PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN PRACTICE - 2021/2

Module Overview

Professional Development is a fundamental aspect of the personal and professional development of students as they progress through their University degree. Building on from the employability foundations learnt through the Developing Professionals module in HE4, this module provides the opportunity for students embarking upon a career in either the hospitality or tourism industries to engage directly with industry through volunteering initiatives and short internships. It therefore offers students the opportunity to apply the skills and knowledge they have developed through their first year of study as they strive to become professional, employable graduates.

Module provider

Hospitality, Tourism & Events Management

Module Leader

WATSON Jackie (Hosp & Tour)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 5

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 1

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

N/A  

Module content

Indicative content includes:

• Tourism and hospitality management and operations


• Tourism and hospitality customer service delivery


• Tourism and hospitality marketing, branding and market research


• Tourism, hospitality and IT, Ecommerce


• Tourism and hospitality ethics and sustainability


• Tourism and hospitality finance, commercial and yield


• Tourism policy and development


• Tourism and hospitality HR

• Available volunteering and internship opportunities


• Support on securing independent volunteering and internship opportunities


• Logistics of appropriately engaging with organisations:
  
  
  
  • Health and safety at work, contracts and agreements, risk assessments, training requirements for non-office work
  
  
  • Responsibilities of volunteering/internship providers, responsibilities of students, responsibilities of SHTM
  
  
  • Working with and being accountable to industry based line managers
  
  
  
  


• Reflection and reflective writing


• Professional report and executive summary writing

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

Individual assignment  - 2000 words

Assessment Strategy

The assessment methods for this module consists of:

1. A group assessment involving all aspects of non-profit  volunteering, students will develop a charity for either hospitality, tourism or events. 30% of the assessment will be group, 10% will be individual. Additionally students will undertake unmarked formative peer feedback for this assessment. Students who are unable to participate in Group assessment will undertake an individual assessment of 1500 words


2. individual reflective essay (this will require students to reflect upon their experience of volunteering and evaluate their understanding of the requirements of a professional graduate within the hospitality and tourism industry and what steps they feel they must now take in order to further improve their position as a professional graduate including a personal skills audit).

Module aims

• Apply and further develop the employability, transferable skills, attitudes and abilities introduced within their studies to date.
• Experience and demonstrate, first-hand the importance of the key skills, values, characteristics and behaviours potential employers require of a hospitality and tourism graduate.
• Further develop the communication skills (verbal and non-verbal within individual and group contexts) required to perform effectively and succeed in academic and professional environments,
• Gain first-hand experience of working in the tourism or hospitality industry through volunteering and short internships.
• Develop an ability to reflect upon personal and professional development through applied learning in the workplace.

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The key teaching and learning strategy is designed to encourage students to support themselves as they engage in a short period of volunteering/internship within the hospitality or tourism industry in order to further develop the key skills and values required to develop a strong professional identity and successful career in these industries. As such, the module will support students in securing and engaging in volunteering and internship opportunities. Teaching will therefore be delivered via a series of seminars and will draw upon a range of teaching and learning techniques to encourage students to actively engage with and reflect upon their position as students and as future professionals in the hospitality and tourism industries and help in identifying where their current skills are at and how engaging in work experience/internships will help bridge any employability skills gaps.

This will reflect the aims and learning outcomes above and will comprise of a range of classroom-based techniques including: lectures, class discussion, case study analysis, that are designed explicitly to develop students’ critical ability and comprehension of the issues addressed within the classroom and also those that may arise during the course of students’ time within industry. Additional readings, activities, online resources, and lecture slides will be available on SurreyLearn.

The module is centred on a period of volunteering or short internship activity. Students will be required to engage in approximately 2 weeks of volunteering activity during semester one. This may comprise of weekly or bi-weekly periods of volunteering, or alternatively can take place over the winter vacation period as a 2-week block. It is important that flexibility is retained within the logistics of volunteering to ensure students have access to a wide range of opportunities across the hospitality and tourism industries.

NB. Due to logistical requirements, this module is capped at a capacity of 40 students.

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: MAN2127

Other information

This module has a capped number and may not be available to ERASMUS and other international exchange students. Please check with the Global Engagement Office exchange and study abroad team.

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2021/2 academic year.