The Institut Paul Bocuse is a higher international hotel school created in 1990 as the brainchild of two entrepreneurs who launched and modelled the school and who continue to accompany the Institute throughout its continued success:
Paul Bocuse, Honorary President and Gérard Pélisson, President of the Institute and co-founder of the Groupe Accor.
The school’s vocation is to transmit such values and skills as are specific to the hotel and restaurant industries.

The I.A.E. (Business Administration Institute) of University Lyon 3 and the Institut Paul Bocuse have united their academic and professional experience in the framework of a unique pedagogical partnership in order to offer two high-quality programs in hotel management and the culinary arts. These two courses afford students certification by the Institut Paul Bocuse as well as internationally recognised university certification in the form of either the professional Degree or the Masters in Science of Management (M.Sc.)

In the prestigious setting of a 19th century castle on the rural outskirts of Lyon, gastronomic capital of the world, the Institut Paul Bocuse welcomes yearly 300 students from more than 35 nations.
Since January 2003, the Institute has assured the direct management of the Hôtel Le Royal****, the first Hotel-School in Europe, where the hotel management students are placed in a real context under the charge of industry professionals.
 Le Royal 

In 2005, the Institut Paul Bocuse developed a partnership with 10 universities in the United States, Peru, 2 in Brazil, Canada, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Greece and Finland: The Institut Paul Bocuse Worldwide Alliance. Each university selects its best students to follow a specific four month programme at the Institute. Lessons in cuisine, restaurant and catering management complete their initial training. 

In automn 2008, the world’s premiere research centre will begin its analysis of alimentary behaviours and their relation to taste, health and the economy.