Admission and Unit Information - Graduate Certificate in International Hospitality and Hotel Management

Hospitality is about people. Motivated, skilled and engaged staff are crucial in service interactions. Multicultural and internationally mobile workforces present challenges to managers. This unit examines human resource management, industrial relations and labour markets for those who will have people management responsibilities in a range of hospitality businesses. Human resource management functions and policies are studied, with consideration of employment law and competing stakeholder interests. Contemporary trends are considered, such as work as theatre, emotional labour and aesthetic labour. Diversity management and occupational health and safety in the context of casualisation and high turnover are a focus.

The unit comprises three modules that have the hospitality setting as a central focus: Hospitality Property Analysis; Environmental Management in the Hospitality Industry, and Hospitality Risk Management. Hospitality managers must deal with financial, ethical and social issues around property, including asset management, the property's relationship to the environment, and the minimisation of risk to customers, employees and to the facility itself. Managing the Hospitality Context provides a management perspective on problem identification, assessment and evaluation in each of the three areas. Students choose two modules most relevant to their career aspirations and interests.

As service provision becomes increasingly important across a number of industries, some firms are moving beyond the idea of providing a service to providing a total customer experience. Managing Service and Experience introduces students to the exciting concepts of management in the service and experience economy. The unit examines the development of the experience economy and the specialist skills required to manage commercial organisations in the emerging experience economy. Key areas which are covered include: the experience economy, the characteristics of service, service development, service evaluation & service improvement.

International hospitality, including hotels, leisure, and allied services, is an increasingly important component of the global economy in the transition from a commodity-based economy to the 'experience economy'. The unit examines the development of the concept of hospitality and the commercial provision of hospitality services. The industry's economic and social significance is evaluated. This unit canvasses many facets of the industry to help graduates assess and understand new trends relative to the historical and global evolution of the industry in its varied social and economic contexts. Skills in cross-cultural communication required by managers are examined, with opportunities for practice.

The Business Internship is designed for students who want to gain industry experience and further their studies through a 10-week business internship. This Business Internship unit is based on a project style unit which requires students to undertake a research project in their chosen field whilst attending an industry based internship. These highly sought after internships will be filled on a competitive basis and will be arranged by the UWS Careers and Cooperative Education Unit (CCEU).

This unit presents the importance of managerial finance and accounting concepts and explains how they apply to specific operations in the hospitality and hotel industry. The focus is on the comprehending of basic financial statements, calculation of standard industry ratios and the use of financial information in the managerial decision making process.

The unit comprises three modules that have the hospitality experience as the central focus. Restaurants, special events and servicescapes all offer customers the opportunity to engage in the experience that is the hospitality industry. The unit provides a management perspective on the planning, design, operation and evaluation of each of the three interrelated types of hospitality experiences. Students are required to select and study two only of the modules.

Managing revenue and distribution channels is critical to hospitality businesses' competitiveness and sustainability because of the perishable nature of hotels and restaurant services: selling the right service at the right time to the right person for the best price. This unit examines opportunities for maximising revenue and utilising resources for efficient and effective operations, using emerging information technology. Opportunities for maximising revenue are found from analysis of customers' preferences, yields, return on investment, forecasting, inventory management, and capacity planning. Tools, tactics and resources include pricing analysis, probability concepts, quality management, economic principles and strategic planning.

Understanding of strategic management (including its implementation) equips hospitality professionals for contributing to decisions to enhance organisational viability in response to pressures from competitors and changing contexts, harnessing the organisation's human resources, knowledge and creativity. This unit provides opportunities for undertaking strategic analysis using a range of frameworks, theories and tools in application to case studies. Skills for researching contemporary industry trends and other aspects of environmental scanning will be developed and showcased in reports and other media. The unit allows some choice of focus around contemporary issues facing hotels, restaurants, or special events to best suit students' career aspirations.