PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN PRACTICE IN EVENTS MANAGEMENT - 2021/2

Module Overview

Professional & Career Advancement is a fundamental aspect of the personal and professional development a student undergoes as they progress through their University degree. Building on from the employability foundations provided within the core events modules and the events volunteering activities that students have undertaken through Years 1 & 2, this module provides the opportunity for students to reflect upon the skills and knowledge they have acquired and/or to be able to acquire within the third year of their study. . It enables students to plan their industry engagement where required and reflect upon and analyse their motivations, expectations and knowledge gained from different volunteer activities with a view to enhancing their future employability profile.

Module provider

Hospitality, Tourism & Events Management

Module Leader

GRAINGER-JONES Owen (Hosp & Tour)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 6

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

Module Availability

Semester 1

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

Only open to BSc IEM students who have not taken a placement year

Module content

Indicative content includes:
Events management business organisation and planning and operations
Events managment customer service delivery (clients, stakeholders and visitors)
Organisational market research, marketing, branding and sales
Business IT and Ecommerce systems (ie registration , realtime information and cashless payment systems)
Ethics and sustainability standards and practices
Financial management ie key areas of income and costs
HR and organisational skills, management and leadership considerations
Industry policy and development
Students will also be introduced to:
Available volunteering, work experience and short-term internship opportunities
Support on securing independent volunteering, volunteering, work-experience and/or short-term internships.
Understanding profesional behaviour within event organisations:
Health and safety at work, contracts and agreements, risk assessments, training requirements for non-office work
Responsibilities of volunteering, work-experience and internship providers, responsibilities of students, responsibilities of SHTM
Working with and being accountable to industry based, line managers
Work-based learning and reflective practice and writing
Professional report writing

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

NA

Assessment Strategy

The assessment methods for this module consists of: a) an individual professional report (this will require students to demonstrate a thorough understanding of the organisation or organisations that they will be engaged within, their vision, mission, strategy, operational objectives, product and target markets), and b) individual reflective report (this will require students to reflect upon their experience of volunteering and evaluate their understanding of the requirements of a professional graduate within the events 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). Unmarked formative feedback will be provided to students through a range of approaches, including question and answer sessions in class and discussions using Surrey Learn.

Assessment 1 a 2000 word report on aims, expectations, aspirations for volunteering/ industry engagement and benefits to them as student’s prior to the commencement of the activities.

Assessment 2 a 1500 word reflective showcase on the student’s own learning within the industry engagement activities, the nature of their work related activities, how these activities fit within the overall management of the operations and organisation.

Module aims

• Apply and further develop employability, transferable skills, attitudes and abilities
• Reflect upon the importance of key skills, values, characteristics and behaviours potential employers require of an events management 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,
• Have the opportunity to gain first-hand experience of working in the events industry through volunteering, work-experiences and/or and short-term internships.
• Develop an ability to self-direct 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 learn to become competent, self-directed young professionals as they engage in a periods of volunteering, work-experience and/or internships within the events 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, work-experience and/or internship opportunities. Teaching will therefore be delivered via a series of seminars that will be front-loaded into the first 3 - 4 weeks of the module with periodic lectures and seminars delivered at strategic times within the course 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 events 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 discussions, case study analysis, group and face to face meetings and work-place visits 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, work-experience and/ or short-term internship activates. Students will be required to engage in approximately 2-3 weeks of event management work related activities during semester one. This may comprise of one off, ad hoc, periodic or regular event volunteering, work-experience or short-term internship activities, or alternatively can take place over the winter vacation period as a 3 week block. It is important that flexibility is retained within the logistics of volunteering, work-experience and/or short-term internships to ensure students have access to a wide range of opportunities across the various subsectors of the event industry.

NB. Due to logistical requirements, this module is capped at a capacity of 25 students which is approximately 50% of the average cohort size.

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: MAN3175

Other information

NA

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.