The following compulsory modules enable you to develop a deep understanding of the complexity of international hospitality, events and tourism management.
Please see the following course structure charts:
Hospitality, Tourism and Events Synthesis: You will be given an overview of the context, frameworks, concepts, theories and issues in the tourism, events and hospitality industries. You will learn to analyse and evaluate complex tourism, events and hospitality situations.
Tourist Consumer Behaviour and Marketing: You will explore the theoretical frameworks which underpin patterns of consumer demand. Effective and creative marketing is based on sound analysis and is relevant to the complete range of hospitality, events and tourism sectors. You will be taught models and concepts drawn from mainstream marketing, tourism marketing and the social sciences, so that you develop a comprehensive understanding of tourist consumer behaviour and the tourist decision-making process.
Hospitality Operations Management: You will be introduced to hospitality operations within an international context. Drawing on relevant management principles, you will develop an understanding of financial, human resource and marketing management knowledge at the unit level, which underpins the successful management of hospitality, events and tourism companies. You will take part in a computer based hotel business simulation assignment.
Strategic Financial Management: You will focus on the use of financial information for managerial decision making in the international hotel, events and tourism industries. You will study the key financial issues impacting on managerial decision-making in planning for profit and managing assets. You will explore the financial implications of current developments affecting the management of hotels, events and tourism businesses.
Research Methods: You will be introduced to approaches, methodologies and resources available to improve your researching capabilities. You will design the methodology for a research project that helps you understand how to collect and analyse the data required when writing your dissertation or client project.
Mentoring and Leadership Development: You will develop an in-depth understanding of leadership theory and practice. Your understanding of leadership theory will develop by engaging with contemporary debates on leadership in the hospitality, events and tourism industries, with a particular focus on ethical leadership. You will develop your professional competences and understanding of leadership practice through participation in the school’s Bacchus Mentoring Programme. This programme gives you one-to-one support from a mentor from the international hospitality, events or tourism industry.
Students can choose either a dissertation or a client project
Dissertation: This is an opportunity for you to investigate a topic in depth from multiple perspectives, working independently and supervised by a specialist tutor. You choose the hospitality, events or tourism management topic which you wish to study.
Writing the dissertation, will develop your ability to critically review literature, identify the gaps in current knowledge and practise relevant research skills to facilitate data collection, analysis, interpretation and presentation.
Client Project: You have the opportunity to link theory to practice by analysing a real organisational issue. Having identified a project (with the approval of both the client company and the Module Leader) you investigate a particular issue, one that can be supported through the relevant literature and by conducting primary research with the client. This module is not an internship but can be taken in conjunction with an internship you have identified and are participating in. The 'issue' in question may be a current management problem for the client organisation or related to future strategic choices. The Client Project provides you with a significant learning and personal development experience.
Elective modules
You can choose one elective module from the following:
Tourism Digital Distribution Strategies: The main aim of this module is to enable you to critically evaluate current and emerging developments in electronic distribution systems. You will explore the impact of global distribution systems and social media from both a consumer and an organisational perspective.
Events: In this module you will explore the complex relationships between events, groups and individuals drawing from the concepts and methods in various social sciences. The module focuses on three themes: 1) the social and cultural contexts in which events take place; 2) the various stakeholders who affect and are affected by events; and 3) the social, cultural, environmental, economic and political impacts of events for states, regions, organisations, groups and individuals.
Intercultural Leadership: This module aims to enable you to develop your intercultural management and leadership competences for the international hospitality, events and tourism industries. You will learn how to manage your own development - taking part in cross-cultural experiential activities, reflecting on those activities, developing theoretical understanding, and planning for future actions as an industry leader.
Revenue Management: This module introduces you to key concepts within Revenue Management such as capacity management, dynamic pricing and creative product development. To fully understand how to apply revenue management within hospitality and tourism businesses, you need to be aware of elements which influence customer purchase decisions and to evaluate the complex relationship between price, cost, volume and profit. Other electives may also be available.
Tourism Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Tourism innovation and entrepreneurship are fundamental to the development of tourism products and services that contribute to sustainable local, regional and national development strategies. You will consider the process of innovation, including the role of key tourism stakeholders such as government, the private sector, NGOs and local communities.
If you decide to take the sandwich mode your year of full-time taught study will be followed by one year of full-time, supervised work experience. The time on supervised work experience is paid and spent with a suitable international hospitality and tourism employer. You carry out an assessed project for the company as part of your academic studies on the placement.
As our courses are reviewed regularly as part of our quality assurance framework, course content and module choices may vary from those listed in the course entry.
Field trips
Each year, there is a series of field trips to events such as the World Travel Market and visits to destinations, attractions, hotels, museums and the corporate office of a leading international hotel company.
Field trips are optional and are paid for by the student.
We offer an International Business in Practice Study Trip module. The purpose of this study trip is to give postgraduate students a hands-on, intensive experience with the ideas and practices of global business. The programme will include presentations from local management executives and experts. Students will have direct interaction with management executives and practices through site visits to major corporations and agencies.
This study trip is voluntary and all costs associated with the trip will need to be funded by you. It is not linked to university assessments in any way. If you successfully complete this module you will have the following non-credit bearing module recorded on your transcript: P58335 International Business in Practice: Study Trip.
Whilst the destination and therefore precise costs vary from year to year, as an example, the programme fee of the study trip to Boston USA in July 2019 was £1580, which included 7 nights’ accommodation in the Boston area, insurance, the company visits (e.g. Facebook, Dunkin Brands, Trip Advisor, Microsoft, Bank of America), group transportation for all activities and some of the meals, but excluded for example International airfare, Visa application fee (if relevant), dinners and activities during your free time.
We also run a study trip to Chengdu, China.
If you choose the study trip, you will be provided with additional details regarding the trip (which runs in July) by March, in order to inform decision making, ahead of the trip in July.
Teaching and learning
The innovative learning experience on this course is very much student-centred and interactive. You will take part in multicultural group work, case studies, workshops, seminars, lectures, events and one-to-one tutorials. Alumni and senior industry professionals contribute to the programme through guest lectures. You will have the opportunity to be personally mentored by an industry leader.
The tutors are internationally renowned for their research and consultancy activities, and their excellent links with hotel, tourism and events industries. They bring commercial expertise into the classroom to inform you of contemporary developments taking place in hospitality and tourism industries.
Approach to assessment
Assessment is based predominantly on individual coursework and the dissertation. There is an examination in the Strategic Financial Management module.
Specialist facilities
Oxford Brookes Business School has now moved to its new home at our Headington Campus. The university’s Headington Campus have undergone a £30m refurbishment to provide a new home for the Business School, which consists of a lecture theatre, teaching rooms, social learning space and a café. There is a new modern hall for teaching and special events like graduation.
This new home will help us to collaborate even more closely with university colleagues in other departments. It also provides a new Main Hall and a vibrant gateway into the Headington Campus. With these innovative spaces, students and staff can interact and collaborate in first-class facilities.
The Headington Campus is also home to the new John Henry Brookes Building, being the most significant project in the history of Oxford Brookes University. Set at the heart of our Headington campus, it has been designed for the future of higher education and has transformed the experiences of our students and the entire University community. The John Henry Brookes Building brings together the library and essential support services that offer academic, careers and international student advice. Find out more about the John Henry Brookes Building.
The majority of our student halls are close to the Headington Campus.
Field trips
Each year, there is a series of field trips to events such as the World Travel Market and visits to destinations, attractions, hotels, museums and the corporate office of a leading international hotel company.
Field trips are optional and are paid for by the student.
Attendance pattern
The
full-time mode involves approximately 15 hours of 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.
Programme changes
On rare occasions we may need to make changes to our course programmes after they have been published
on the website. For more information, please visit our
Changes to programmes
page.