USC school achieves top 10 ranking

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The University of South Carolina’s School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management is now ranked among the top 10 hospitality schools in the country.

The school is ranked No. 7 in the U.S. in the ShanghaiRanking’s 2019 Global Ranking of Academic Subjects hospitality and tourism management category. The rankings, which rate more than 1,700 universities from 86 counties and regions in 54 subjects, list the school 15th in the world in that category.

“Our graduating students are ready to hit the ground running and make an immediate impact,” Drew Martin, director of USC’s School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management, said in a news release. “Our goal is to create the best applied learning experience possible. The HRTM educational experience is like an apprenticeship that requires focus and passion. If you want to be ready for a tourism or hospitality management position after graduation, we are waiting for you.”’

The school, part of South Carolina’s College of Hospitality, Retail and Sport Management, offers bachelor’s, master’s and Ph.D. programs with specialized areas of concentration. Its emphasis on hands-on learning includes a student-run restaurant and the new J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation Culinary Laboratory, set to open later this year.

“It’s always exciting to know the next generation of hospitality leaders is getting a world-class education right here in the Palmetto State,” said Duane Parrish, director of the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation & Tourism. “Our industry only grows stronger when the workforce is energized, creative and solutions-oriented, and that’s what UofSC’s hospitality and tourism management program cultivates.”

A September 2018 study by Parrish’s department found that tourism is a $684.6 million industry in Richland County alone, where it supports 6,900 jobs.