Entry Requirements

To meet the entry criteria for admission to level 6 BSc (Hons) Top up Courses,

A candidate must have either:

HND or above or equivalent qualifications from UK

and,

Where applicants do not have a formal qualification to demonstrate capability in English to CEFR level B2 or equivalent, they need to provide evidence that their command of English is equivalent to IELTS (International English Language Testing System) 5.5 (including 5.5 for reading and writing). The expectation can also be met using other English language tests such as Pearson PTE, City & Guilds, Cambridge and ESOL etc.

and,

Demonstrate a Commitment to Study and a reasonable expectation of success on the Course

Course Map

                                                                           Stage Level 6

Course specific employability skills

On completion of this course students will attain the following Employability Skills:

Collaborative & Teamworking: Being able to work as team, including building and maintaining relationships, contributing to discussions actively, and supporting co-workers. Being able to negotiate and engage in conflict resolution in group projects, and show emotional intelligence and empathy towards team members.

Self-management & Personal Development: Build and develop skills to manage oneself and motivate and manage work. Being able to recognise and assess one’s own strengths and weaknesses and develop skills to overcome weaknesses as well as to use strengths for own advantage. Learn and acquire key personal skills such as effective time management, self-reflection, and critical assessment of his or her own work.

Being Commercially Aware & Business-wise: Being able to identify business opportunities and gain working knowledge of business operations. Understanding of professional practices and able to manage risk and failure. Being able to assess the role and impacts of technology and understand the role of innovation in business operation. Gaining awareness of cultural change on industry and the importance of social and environmental responsibility.

Problem-Solving & Decision-Making: Thinking rationally and logically and being able to Identify appropriate problem-solving methods for given scenarios. Learn to apply appropriate problem-solving methods systematically, screen observations and research outcomes to detect the sources of problems and find solutions as well as able to make right decisions given the limitation of options.

Effective Leadership Skills: Understanding leadership skills as an important trait and being able to identify various styles and approaches of leadership. Being able to apply appropriate leadership approaches in business and social settings. Able to work with various social segments and motivate them. Understand the need to be culturally sensitive and possess emotional intelligence when dealing with people. Being able to communicate with clarity and convince people.

Research & Analysis: Understanding the research process and gaining the skills to carry out research in a directed and systematic way to identify business-related issues such as new product development or solving other operations related problems. Being able to identify and collect relevant data and analyse the data to produce useful findings.

Understanding Data: Being able to generate useful information to make sound business decisions, one should have data literacy in a variety of contexts, including data gathering and quantitative skills to analyse data for business solutions. Trend analysis, estimating and modelling business problems, understanding operational functions and customer requirements all requires the managers to understand data.

Critical Reflection: Ability to reflect on one’s own strengths and weaknesses as well as on a variety of business scenarios realistically and being able to assess the risk involved. Being able to make realistic judgement on the possible outcomes and consider any decision from multiple angles along with critical reflection to make sound decisions.

Communication: Ability to express oneself effectively with clarity while understanding professional standard expected, particularly in written and spoken communication and gaining skills in digital, visual and in-person communication as well. Being able to communicate in business settings with confidence and make effective presentations.

Project Management: Being able to plan and deliver project in response to a brief and having the ability to organise resources, collaborating with project team and partners, and manage time and budget effectively.

Career/future study opportunities

After completing the course, students will have the opportunity to pursue a career in:

• Small tourism and hospitality enterprises, as an owner/manager
• Entry-level and junior management roles in a variety of sub-sectors in the tourism and hospitality industry
• Entry-level administrative positions in tourism-related multilateral organisations
• Consultancy positions in tourism and hospitality management as associates.

Or some graduates may prefer to pursue further higher studies at postgraduate level in the following fields:

• Travel and Tourism Management;
• Hospitality Management; and
• Travel, Tourism, and Hospitality Research.

Structure of Course Delivery

A university graduate in Tourism and Hospitality Management will be expected to possess both intellectual flexibility and creativity as well as essential transferable skills in addition to having acquired the necessary trade and professional skills. The Tourism and Hospitality Management BA (Hons) top- up degree course at ICON College of Technology and Management has been developed based on the needs of those students seeking employment in the tourism and hospitality sector industries as professional managers or self-employed owner-managers.

Therefore, employability skills in the tourism and hospitality industry such as teamworking or collaborative engagement, understanding data, and being able to carry out research and analysis, critical thinking and problem-solving, effective communication, and self-management are all crucial elements of learning that this course emphasises.

Teaching and Learning and Module Delivery Approach

The student of the top-up course in Tourism and Hospitality Management BA (Hons) at ICON College will be exposed to a variety of business scenarios while gaining relevant theoretical knowledge through a range of modules taught during the year-long period of the course. This approach of delivery will enable students to think critically and make effective decisions in practical situations by exposing them to real-world challenges; whether it is the issues of environmental sustainability or setting business strategic goals during turbulent economic periods.

The course is aligned with the subject Benchmark Statement EHLST (November 2019, QAA) and the Level 6 modules offer students opportunities to research and demonstrate their ability to apply acquired skills and knowledge and assess the benefits in the real-world. All Level 6 modules are designed to stimulate research and critical thinking. These modules are academically demanding and aim to show how effectively students can use their skills and knowledge in real-life situations.

The delivery of Level 6 modules such as Sustainable and Responsible Management in Tourism, Strategic Hospitality Management, Devising Digital Marketing Strategy, and Creative Events and Entertainment Management all require to embed essential and relevant employability skills which will make the students competitive when seeking a suitable career in the field. The Dissertation Project provides the final year students an opportunity to explore a topic in tourism or hospitality management in detail and to undertake an in-depth investigation of a management problem that requires critical review of literature and field research in a supervised environment. The Dissertation module requires students to show high level of self-management and critical reflection. In addition, students will be expected to demonstrate creativity and the ability to communicate effectively with professional presentation skills to a relevant audience.

With the commitment and dedication of qualified and experienced tutors, ICON College will employ a variety of proven methods to deliver the modules throughout the course to meet the expectations of at different levels. The delivery will be designed to be flexible based on expectations and learning styles of the students. With the help of the state-of-the-art technology in the classroom environment, tutors at ICON College will use a variety of methods and tools to deliver lectures, seminar discussions, workshops, and tutorials. The delivery will include tutorials involving blocks of students as well as one-to-one feedback for their dissertation project.

Since every module is designed and developed to contribute towards gaining specific employability skills during the delivery, tutors will be expected to track students’ achievement in gaining such skills. Indeed, this will remain an integral part of the formative feedback assessment. In the delivery of specific modules, achievement in gaining employability skills will be assessed through special workshop sessions or homework assignments leading to individual or group presentations. This will include, for example, such skills as critical thinking, creativity, research, and analysis, teamworking, and self-management. The modules in level 6 are designed to offer less contact hours and the tutors will employ a variety of mechanism and tools to stimulate and support student-centred learning approaches and independent learning.

The College will seek to enrich the process of using blended learning whenever seems appropriate. Some of the lecture-led classroom sessions can be delivered online via the virtual classroom if necessary. The College has been using the ICON VLE (virtual learning environment) to deliver modules in physical classrooms settings as well as for submitting assignments for assessments. The students will be able to continue to use the ICON VLE for assignment submissions and formative feedback assessment as well.

Course Assessment Strategy

The top-up degree course in Tourism and Hospitality Management makes use of a range of assessment methods to reflect on meeting the College-wide assessment criteria and modular learning outcomes and employability skills. The Dissertation module – with 40 credits – requires students to submit an 8,000-10,000 words thesis based on an independent piece of research in the field of tourism and hospitality management undertaken during the final stage of the course.

Summative assessment and feedback: This remain the key assessment method of the course used by the College. Summative assessment consists of a variety of methods by which students’ achievement in learning will be tested against the pre-defined learning outcomes for each module. Some of the modules will be assessed by a single coursework assignment but most of them will have a set of two summative assessment points. All modules will be assessed using the Common Assessment Criteria.

All students will have the opportunity to receive one-to-one feedback from module tutor after the assessment. The feedback session will be thorough and will enable the students to identify any deficiencies and areas for improvement or further development. An Employability Skills Tracking sheet maintained during the module delivery will be also discussed during the feedback sessions.

Formative assessment and feedback: Formative assessments are useful ways to track students’ progress during the term and this forms an integral part of the course delivery. However, students will not receive any marks or grade for this assessment. At least two sessions of formative assessments are expected for every module, except for the Dissertation Project module where students’ progress will be monitored throughout the process by an assigned supervisor and students have to carry out a number of formative assessments.

During the formative assessment process, the tutor and the student will be able to discuss the ongoing progress, deficiencies, and ways to make improvements. All students will receive constructive feedback on their works at different stages. Formative assessment and feedback will help the students in the preparation for summative assessment. The Level 6 modules are designed to enable students to pursue their interests independently and confidently with a reflective content in the assessment.

Assessment Methods: Modular assessment methods reflect on the specific Aims and Learning Outcomes. Assignments remains the key methods of assessment and are designed to facilitate learning and how students develop knowledge and competencies along with critically reflective thinking. Some assignments may have more than one method used for assessment purposes. Module guides will have clear explanation on how each module will be assessed. The following are typical assessment methods used in this course:

• CA: Coursework assignment
• CR: Critical Review essays or reports
• PP: Presentations and pitches
• PO: Portfolios of production work
• TH: Dissertation
• OT: Other types of assess methods such as Case study, essays, blog, group work/presentations and journals etc.

Degree classification

The classification of the degree shall be determined in accordance to the following criteria:

First Class (1):

• Students achieving an overall mean score of 70% or above.
• Students achieving an overall mean score of between 68% and 70% with at least 60 Level 6 credits at above 70% with the approval of Assessment Board.

Upper Second Class (2:1):

• •  
• Students achieving an overall mean score of between 60% and 69 %.
• Students achieving an overall mean score of between 58% and 60% with at least 80 Level 6 credits at above 60% with the approval of Assessment Board.

Lower Second Class (2:2):

• Students achieving an overall mean score of between 50% and 59%.
• Students achieving an overall mean score of between 48% and 50% with at least 80% Level 6 credits at above 50% with the approval of Assessment Board.

Assessment Regulations

Students will submit assignments through the ICON VLE. Assignments are run through a check for plagiarism. On the VLE there is also a link where students can obtain formative feedback from their tutors. A student will not be able to submit their assignments if their attendance is low and is not in line with College attendance policy.

Assignment submitted after the final submission deadline, and within one week of the deadline, will be capped at 40% (Pass) unless extenuating circumstances apply. Any assignment submitted later than two weeks after the deadline (week one final submission and week two, the following week, which is late submission window) will not be accepted. A student then should follow submission and resubmission process.

Where circumstances beyond the student’s control impact negatively on an assessment opportunity a student may submit a claim for exceptional extenuating circumstances and their work will be not be capped at Pass if it is accepted.

A student who, for the first assessment opportunity and resubmission opportunity, still failed to pass the module, will be allowed to repeat the module. The module will be capped at Pass and can be repeated only once.

For further information on Assessment regulations about submission, resubmission and repeat of the module, please refer to the Student Handbook.

Student Support

ICON College of Technology and Management assigns every student a designated Personal Tutor who is available by appointment throughout the academic year. The Personal Tutor is the first contact point at the College who will act as a mentor, and guide the students who encounter with non- academic problems, for example, financial hardship, accommodation matters, learning disabilities. All Personal Tutors will be expected to have online personal tutor meetings with each of their tutees at least once a semester.

The aims of the Personal Tutoring System are:

1. To ensure a student has someone who provides general advice and can point him/her in the direction of other resources in place to support the student.
2. To ensure a student has someone who will support the student academic progression and identify any problems.
3. To ensure that a student has a named person they can go to for support.

The College has a Student Hardship Fund intended to provide support to all students who are experiencing exceptional financial difficulty during their studies.

The College provides pastoral care and counselling through a Private a Therapy Clinic (which is an external healthcare company). A Student Career and Welfare Officer is available for published hours each week (including Saturdays) to provide counselling and welfare advice to ensure equality of access to provision.

The College has two members of staff, including the College Student Career and Welfare Officer, to provide advice regarding academic transition and progression following Course completion. The members of staff publish their availability on a noticeboard outside their office detailing the time each week they are available to provide this advice, including in the evening.

The College is committed to providing equality of access to education to all students through disability support services. The Student Career and Welfare Officer is responsible for liaising with the student and the relevant staff to implement all reasonable measures.

Evaluation and Revision

1. The Assessment Board receives and evaluates the external examiner’s reports every year and evaluates the standard achieved by the students and the quality of the provision of their work. They then produce a report for submission to the Academic Board.
    
2. The College also gives formative feedback on assignments to students through an online Formative Feedback Forum
    
3. The internal moderator checks a range of assessment decisions for all assessors and modules by sampling some of the assignments. In case of unexpected assessment decisions, e.g., everybody achieving First Class in the assignment, additional sampling will be conducted on individual modules/assessors.

The Academic Board has the responsibility to oversee the management of academic standards and quality of teaching and learning for all Courses and for ensuring that the requirements of the College are fulfilled

Further Information

See the ICON  College https://www.iconcollege.ac.uk for more information about the BSc (Hons) Business and Management

Course Handbook in PDF

Download Course Handbook in PDF