BSc in Hotel and Restaurant Management

Introduction

This course will provide you with the full range of skills, knowledge and understanding you will need for a successful management career in the hotel and restaurant, and related industries. This is a rapidly expanding and dynamic sector, which offers a rich variety of career opportunities to suitably qualified graduates.

The Business School's Department of Hospitality, Leisure and Tourism Management is one of the UK's principal providers of management education for the industry. It has an impressive international reputation, founded on its innovative approaches to learning and teaching and the quality of its research and consultancy. The strong links that the Department maintains with the hospitality industry help to ensure that its programmes are kept up to date and relevant.

The course
The programme of study is highly flexible. The compulsory modules will give you a detailed understanding of management within the industry. In addition, you can take specialist elective modules in areas that reflect your own interests and career aspirations (eg gastronomy, hospitality events management, entrepreneurship, tourism).

Year 2 will be spent in paid supervised work experience. This is an important and integral part of your programme and you will use the knowledge, understanding and skills developed during this year to underpin your managerial studies in the final two years of your programme. Placements are organised to meet individual students' career aspirations and are located both nationally and internationally within all sectors of the industry. Our work-experience partners include major international groups such as Marriott, Hilton and Fairmont, as well as UK companies including Conran Restaurants, Mitchell and Butler, Whitbread, Compass, Sodexho and Aramark. We can also provide placements in prestigious owner-managed hotels such as the Goring in London, Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons in Oxfordshire, Breakers in Palm Beach, Florida or the Post Hotel in Lake Louise.
The final two years of the programme focus on a range of managerial disciplines, in particular human resource management, marketing, finance and operations management. Final year honours level modules include options on strategic analysis and intercultural management.

The dissertation or consultancy project you undertake in your final year will give you the opportunity to conduct sustained, independent work on a topic relevant to the hotel and restaurant industry. A career planning module is also included, to help you to focus on your future development.

Teaching, learning and assessment

The course offers a diverse range of teaching methods and learning environments, including lectures, case studies, seminars, workshops, business simulations, practicals, tutorials and independent study. Modern, fully equipped IT laboratories and specialist industry-specific software are provided. Assessment methods are diverse and will enable you to demonstrate your learning achievements. They include written reports, essays, oral or poster presentations, portfolios, computer simulations, case studies, written examinations and assessment by mentors within the workplace.

You will have the opportunity to develop your operational and managerial skills in our fully equipped kitchens and award-winning Restaurant, which is open to the public. Part of your programme of studies will focus on restaurant operations management, for which you will need special clothing and equipment (details will be sent to you prior to entry).

Learning outcomes
On successful completion of this degree programme, you will have developed skills, knowledge and understanding that enable you to:

• demonstrate an understanding of the dynamic nature of the hotel and restaurant industries and their defining characteristics
• evaluate the central role played by the hotel and restaurant consumer in the service encounter
• indentify and evaluate the environmental influences that impact upon hotel and restaurant businesses
• demonstrate an understanding of the management disciplines of marketing, human resources, operations, accounting and the application of information technology within the context of the hotel and restaurant industries
• demonstrate an understanding and awareness of the moral, ethical, environmental and legal issues that underpin best practice in the management of hotel and restaurant organisations.

In addition honours graduates will be able to:

• demonstrate knowledge and understanding of different research methods required to carry out a sustained research project
• execute a substantial individual supervised study showing clearly defined aims, selectivity in the choice of material, data collection, analysis and evaluation, and reasoned conclusions and recommendations.

Specific entry requirements

GCSE Mathematics and English at grade C or above.

Modules

As courses are reviewed regularly, the module list you choose from may vary from that shown here.

Years 1

101 Understanding Hospitality Businesses
102 Managing Hospitality Businesses
103 Hospitality Operations Skills
104 Foundations of Accounting and Finance
105 Business Communications
106 Team Challenges
107 Management Concepts
108 Word-Processing and Spreadsheet IT Skills 

Years 2

201 Intercultural Management for Hospitality and Tourism Businesses
202 Developing the Hospitality Business
203 Revenue and Profit Management for Hospitality and Tourism
204 Managing People in the International Hospitality and Tourism Industries
205 Hospitality Events Management
206 Strategic Marketing Management in Hospitality and Tourism
207 Financial Analysis & Control for Hospitality and Tourism Businesses
208 Financial Decision Making for Hospitality and Tourism Services

Years 3

301 Hotel and Restaurant Management Dissertation
302 Hotel and Restaurant Management Consultancy Project

PLUS a compulsory project:
Supervised work experience (26 weeks full-time minimum)