Course description
Programme highlights
-The programme is designed to create future tourism and hospitality industry leaders
-Suitable for those with experience of the service sector
-Develops your knowledge at both strategic and operational levels
-Staged progress to masters degree
The curriculum, without options, has been specifically designed to enable students to receive a balanced programme that considers the management of tourism and hospitality taught by subject specialists at both strategic and local levels.
Further study, research and employment opportunities
The skill"s areas students will develop during the course of the programme include: people management, communication, information and data synthesis, critical analysis, planning and management, research, marketing, and customer service. These skills are built upon and developed through the course structure so that by the time the taught elements of the programme are completed students are well equipped to take on the challenge of a tourism and/or hospitality based dissertation. Students who graduate from the programme would be prepared to further their careers in the public and private service sector environments in a range of positions including: consultant, marketing manager, staff manager, development officer, researcher, or project manager.
Detailed programme structure
You will learn about:
-Specialist contemporary subject areas within tourism and hospitality
-Strategic frameworks for managing hospitality operations, performance indicators and customer care
-Managing people in tourism and hospitality
-Research methods and analysis
-Marketing in tourism and hospitality
-Disaster and crisis management in tourism and hospitality
-An individual research project
Learning and assessment
The MSc programme is structured to be studied full time over one year, but is also available in part-time mode through selection of individual study units called modules. Modules are of universal size (20 credits) with the exception of the dissertation, which is 60 credits. The academic year is divided into three periods. Up to 60 taught credits may be taken in each of Periods 1 and 2; successful completion results in either the award of a Postgraduate Diploma (120 credits) or progression to the MSc degree through an additional 60 dissertation credits taken in the summer semester. Students with more than 60 credits but less than 120 may be offered a Postgraduate Certificate under the university"s Academic Regulations.
In full-time mode the taught components of the PgDip and MSc will be delivered over two periods. Period 1 will start in early October and finish in mid-December. Period 2 will start in early January, finishing in mid March. Provisional results from the first two periods will be available following the June subject panels. Students will be counselled on progress at the end of Period 1 and Period 2.
The MSc research project will take place in Period 3, immediately following period 2, and be completed by mid-September of the following year.
Assessment Philosophy
The pattern of assessment is designed to provide feedback on student"s progress and level of achievement for both the students themselves and the module leaders; in particular:
-to ensure that students achieve the depth and breadth of study appropriate to a postgraduate programme;
-to aid the learning process by providing opportunities for students to test and develop their knowledge and skills as the programme unfolds;
-to increase the student"s enthusiasm for the subjects under study and encourage them to want to learn more; and
-to integrate theory and practice.
Methods of Assessment
A range of assessment methods, including seen and unseen examinations, essays, reports, case-studies, and oral presentations will be used to measure student performance academically and in relation to experiences in the workplace. Details are provided in the module handbooks
