BA (Hons) International Hospitality Management

UCAS code: N226

Start date: September and January

Course length: full time:  three years, or four years, including a one year optional industry placement.

Campus: Buxton Campus

This course is available to international students

The programme aims to produce graduates with:

• Abilities to evaluate and apply vocationally relevant concepts associated with the operational and strategic management of financial, human and physical resources within an international hospitality management context.
• Understandings of and ability to apply concepts associated with the allocation of available resources within a global hospitality business.
• Vocationally relevant managerial skills and knowledge by exposure to the real world learning environments.
• A range of intellectual, analytical and managerial skills and knowledge appropriate for obtaining positions in the contemporary service sector.
• The transferable skills that will empower them to pursue other career options and to adapt to changing patterns of employment.

As the international hospitality industry draws upon a variety of vocational, analytical and management skills, it is essential that the subject develops a balance between these various skills.

You will start the programme by acquiring operational knowledge and skills and will be provided with the opportunity to apply theory into practice, while developing further in depth knowledge and understanding in particular areas.

Towards the end of the programme you are expected to develop critical analytic skills and formulate strategies that make the best use of available resources.

Throughout the programme and to a greater extent as the levels advance, you will develop transferable skills through a variety of real world learning activities and module assessments.

By engaging in the Professional development modules and real world learning opportunities over the duration of your programme you will have many opportunities to learn and develop the business skills you need for working at supervisory levels in a professional environment.

Our staff and students represent a wide diversity.This enables you to broaden your perspectives, as we talk about own life experiences in the classroom and also work together in practical sessions.

You will be taught using demonstrations, lectures and tutorials and get hands on practical experience with our commercial facilities, developing skills such as brand awareness, recognition and understanding your market. There will also be opportunities to broaden your range of food preparation and service skills.

Our students work together to plan and host the Buxton Graduation Awards Event.

We also run successful employer engagement/networking events which many students have used to secure placements, training and graduate jobs.

A key factor in employability development is mentor support, which is offered to all students. Mentors are senior managers from industry and final year students who act as a student mentors.

Stage one

You'll take these modules:

• Food and Beverage Operations;
• Academic and Professional Development 1;
• Hospitality Concepts;
• Principles of International Business;
• Hospitality Accommodation Management;
• Business Operations Management.

Stage two

You'll take these modules:

• Event Catering Management;
• Academic and Professional Development 2;
• International Hotel Management;
• Applied Business Management;
• Trends in the Hospitality Industry;
• Business Development and Entrpreneurship.

Stage three (optional work placement)

The Diploma in Professional Practice is made up of two modules:

• Contemporary Issues in the Workplace
• Applied Professional Practice.

If you decide not to take a placement, then you'll go on to:

Stage three

This stage is also available as a one year top up if you have an appropriate HND/FD award or similar.

You'll take these modules:

• Independent Study;
• Strategic Management;
• Managing Cultural Issues in Hospitality;
• Contemporary Issues.

You then choose one of the following two modules:

• Food and Beverage Management;
• International Resort Management.

Our entry requirements are usually 260 UCAS points, of which at least 220 will be from your core A2s (full A levels) or equivalent qualifications such as BTEC Diploma, International Baccalaureate, Scottish Highers etc.

We'll accept up to 40 points towards the total from level 3 qualifications such as AS levels (where those AS levels are not taken on to A2 level), the Extended Project or Music qualifications.

We don't accept points from Key Skills Level 3. If you have any questions about what is or isn't accepted, please contact our Admissions team.

We also accept the Access to HE Diploma.

Your points at level 3 will be in addition to 5 GCSEs at grade C or equivalent level 2 qualifications.

The UCAS tariff points are a guide - we'll also consider all the information that you've included in your application. We'll also want to see that you're enthusiastic and motivated to take this course and that you have the potential to benefit from coming to university.

General undergraduate entry requirements

Fees for 2013/14

This is a resource intensive course.

UK/EU students

• Full time: £8,250 (each year)
• £1,030 per module (you usually take 18 of these modules in total)

International students

• Full time: £10,225 (per year)

*These fees apply if you're starting this course between September 2013 and August 2014. We recommend you check fee details with us though, as they can change. Costs can increase each year.

How you'll learn

Attainment of learning outcomes is through a variety of learning and teaching methods such as, formal lectures, practical demonstrations, seminars, small group exercises, case study discussions, videos, guest speakers and professional visits.

You will receive initial guidance on how to identify, locate and use material available in written and other forms. You will be guided through the recommended reading lists, provided in each module handbook, and advised on extending source material.

Teaching and learning strategies employed in the programme place great emphasis on the contextualisation of the management and theoretical issues facing the contemporary international hospitality industry.

How you're assessed

The testing of knowledge and skills is through a combination of assessed work, normally in the form of individual written assignments and practical assessments, group or individual oral presentations and individual or group work on the university’s virtual learning environment.

Assessments have been designed, in consultation with industry professionals, in order to challenge and develop students’ practical and theoretical skills. Some of the assessments are problem based and reflect the complex nature of the hospitality industry. For example, students will be involved in the set up, delivery, planning and execution of events in our commercial facilities. These activities provide the opportunity to test learning and understanding and also to reflect upon professional development and employability prospects. In the academic year 2011/12 students were involved in many functions operationally and supervisory ranging from a simple dinner party for 200 through to a banquet for 800 guests from Chatsworth House.

Constructive feedback is provided on all assessed work to aid learning and enable you to develop key graduate skills.

Fieldtrips

From September 2013 a UK based residential is included in the first and second year of your studies. They will be linked to professional visits which will provide you with a fantastic opportunity to meet the industry and to network.

Also, each year we offer an optional international residential visit. In March 2012 students spent a week in Normandy and visited cider farms, cheese tasting, Calvados tasting and a tour of a chocolate factory. This was a great experience as it allowed them to engage with industry on an international scale. Many found it fascinating applying classroom activity and learning to the real world:

"If there is one thing I can recommend to my fellow students it would be to attend as many of the residential trips offered as possible. Last year’s visit to Normandy was an exciting trip that opened up a wide range of new experiences.

It focused on the food and beverages of the region and allowed the knowledge of these products to be passed on to us. This visit was one of the best I have been on. This year’s visit is to Italy and if it is anything like last year then it will be a trip of a life time, so I urge you to come."

We have also previously taken students to the Food Show in Birmingham and to Hotelympia in London.

Work placements 

Upon successful completion of levels four and five students have the option to undertake a paid 48 week industrial (national or international) placement and gain a Diploma in Professional Practice. This 60 credit optional programme contains two core modules and is awarded in addition to the titled BA (Hons) International Hospitality Management degree.

This is an invaluable opportunity to further develop practical and professional skills in a professional environment. It allows you to contextualise and realise all of the practical and theoretical input at levels 4 and 5 in the workplace and, upon return to level 6, quantify the previous study and work experience into a wider industry and managerial context. 

Students who have taken this option previously have found it to be an enriching and worthy element of the programme with a high sense of validity to their learning, professional development and employability. Many have returned to their placement employers in graduate positions.

We have a dedicated team here to support and guide you with help to find the right position.

Students who undertake the BA International Hospitality Management will be able to pursue a range of exciting careers within this sector.  A significant number of our students attain a good degree and have gone on to management positions in the industry, ranging from private 4 star properties to a 5 star hotel resort. Some have become entrepreneurs and established their own thriving businesses. A graduate of the hospitality programmes is now employed at the Kempinski Hotel in Shanghai and is actively seeking to recruit our students to food and beverage positions.

This programme also provides a foundation for further study at postgraduate level in hospitality or similar areas of study such as tourism, leisure, or business studies.

Ongoing relations with employers are evidenced through various activities which include the use of guest speakers across a range of modules, involvement in assessment and post placement activity to provide case study material.

Local and regional employers are represented via employer forums held at the University which are structured to encourage views on the design, content and delivery of hospitality programmes. Placement providers offer an additional opportunity to seek industry views on a range of curriculum issues. Many of the employers whom we work with now actively recruit our students via the employer days and throughout the year.

The University works closely with local, national and international employers such as the Crieff Hydro, Gleneagles, Engineers Country Club, USA, White Manor Country Club USA, Carnegie Club (Skibo Castle), Hilton International, and Marriott.

This programme is also accredited by, the professionally recognised, Institute of Hospitality.

Support is established at each level of study using an online e-recruitment portal (www.udbemployable.co.uk), a method of tracking volunteering and work placements, academic engagement in conferences and generic and subject specialist skills.  There are also opportunities to participate in extra training courses run by external providers.  Both these will enhance students’ employability and link to the programme curriculum.  You will be further supported by a personal tutor via your professional and academic development modules, who ensures that timely guidance and advice is available throughout the degree programme.

"The Buxton Campus is ideal for those who want to study Hospitality or Culinary Arts, it has all the current facilities for the practical and theoretical lessons."

Kyriakos Kyriakou

I'm so happy and want to thank all the staff for the help, support and guidance they gave me during the last four years. I had the best years of my life at Derby learning to live on my own, grow up as an individual as well as developing teamworking and individual working skills." 

Rhianne Cooper, BA (Hons) Hospitality Management student

"Gaining a professional qualification from Derby gave me the confidence I needed when first setting out in the real world of catering."

Alan Hill, award winning Chef Patron at the Devonshire Arms, studied Professional Culinary Arts.