BA (Hons) International Hospitality Management

Course details On this course you will usually be taught by a range of staff with relevant expertise and knowledge appropriate to the content of the unit. This will include senior academic staff, qualified professional practitioners, demonstrators, technicians and research students. You will also benefit from regular guest lectures from industry. Previous guest lectures have included David Elton, Director of Limewood Group, Bernadette Gilligan, General Manager for Hilton Worldwide and Matthew Dixon, Senior Director Comercial for Corinthia Hotels International. Year 1 Core units Food Studies: Public health is important to governments and consumers in all countries. This unit will develop your management skills to help you share an informed and responsible attitude to food safety. You'll also learn about the relationship between food and health and how this affects the public's perception of food and health. Global Hospitality: Learn about global competitive environment of the hospitality industry. You'll gain a balanced understanding through an analysis of both operators and markets. There's a particular focus on global issues affecting the hotel and food industry including sustainability and food distribution. Hospitality Principles: Develop an awareness of the purchase and production issues within hospitality organisations. You'll gain technical skills which help inform all the other units on the course. Financial Reporting: Hospitality managers must have an understanding of accounting concepts to control of their company's resources. Gain skills in accountancy and analysis to prepare you for financial and management accounting demands, and in performance analysis and decision-making for Years 2 and 4 of the course. Hospitality Operations: Building on what you learnt in Hospitality Principles, this unit combines practical learning with lectures, seminars and research exercises, which will develop your understanding of the operational principles in food and beverage environments. Marketing for Hospitality: Marketing theories and processes in service industries, which will give you a framework in which to place the other marketing, management and industry-specific units on this course. You'll learn to apply service marketing concepts to hospitality environments. Year 2 In your second year, you'll have more opportunities to shape your own learning. Core units Food & Beverage Management: Adopting operative and supervisory roles in the Front and Back of House departments. You'll make decisions to replicate best business practice and gain confidence which will help you on your industrial work placement in year three. Hospitality Resources & Revenue Management: In an increasingly technological world, where a lot of business is done electronically, it's vital to have a basic understanding e-commerce and how this works in the hospitality industry. In this unit, you'll analyse facilities management theories and apply them to hotel, catering and hospitality management. Personal & Professional Development: An introduction to the concept of self-marketing, the HR framework governing business operations, performance management and the issues linked to the international market. You'll also hear from a range industry speakers from local, national and international companies. Consumer Experience & Behaviour: Compare alternative models of consumer behaviour and apply them to the food and hospitality industry. You'll gain a critical understanding of the individual and social processes that influence human behaviour, and learn what this means for the industry. Investigating Hospitality: This unit will give you a good grounding for problem-solving. You'll learn to use research methods that will help you prepare and interpret data for business and research projects, giving you a sound basis for decision-taking. Management Decision Making: Gain the skills and knowledge you'll need to identify best practice for hospitality operations, and gather financial and non-financial management information which will help you make business decisions. You'll learn to understand the complex relationships between people and developing businesses. Year 3 Placement: A minimum of 30-weeks supervised work placement in the UK or overseas which gives you the opportunity to turn theory into practice in a business environment. Year 4 Core units Your final year pulls together what you learned from Years One and Two and your placement, and allowing you to fully appreciate micro and macro management. There's a focus on student-centred learning. There will be much less group work at this stage, with your individual performance becoming more important as you take on a greater level of responsibility. Dissertation: A piece of independent work that involves collecting, interpreting and analysing data. You'll share your key findings through a sustained and balanced argument. The dissertation will develop your analytical and problem solving skills. You'll develop a critical attitude to research methods, and the ethical issues associated with researching. Leadership in Hospitality: Develop your confidence in reviewing hospitality organisations. Learn to understand and explain strategic and tactical decisions and developments. As you develop your knowledge you'll reference national and international hospitality examples. Global Hospitality & Tourism Issues: Gain an understanding of the management issues affecting the global hospitality and tourism industries. You'll test your ideas against the evidence from informed sources. You'll be expected to analyse modern hospitality issues and reflect on the impact these will have on businesses and your own management career. Consultancy Project (or choose one additional unit): Research a business problem, identify solutions and make proposals to satisfy a corporate client’s needs. You'll work in a team and support group needs, and take a leadership role if it's appropriate. Option units (choose two) Customers, Marketing Communications & Social media: Develop your appreciation of marketing communications and how they influence consumer and corporate purchases. You'll analyse integrated communication plans for selling hospitality and tourism products in an international market, and evaluative the effectiveness of various marketing communication plans. e-Business: You'll analyse and evaluate the implications of changing information communication technology, in terms of how this might affect or has already affected the service sector. You'll explore the opportunities and threats technology presents to consumers, businesses and public sector organisations. Fashion Marketing: The fashion industry is present in all areas of the service sector. You'll get the opportunity to explore how fashion can be used, through marketing, in this sector to appeal to fashion-conscious consumers. You should consider choosing this unit if you'd like a career involving fashion. Languages: Language skills for social and professional contact at home and overseas. It builds on your previous learning by introducing you to a range of occupational situations and strategies for effective business communication. Marketing & Corporate Communications: Learn how to identify and manage marketing communications issues in business environments, with an emphasis on service sector issues. Professionalism & Leadership: Improve your professionalism through personal reflection, group feedback and experiential learning. Analyse your leadership and management skills in situations you might encounter, and identify opportunities in large companies and training schemes. Small Business Management: Learn about the role of small businesses in the economy, along with their aims, strengths and weaknesses. You'll develop enterprise awareness and an entrepreneurial mindset, which will help you assess business opportunities. Conference & Events Management: The conference and events sectors are a big part of the hospitality, leisure and tourism industries, and vital to the country’s economy. This unit will develop your understanding of the economic and operational challenges facing these industries, and important issues in day-to-day management of events and conferences. Digital Marketing: This unit will provide you with practical and theoretical knowledge for using and evaluating digital marketing. You'll develop a sound understanding of digital marketing principles. Financial Management: An opportunity to study financial management, building on your earlier studies in finance and accounting. You'll develop an appreciation for how organisations make financial decisions within the context of corporate strategy, and an understanding of financial management roles in organisations. Food, Culture & Travel: Explore the complex relationships between food and culture in an international context. Look at food and culture from commercial tourism and hospitality and social and domestic perspectives. Analyse the socio-cultural, environmental, health, economic and political issues of food, and debate a range of topics. Leisure, Tourism, Events & Climate Change: There's a two-way relationship between leisure, tourism, events and climate change. Leisure and tourism is weather dependent, and the industry has to adapt to the climate change while making a significant contribution to greenhouse gas emissions. This unit will explore these relationships, how the industry adapts to climate change and how it can reduce its contribution. Please note that option units require minimum numbers in order to run and may only be available on a semester by semester basis. They may also change from year to year. Scheduled learning and teaching activities The emphasis of this course is in guided independent learning, which helps you develop into a self-motivated learner. When not attending lectures and seminars, you will be expected to read around the subject. Your typical week’s activities will include reading books and journal articles, working on group projects, preparing presentations, conducting library research and writing your assignments. The hours below give an indication of how you can expect to spend your time during each year of this course. Year 1 – 26% of your time will be spent in timetabled learning & teaching activities Learning and teaching: 293 hours Independent learning: 907 hours Non-assessed learning and teaching: 33 hours Year 2 – 22% of your time will be spent in timetabled learning & teaching activities Learning and teaching: 258 hours Independent learning: 942 hours Non-assessed learning and teaching: 13 hours Year 3 (placement year) Year 4 - 16% of your time will be spent in timetabled learning & teaching activities Learning and teaching: 194 hours Independent learning: 1006 hours Non-assessed learning and teaching: 13 hour 63% of the course is assessed by coursework Year 1: 75% Year 2: 85% Year 3: 0% (placement year) Year 4: 90% Throughout the course you will be assessed by coursework culminating in your final year research project, but you will also undertake group work and written exams. Programme specifications Programme specifications provide definitive records of the University's taught degrees in line with Quality Assurance Agency requirements. Every taught course leading to a BU Award has a programme specification which describes its aims, structure, content and learning outcomes, plus the teaching, learning and assessment methods used. Download the programme specification for BA (Hons) International Hospitality Management. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the programme specification, the information is liable to change to take advantage of exciting new approaches to teaching and learning as well as developments in industry. If you have been unable to locate the programme specification for the course you are interested in, it will be available as soon as the latest version is ready. Alternatively please contact us for assistance. 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