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| Wednesday, December 22, 2010 |
| MBA Programs in Hospitality and Tourism |
A career in hospitality and tourism isn't exactly a vacation , it is a field packed with opportunity. Indeed trends like the rapid growth of tourism and hospitality in Asia and the application of new technology have made the industry an even more alluring destination for business-class people.
An MBA degree with a hospitality focus, or a specialized master’s in tourism, can differ substantially from a more generalized MBA in a couple of ways.
the hospitality industry is really hands-on, and it places a considerable amount of emphasis on real-world experience.
With this in mind, many specialized MBA programs tend to recruit students who already have experience in related industries.
Master of Management in Hospitality program are already working in the industry, but their careers have plateaued at the middle management level.
"In the back of their head, they've thought about getting an MBA, and now they know they want to stay in the industry," says Walp. "A program like ours allows them to tool-up and come back to the industry in more of a corporate management position.”
However, Walp also describes another group of students that he calls “career switchers.” Often, these students have been exposed to a part of the hospitality industry through other avenues.
“If they're in IT consulting, maybe one of their clients was a hospitality related firm, they became interested in the industry through them," says Walp. "They see a hospitality related degree as a way to leverage the skills that they already have from another industry, and transition them into a new career."
Because the hospitality industry is fundamentally hands-on, in order to excel in and after a specialized MBA, it’s important to have some kind of practical experience within the industry.
ESSEC Business School’s MBA in Hospitality Management enables this experience by offering internships and apprenticeships to their students. The apprenticeships are especially helpful in fostering an integration into the field, because students are paid to work in one of many Paris-based hospitality firms for two days a week during the school year, and then for 24 weeks full-time during the summer.
Charles Lüthi, the program's director of many students are offered jobs by the organizations they apprentice for, but often opt for more lucrative positions beyond Paris.
Other hospitality programs that offer hands-on internships and apprenticeships include Switzerland’s Glion Institute of Higher Education, Florida International University, and the Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management at the University of Houston. These internships can vary by industry, from analysts jobs in a food and beverage company to operations positions in casinos.
In general, graduates of a hospitality and tourism degree program have many options open to them. They can go into the travel sector, restaurant and catering operations, e-commerce, senior living facilities, cruise lines, casino and gaming operations; the list goes on and on, and is getting longer. |
posted by chalsie @ 1:41 AM  |
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