Bachelor of Arts in Culinary Arts and Patisserie · 3 years
A pastry arts degree with patisserie in the title
180 ECTS, taught in English in Switzerland, awarded jointly with Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen — and built around three six-month paid internships.
The rare part
Most pastry training stops below this
Pastry is usually taught to certificate or diploma level, or folded into a general culinary degree as a module or two. A bachelor-level qualification dedicated to patisserie and taught entirely in English is offered by only a small number of institutions worldwide.
What is distinctive here is the combination rather than any one part: a patisserie-specialised bachelor, in Switzerland, in English, with a second degree from a UK university — and three paid placements written into the structure rather than arranged around it.
Structure
Three years, six semesters, three payslips
Every taught semester is followed by a six-month paid internship. You collect a full qualification at the end of each of the first two years.
| Semester | What happens | What you come out with |
|---|---|---|
| Semester 1 | Taught in Lucerne — 330 kitchen hours across pastry, bakery and chocolate labs | Year 1 → Diploma in Pastry, Chocolate and Bakery |
| Semester 2 | Six-month paid internship, Switzerland or worldwide | Employer-assessed |
| Semester 3 | Taught in Lucerne — 300 kitchen hours: entremets, pralines, plated desserts, showpieces | Year 2 → Higher Diploma in Pastry, Chocolate and Bakery |
| Semester 4 | Six-month paid internship | Employer-assessed |
| Semester 5 | Taught in Lucerne — academic only: design, innovation, product development, management | Year 3 |
| Semester 6 | Six-month paid internship | Graduation → Bachelor of Arts in Culinary Arts and Patisserie |
180 ECTS / 360 UK credits in total. Note that the BHMS URL for this programme still reads "bachelor-of-arts-in-pastry-chocolate-and-bakery" — the awarded title is Bachelor of Arts in Culinary Arts and Patisserie.
Semester 5 · academic
The year you learn to run it
Year 3 is where the craft turns into a product, a costing and a business. No kitchen hours are published for this semester — it is academic, then a final six-month internship.
Patisserie Design and Innovation
Managing Culinary Resources
Creativity & Entrepreneurship
Food Service Management
New Food Product Development
Academic Writing & RGU Standards Workshop
Career Development and Professional Integration
German Communications (optional, transfer students)
Fees
CHF 123'600 over three years
| Year 1 — Diploma | CHF 40'200 |
|---|---|
| Year 2 — Higher Diploma | CHF 41'200 |
| Year 3 — BA | CHF 42'200 |
| Three-year total | CHF 123'600 |
Offset by ≈ CHF 43'000 gross across the three paid internships
Each annual figure is all-inclusive and published by BHMS; the three-year total is their sum, not a separately published number. Internship earnings are calculated at the CHF 2'404/month gross Swiss minimum and are before deductions.
Full fee breakdown
Questions
Straight answers
Is this a pastry arts degree?
Yes. It is a three-year Bachelor of Arts in Culinary Arts and Patisserie in which pastry, chocolate and bakery are the whole programme, not one module: Year 1 ends with the Diploma in Pastry, Chocolate and Bakery, Year 2 with the Higher Diploma, Year 3 with the BA, awarded jointly with Robert Gordon University (UK). 180 ECTS in total.
How rare is a bachelor’s degree specialised in patisserie?
Rare, but not unique — and it is worth being precise. A bachelor-level qualification dedicated to pastry and baking arts, taught entirely in English, is offered by only a small number of institutions worldwide; confirmed comparators include École Ducasse in Paris and ISTHIA’s Bachelor of Pastry Arts, whose final year is taught in English in Kuala Lumpur. What is distinctive here is the combination: a patisserie-specialised bachelor, in Switzerland, in English, with three six-month paid internships built into the structure.
What exactly do I graduate with?
A Bachelor of Arts in Culinary Arts and Patisserie — a dual award from BHMS and Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen (UK), totalling 180 ECTS / 360 UK credits over three years.
Is Year 3 in the kitchen?
Semester 5 is academic only — patisserie design and innovation, new food product development, managing culinary resources, food service management, creativity and entrepreneurship, plus the academic writing workshop to RGU standards. The kitchen hours sit in Years 1 and 2; Semester 6 is your third six-month paid internship.
What does the whole degree cost?
Year 1 is CHF 40'200, Year 2 CHF 41'200, Year 3 CHF 42'200 — CHF 123'600 in total, on an all-inclusive basis. That three-year figure is the sum of the three published annual fees, not a separately published headline number. Set against it: roughly CHF 43'000 gross across the three internships at the 2027 Swiss minimum.
Watch
See it for yourself
Next step
Three intakes a year. One decision that pays you back.
Next intakes: November 2026 · February 2027 · August 2027 · Lucerne, Switzerland
Every programme year pairs a taught semester with a six-month paid internship — CHF 2'404/month gross minimum in Switzerland under the national hospitality labour agreement. How the internship model works