It feels like a luxury restaurant, with starched-uniformed waiters pouring pricy wine and explaining the intricate details of a gourmet menu as diners gaze out at a spectacular mountain view.


But all the servers, the impeccably dressed guests and even the kitchen staff sending out elaborately decorated plates are in fact students at one of Switzerland's famous hotel management schools.
   
"This is part of the student's learning experience," said Stéphane Bernard, a service instructor at the Glion school, overlooking the picturesque town of Montreux on the shores of Lake Geneva.
   
The school is ranked among the top three such establishments in the world, all in Switzerland.
   
For more than a century, hotel management schools in the wealthy Alpine nation have been considered the best and draw students from around the globe.
   
Glion alone has some 100 nationalities attending, with French the biggest group followed by Chinese, Russian and Swiss.
   
But these schools are facing a range of new challenges, with competing, less expensive establishments surfacing in Asia, the Middle East and elsewhere, in step with shifting global travel patterns.
1)Sky-high tuition 
2)Future industry leaders 
3)Job guarantee