hospitality. For EHL graduates, AACSB functions as a clear academic signal.
It indicates that their undergraduate or graduate training is comparable to that of leading management schools worldwide, which is especially important when applying to MiM, MSc, or MBA programmes that are not hospitality-specific.
Postgraduate Routes After EHL
Once students leave EHL, academic progression tends to follow clear and well-established patterns rather than a single prescribed route. Outcomes vary based on career intent, appetite for specialisation, and how quickly graduates want to move into senior or non-operational roles.
Some choose to continue studying immediately, while others return to academia after gaining professional experience that sharpens their direction. Viewed over time, these choices consistently cluster into three main postgraduate trajectories.
Each reflects a different way of building on EHL’s business and hospitality foundation, whether by deepening sector expertise, broadening management capability, or accelerating long-term leadership potential.
Hospitality-Focused Master’s Degrees
Some graduates choose to deepen their expertise within hospitality while moving into more strategic or global roles. Common choices include:
- EHL’s own Master in Hospitality Management or Master in Global Hospitality Business
- International hospitality-focused MSc programmes, particularly those with strong industry and real estate exposure
These programmes are most popular among students aiming for:
- Senior operational leadership in hotels, resorts, and F&B groups
- Hospitality consulting
- Development and expansion roles within global hotel brands
- Hospitality-focused real estate and asset management
Because EHL already provides strong operational grounding, these master’s programmes typically emphasise strategy, finance, leadership, and global management rather than repeating entry-level hospitality training.
General Business, Management, and Specialised MSc Programmes
Not all EHL graduates see their future strictly within hospitality. For many, the undergraduate experience acts as a springboard into broader business disciplines, particularly once they have gained clarity on the type of roles and industries they want to access. This is where general management and specialised MSc programmes come into play.
These degrees allow graduates to translate EHL’s applied business training into more technical or strategically focused academic environments, whether that means building deeper financial expertise, moving into consulting, or developing analytical capabilities that extend beyond operations
Consequently, this route is especially common among graduates looking to reposition themselves within the wider business world while retaining the service-led perspective developed at EHL.
Master in Management (MiM) and MSc in Management
Master in Management and MSc Management programmes are a natural next step for EHL graduates who want to broaden their academic profile while keeping a strong business focus.
These degrees are designed to develop generalist managers with a solid grounding in strategy, economics, and organisational decision-making, making them particularly attractive to graduates aiming to move beyond operational roles.
They are most commonly chosen by those who want to:
- Move into consulting, strategy, or corporate roles
- Broaden their business exposure beyond hospitality
- Position themselves for leadership roles in service-driven or consumer-facing industries
MiM and MSc Management degrees build on EHL’s strengths in operations, leadership, and applied business while adding heavier exposure to economics, strategy, analytics, and corporate finance.
Specialised MSc Programmes
Some EHL graduates prefer a more targeted academic route that develops deep technical or sector-specific expertise.
Specialised MSc programmes allow students to focus on a particular discipline while leveraging the commercial and operational foundation developed during their time at EHL. Common examples include:
- MSc Finance
- MSc Real Estate
- MSc Marketing or Digital Strategy
- MSc Business Analytics or Data
These programmes are particularly common among graduates moving into:
- Hotel investment and asset management
- Private equity or real estate funds with hospitality exposure
- Luxury brand strategy and commercial roles
- Data-driven roles within travel, retail, or consumer businesses
EHL’s applied projects, internships, and exposure to P&L responsibility often strengthen applications to these more technical degrees.
The MBA Route (Typically Mid-Career)
For many EHL graduates, the MBA is not an immediate next step but a strategic decision made later in their careers. Rather than moving straight into another academic programme, these graduates use their early professional years to build operational credibility, leadership experience, and sector expertise before returning to formal study.
This route is particularly common among those who want the MBA to function as a true inflection point rather than an incremental qualification. A typical progression looks like this:
- Graduate from EHL
- Work for 3–6 years in hospitality, consulting, real estate, or luxury
- Apply to a top-tier MBA
EHL alumni are represented across leading MBA programmes worldwide, including:
- INSEAD
- HEC Paris
- London Business School
- Cornell University, especially programmes with strong hospitality and real estate links
For these candidates, the MBA often acts as a career accelerator or pivot. It creates opportunities to move into roles such as:
- Management consulting
- Senior corporate leadership
- Hospitality real estate and investment platforms
- Entrepreneurship and growth-stage ventures
Here again, AACSB accreditation plays an important supporting role. It ensures EHL is recognised as a credible academic foundation when alumni apply to elite MBA programmes, particularly those outside the hospitality domain.
Elite Executive Education After EHL: The Harvard Path
References to Harvard in the context of hospitality careers often point toward executive-level study rather than a traditional master’s degree.
Harvard Business School does not offer a standalone master’s in hospitality. Instead, EHL graduates most commonly engage with Harvard through executive education programmes designed for experienced professionals and senior leaders. These programmes focus on:
- General management and leadership
- Strategy and competitive positioning
- Organisational design and decision-making
- Managing service-driven and customer-centric organisations
They are:
- Non-degree and short-format, ranging from several days to several weeks
- Case-based, often drawing heavily on hospitality, luxury, and service-sector examples
- Selective, typically requiring meaningful professional experience
For EHL alumni, Harvard executive education sits naturally after years of leadership responsibility, ownership exposure, or regional management roles.
How the Progression Works
The EHL-to-Harvard pathway is best understood as a stacked academic journey, rather than a direct or linear degree ladder. It reflects how academic development often unfolds over a long professional horizon, with different institutions serving different purposes at different stages of a career.
Instead of moving immediately from one degree to the next, this progression builds incrementally. Each stage adds a distinct layer of capability, shifting from foundational business skills to senior-level strategic perspective.
A common progression looks like this:
- An EHL degree builds foundational business, operational, and leadership skills
- Professional experience deepens strategic responsibility and organisational scope
- Harvard executive education refines thinking at an executive or board-level stage
This route tends to appeal to EHL graduates whose careers have expanded beyond day-to-day operations and into roles with broader commercial, financial, or governance responsibility. It is particularly common among those who move into:
- Multi-property or regional leadership roles
- Ownership, development, or asset management positions
- Advisory, board, or investment-facing roles
Rather than replacing an MBA or a master’s degree, Harvard executive education functions as a complement to earlier academic training. It adds an elite strategic lens at a point when experience allows participants to engage with complex, high-level decision-making in a meaningful way.
How EHL’s Academic Profile Translates Across Disciplines
One of the reasons EHL graduates succeed academically after graduation is the transferability of the skill set they develop. Our programmes emphasise:
- Applied management and decision-making
- Financial literacy and operational metrics
- Leadership in complex, people-driven environments
- Client-facing professionalism and communication
These attributes map well onto postgraduate study in management, finance, and strategy. When paired with internships and real-world projects, they help explain why EHL alumni are competitive applicants even in non-hospitality master’s programmes.
Choosing the Right Path After EHL
The most appropriate next step depends largely on long-term career intent, the type of roles a graduate is aiming for, and how quickly they want to move away from operational work into strategic or leadership positions.
When viewed at a high level, different ambitions tend to align with different postgraduate pathways:
- Hospitality leadership or development often leads toward a hospitality-focused MSc, followed later by an MBA for broader strategic exposure
- Consulting, general management, or strategy typically aligns with a MiM or MSc
- Management, sometimes followed by an MBA as responsibilities increase
- Finance, real estate, or investment roles are commonly supported by a specialised MSc, with an MBA used later for senior progression
- Luxury and brand roles frequently combine a MiM or MSc Luxury Management with relevant industry exposure or electives
Some graduates choose to continue studying immediately, while others prioritise building professional experience before returning to academia. Both approaches are well established among EHL alumni and can be equally effective when aligned with clear career goals.
The Bigger Picture
EHL provides a strong business-school foundation that feeds into a wide range of postgraduate opportunities.
Thanks to its AACSB accreditation, international reputation, and applied curriculum, EHL graduates are well positioned to pursue master’s degrees and MBAs across hospitality, business, finance, and beyond.
