Master of Science in Business Administration With Major in Tourism docx

Table of contents 1 2 4 5 6 7 8 12 13 15 17 Master of Science in Business Administration With a Major in Tourism Preface The programme at a glance The Bologna reforms and the new Master

Master of Science in

Business Administration

With Major in Tourism

www.hslu.ch/international

Table of contents

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Master of Science in Business Administration

With a Major in Tourism

Preface

The programme at a glance

The Bologna reforms and the new Master degree

What advantage does a Master of Science in Business Administration – Major in Tourism offer?

The programme – overview of competencies

The programme – success factors

The programme – modules

Application, admission and further information

The value of the Master degree for your career

Additional information

Location

Publishing details

Design and Editing

Lucerne School of Business

Layout

Learning to cope in a complex environment

Challenges in the tourism industry are becoming increasingly complex The wide-spread need to travel, combined with the continually growing portion of the global population who can afford to do so, have triggered a protracted boom and sharpened the challenges faced by the industry Moreover, tourists are generally averse to crowds and prefer personalised offers Providers, on the other hand, are faced with issues that range from residents living near airports

to global competition for guests – the desire of developing countries to benefit from the attractive jobs and earnings afforded by tourism In order to prevail in this highly competitive and complex environment, it becomes necessary to offer services with an excellent price-value ratio geared to an increasingly demanding clientele To live up to this challenge, the tourism sector and its closely linked industries rely on highly trained individuals who can take a broad view of current trends and are able to adopt a strategic approach in response

to industry developments

The master’s programme is laid out in two broadly defined yet closely related content areas During the first year, students will focus primarily on the topic of service management, which provides them with a solid foundation for under-standing the complexity of the products that visitors will ultimately consume

During the second year, the programme offers a series of integrated modules that examine specific aspects of the tourism industry First, students will learn about the international tourism environment They will examine important business models found in the industry in order to understand how tourism and the environment interrelate – primarily as seen from an economic perspective –

by working on case studies and going on excursions Strategy, communication and marketing lie at the core of the curriculum, which aims to develop stu-dents’ analytical, strategic and methodological skills Because interpersonal skills such as conflict management, sensitivity to foreign cultures and indirect leadership are highly significant in tourism, the major pays special attention to these

Leading experts agree that the Major in Tourism will provide students with the competencies needed to make a long-term contribution to the international tourism industry And that is exactly what the Master’s program is all about Preface

Dr Julianna Priskin

The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page

St Augustine 354-430 AD

The programme continues where a Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent qualifi-cations) in economics or business administration leaves off Those with a Bachelor’s degree in another discipline, may be admitted to the programme

Students have the possibility of enrolling in a work-study programme during which they hold a part-time position ecompassing up to 50% of working hours

in management or tourism, or in an organisation with a strong international orientation

The degree offers graduates attractive career prospects as team leaders or project managers in a tourism organisation or in a related area

The programme’s content, which was developed in collaboration with numer-ous practitioners, focuses heavily on service management and tourism and investigates business models and related aspects

The classes are entirely taught in English

The programme lasts four semesters and the coursework offers 90 credits of the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) In terms of workload, students will need to invest approximately 2,700 hours

The curriculum adopts a hands-on approach aligned with its academic objec-tives and offers internationally oriented training in management or a special-ised field

Classes are held in the heart of Lucerne, only a few minutes from the world-famous Chapel Bridge

The programme awards graduates with a Master of Science (MSc) degree in Business Administration that is internationally recognised

International focus: students in a class usually originate from about

15 countries; the topics are international.

The programme at a glance

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Virtually no other change has had a stronger impact on Swiss education than the Bologna reforms By establishing an international benchmark in

pro-grammes and qualifications, the reforms promote mobility among students on the one hand and open up career options internationally on the other Further-more, students now have the option of graduating from universities or universi-ties of applied sciences with a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree of equal value

What is a consecutive Master’s degree and what are its benefits?

The consecutive Master’s degree is geared to individuals who have a Bachelor’s degree or equivalent qualification and are interested in gaining an additional qualification, or who have a strong need to pursue an academic interest

As a continuation of the Bachelor’s degree, the Master’s programme offers a specialisation in a particular area of academic expertise while adopting an applied approach Master’s programmes thus are strongly focused on develop-ing analytical skills among students, thereby providdevelop-ing them with career pros-pects in middle and upper management Many Master’s programmes are designed as a work-study option that permits participants to benefit from immediate knowledge transfer and to continue their professional development without interruption Thanks to the Bologna reforms, consecutive Master’s degrees are internationally recognised and open up career options for gradu-ates outside of Switzerland as well

The Master of Science is not the same as the Master of Advanced Studies

The new consecutive Master’s degree counts as a second level of higher educa-tion and should not be confused with the Master of Advanced Studies (MAS) or

an Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) degree Both the MAS and the EMBA are professional development programmes that require students

to have several years of practical experience The consecutive Master’s degree, however, demands a higher workload and features more stringent academic requirements.

The Bologna reforms and the new Master’s degree

Contributing approximately 300,000 jobs and 4% of the GDP, tourism ranks as the fourth-largest “export industry” of Switzerland, and is known universally as the largest industry Growth in tourism organisations abroad and in Switzerland, com-bined with increasingly complex projects underway in Eastern Europe, India, China and other emerging destinations, open up a wide range of perspectives in tourism-related organisations for highly trained graduates holding a Master’s degree

A sought-after degree with interesting career options

The Master in Business Administration with a Major in Tourism offers the follow-ing advantages:

Study with a strong industry orientation: The curriculum is closely tailored to

the needs of the tourism sector Teaching methods are varied and include lec-tures by tourism professionals, industry simulations, case studies and the option

to work in the industry The university believes that successfully combining a strong practical orientation with challenging applied programme components will enhance its graduates’ long-term prospects in the job market

Strong international focus: The programme’s content is geared primarily to the

needs of organisations with a strong international orientation Some lecturers come to Lucerne from foreign partner universities to teach in the Master’s programme The teaching language is English It goes without saying that the destination of the study tour will be abroad Up to twenty nationalities are represented in one master class

The unique combination of service management and tourism: The curriculum

is closely tailored to industry needs During the first year, students learn about contemporary service management concepts and during the second, they focus

on tourism management specifically

The holders of the Master’s degree are faced with favourable career and

development opportunities because the programme enables them to assume challenging roles in project work, specialised fields and management

Entry level function include leadership positions in quality assurance; heading the marketing unit of a small organisation; managing product, sales, or market-ing projects; or assistmarket-ing executives or association heads Graduates can transfer their expertise to other industries, drawing on tourism’s reputation as a “training camp” where managers develop a service orientation

What advantage does a Master of Science in Business Administration –

Major in Tourism offer?

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The programme – overview of competencies

Developing a broad range of expertise

In 2012, the Master of Science in Business Administration

with a Major in Tourism was certified by the United Nations

World Tourism organization (UNWTO) as the only

special-ised higher education course in Switzerland in this field

For more information on the certification please visit

www.unwto.org

Graduates will acquire the following competencies in

particular:

Specialist skills in tourism

Graduates will have the expertise needed to devise solu-tions to management problems encountered in tourism and the service industry

Strategic decision making

Managers who adopt a strategic approach and can respond

ex ante to anticipated moves of partners or competitors will have a foundation on which to build a sustainable competitive advantage The programme includes a number

of modules that introduce students to the principles of successful strategic decision making

Analytical skills

Students will learn how to analyse complex issues and prob-lems in and around tourism organisations, develop solu-tions, and implement these successfully using a range of strategies

Cross-disciplinary competencies

Tourism is inextricably embedded in its social, political and physical environment And this means modern managers must have the tools to cope with any tensions that arise Graduates will be able to apply their broad expertise from management and related disciplines using a systems approach

Intercultural skills

Those working in tourism will invariably come into contact with a broad range of cultures through their interactions with employees, colleagues, guests and business partners Furthermore, service providers must work together closely

to ensure seamless service provision in line with set quality standards – the key reason why developing intercultural skills is an integral part of the curriculum

Executive competency

The ability to manage small and medium-sized projects such as developing a scheme for innovation becomes indispensable in view of the current state of the tourism industry Students will have opportunities to develop such skills through their involvement in applied projects and by working on case studies

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Academic and practical orientation

Any attempt to harmonise an academic and a practical

orientation might seem contradictory at first However,

Lucerne School of Business is committed to aligning these

two approaches as follows: Students develop competencies

by completing academic work, participating in practical

research projects, and writing a Master’s thesis on a

particular topic relevant to an applied field With regard to

research projects, they collaborate closely with industry

partners

The programme places great emphasis on developing those

competencies that are clearly applicable in day-to-day

professional life This means that students will be able to

apply many of the methods and instruments encountered

in the practical work of their professional activities

Teaching methods

The programme thoughtfully combines in-class instruction

with guided and self-directed study To ensure that the

programme aligns academic and practical orientations in a

meaningful way, lecturers working at the Master’s level

must have a rigorous academic background as well as

up-to-date practical experience in their field

Language

The programme is entirely taught in English because a

strong command of English is essential for a career in

international tourism The university recommends level C1

of the Cambridge ESOL (IELTS 6.0 – 7.0) or an equivalent as

the entrance requirement

The programme – success factors

Students

The Master’s programme is primarily geared to graduates who hold academic or Bachelor’s degrees in business from

a university or university of applied sciences Those with another university or Bachelor’s degree may be admitted if they have additional credits in business administration and

in economics or economic geography Students with no background in tourism at the time of enrolment will have opportunities to acquire these credits during the first and the second semester (see admission on page 12)

Lecturers

Lucerne School of Business engages lecturers from selected partner universities such as the University of Brighton Furthermore, the teaching staff includes a distinguished group of experts from companies, consulting firms and other organisations This ensures a high quality standard within the curriculum content, while maintaining relevance

to applied fields More than 70% of the lecturers hold a PhD/doctoral degree

st Semest

43T Marketing and Communication in Tourism 6 C

nd Semest

rd Semest

th Semest

The programme – modules

The Master of Science in Business Administration comprises

a fundamental component with general management

content and a clear focus on service management that

includes all coursework completed during the first and

second semesters

Modules 33T-35T and 42T-44T constitute the Major in

Tourism

The “Strategic Management of Tourism Destinations” and

“Marketing and Communication in Tourism” modules, both

of which examine individual organisations, make up the

core of the Major Moreover, the programme studies a

range of business models,

allowing students to learn about the sub-sectors of the tourism industry Business models are of particular interest, because they depend on their ability to form close networks amongst several organisations The “International Tourism Environment” module takes a close look at relevant aspects surrounding international tourism

The programme offers an integration module during which students work on complex case studies They thus rely on knowledge gained in previous modules with a view to reinforcing and applying particular skills Modules 22/31 (Applied Research Project) and 32/41 (Master Thesis Project) naturally also have a clear focus on tourism issues