IST was founded in 1987. In 1992, the current principal shareholder Hanna Rychener Kistler took over as director, taking the company to new heights. As an advanced tourism college, IST provides a wide range of training and further education, from basic training in the travel industry to the Swiss state-recognised tourism degree. More than 1,000 students attend high-quality, hands-on courses at the institute’s Zurich and Lausanne locations, either on a full-time or extra-occupational basis.
We are delighted that Hanna Rychener Kistler will be remaining on as director of IST within the Vantage Education Group network. According to her, “The Vantage Education Group is the ideal partner to help IST to develop to its full potential, both now and in the future – students, teachers, lecturers and other staff will all be able to benefit from being a part of such a strong education group.”
With IST on board, the Vantage Education Group now has access to the tourism submarket and, with the institute’s Lausanne base, can also move into the Western Swiss market. Marco Martelli, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Vantage Education Group, welcomes the new partnership: “When setting up the Vantage Education Group, our goal was to bring together established and locally successful educational institutes with a view to harnessing the ensuing group-wide synergy potential between the various offerings and guaranteeing high-quality, future-viable training and further education for ambitious people. I am therefore delighted that, with IST, we have been able to secure another successful educational institute for our group.”
