Master in Science International Hotel and Resort Management
Entry requirementsEntry requirements are normally a very good honours degree in hotel, tourism and management (or equivalent) plus a minimum of one year's work experience in the hotel and tourism industry. Entry will also be subject to two satisfactory references (one of these must be an academic reference). Applicants who have limited work experience in the hotel and tourism industry can join the sandwich mode and undertake the Introduction to Work module, which starts in January each year. If English is not your first language you will need to demonstrate that your level of English is appropriate for study at postgraduate level. In addition to the academic entry qualifications, applicants must have British Council IELTS 6.5 overall with a minimum level 6 in reading, speaking, understanding and writing, or an equivalent English language qualification acceptable to the University, such as a TOEFL score of 575 or above (paper-based), or 233 or above (computer-based), or 90 or above (internet-based).
Academic titleMaster in Science International Hotel and Resort Management
Course description MSc
Accredited by the European Foundation for Management Development Accreditation System (EPAS) and by the Institute of Hospitality.
The MSc in International Hotel and Resort Management provides an opportunity for honours graduates in hotel, tourism and management subjects, and with a minimum of one year's relevant work experience, to study at the master's level.
International hotel companies have developed into complex organisations managing a wide spectrum of ancillary services such as conferences, events, extended stay, leisure and sporting activities and time share management. Increasingly global companies like Four Seasons, Marriott, Millennium and Shangri-La describe themselves as international hotel and resort businesses. This well-established MSc programme has been redesigned to reflect contemporary trends, by incorporating ancillary services management into the curriculum, to better prepare our graduates for careers in the hotel and resort industry.
Our aim is to provide you with intellectual and professional development, and to develop your awareness of culture from multiple perspectives. These are essential qualities for effective international hotel and tourism management. You will learn about approaches to management decision making, critical evaluation, reflective practice, and strategic and tactical analysis to solve international business problems in our industry. You can choose to focus on a specific aspect of international hotel and resort management in your studies – for example entrepreneurship, environmental issues, the internet or revenue management – or the management functions of accounting and finance, marketing or human resource management (these subjects include the option of a named award). You can also focus on a specific sector of the industry in some of your modules. Alternatively you can adopt a broader approach to your education and not specialise – the choice is yours.
Hospitality and tourism education at Oxford Brookes University Business School has an excellent international reputation for quality and innovation in learning and teaching. Indeed, leading hospitality and tourism organisations visit the campus to recruit students; and our dedicated careers service and master’s sandwich mode of study provide graduates with accelerated career opportunities.
Course content
The modules build upon your previous learning and work experience to enable you to develop a deeper understanding of the complexity of international hotel and resort management in today’s turbulent tourism environment:
Strategic Management Accounting focuses on the use of financial information for managerial decision making in the international hotel and resort industry. The content includes an exploration of key financial issues, an appraisal of financial techniques and current developments applicable to managerial decision making. In a small group with other international students you will devise a theatre role-play to explain a current financial topic to your fellow students.
International Human Resource Management enables you to assess the international hotel and tourism environment so that you can make judgements about the most appropriate human resource management approaches to adopt in different situations. It also aims to increase your awareness of issues that need to be considered when companies decide to expand beyond their domestic market. You will learn how to develop a human resource strategy that supports your chosen market entry strategy for a hospitality company's expansion into a new country. You will also be introduced to a range of practical approaches for the management of people in contemporary organisations.
Marketing Across Cultures introduces you to the concept of marketing within an international hotel and resort context. It provides you with conceptual frameworks to analyse the strategies of international hotel and resort companies. A key feature of the module is the emphasis on the cultural differences and similarities that international hospitality/resort operators have to understand if they are to develop effective global marketing strategies. Working in groups, you will carry out a non-assessed comparative research exercise into a country and market sector from a hotel/restaurant/resort marketing perspective. Your individual assignment involves a country market analysis and market entry strategy for a British hospitality brand's international expansion programme - and you design your own brand!
Tourism Industry Dynamics and Strategy - this module aims to integrate the knowledge you have gained about the management of hotel and tourism products/services from modules taken in the first semester. The module introduces students to complexity science thinking and the concept that organisations are living complex adaptive and co-evolving systems. In a team you will research the historic and current business context of one sector of the international tourism industry and then individually you will build a case study for one of the leading companies in your sector. Finally, you will make recommendations for future strategy at executive board level. It is now widely recognised that an international manager must be more than operationally driven; indeed today's international manager must also be a strategic thinker in order to achieve the best performance results for an organisation on a worldwide basis. This module helps you to develop the ability to think strategically.
Contemporary Issues in International Hospitality and Tourism Management provides you with the opportunity to develop a research specialism in climate change, entrepreneurship, environmental issues, finance, human resources, marketing, or the internet as applied to the international hospitality and resort sector, or you can choose another contemporary topic from a wide choice of options. In this module you will research a contemporary thematic area, critically analyse the literature and theory, and write an article suitable for publication in an academic journal. In undertaking this module you will work on your own with the support of an expert tutor.
One elective You can choose one elective from a choice of hospitality, tourism or business modules including Destination and Event Development, Interactive Skills in a Cross-Cultural Context, or Internet Strategies for Tourism Distribution. Other electives may also be available.
Research Methods and Dissertation provides you with an introduction to research methods so that you are aware of the approaches, methodologies and resources available for your dissertation. The module enables you to design a research project that will ensure that you generate the information required to write the dissertation. You will develop the ability to critically review literature, to identify the gaps in knowledge and develop relevant research skills to facilitate data collection, analysis, interpretation, presentation and writing. The 20,000-word dissertation provides you with the opportunity to demonstrate what you have learned and what you can do, and shows whether you have the ability to work independently. You choose the management topic which you wish to study - this can be the same topic as your Contemporary Issues module or a different subject area.
The sandwich mode comprises one year of full-time MSc taught study and one year of full-time, supervised work experience. You have two options:
* You can join the programme in January and take the Introduction to Work module. This provides 24 weeks of supervised work experience at an operative level in Oxford before starting the MSc taught component in September. You would then complete your year's work experience by taking the Manager in Development module after finishing the taught part of the programme.
* You can take all of your work experience after studying on the MSc taught component. The sandwich mode of study provides paid, supervised work experience to support your academic studies with a suitable international hospitality and tourism employer, and you carry out an assessed project for the company.
To find out more about this course, please visit the Business School's website.
* for information about the part-time mode, see part-time PDF
* for information about the sandwich mode, see sandwich PDF.
Teaching, learning and assessment
The “Oxford Brookes innovative learning experience” on this MSc includes theatre role-plays in Strategic Management Accounting; creativity in hotel and resort brand design in Marketing Across Cultures; strong links between the Marketing Across Cultures and International Human Resource Management modules; building your own live-case study on a hospitality or tourism company in Tourism Industry Dynamics and Strategy; and researching/writing an academic journal article in the Contemporary Issues module. Tutors involved in the programme are internationally renowned for their research and consultancy activities, and their excellent links with the hotel and tourism industry. They bring this expertise into the classroom to inform you of contemporary developments taking place in hospitality. Learning and teaching is very much student-centred, participative and interactive. You will take part in workshops, seminars, lectures, theatre role-plays, case study analysis and one-to-one tutorials.
The full-time mode involves approximately 15 hours of staff contact time per week, but in addition there is a significant amount of independent and group study time. You will therefore be expected to take a great deal of responsibility for your own learning and to manage your time effectively. Assessment is based predominantly on individual coursework and the dissertation.
Quality
The reputation of the Business School is underpinned through membership of and programme accreditations received from the Association of MBAs, the Association of Business Schools, and professional associations such as the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, and the European Foundation for Management Development. The Business School is, therefore, widely regarded as one of the best within its peer group.
The Business School’s programmes benefit from rigorous quality assurance procedures and regularly receive excellent feedback from external examiners, employers, students and professional bodies. In 2005 Business and Management achieved ‘Broad Confidence’, the best possible result, in the discipline audit trail as part of the Quality Assurance Agency Institutional Audit.
Many students who graduate from Business School programmes go on to achieve high status in the industry of their choice.
Our research interests focus on the hospitality and tourism industry and we were recognised in the most recent research assessment exercise (RAE) as ’one of the leading hospitality research groups in the UK‘. Our hospitality and tourism research areas include:
* consumer satisfaction
* education, careers and development
* environmental management and food studies
* entrepreneurship and small business management
* internationalisation and branding
* performance measurement and financial management decision
All our lecturers have considerable industry experience and are active consultants/researchers. We publish our research in generic, hospitality and tourism academic journals and we author specialist marketing textbooks. We enjoy supervising PhD students, many of whom were students on this master’s programme before embarking on their own academic career.