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

A candidate must have either:

A minimum of two completed A-Levels with grades D and above or

A level 3 qualification with minimum 60 credits or

An Access to Higher Education Certificate awarded by an approved further education institution or

4 GCSEs with grades D and above and 3 Years’ Experience or

A level 2 qualifications with minimum 30 credits and 2 years relevant work experience or

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

International qualifications at the appropriate level will also be accepted. The College will use UK NARIC to determine the equivalence of any international qualifications.

                                                                                     Stage Level 4

                                                                                         Stage Level 5

                                                                                     Stage Level 6

*Single module and assessed in semester 2

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 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.

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

The direction of higher education in tourism and hospitality management has changed a great deal over the past decade. In the wider fields of tourism and related management, the emphasis is now very much on gaining essential employability skills to pursue a career successfully. The job roles include manager, supportive professional, or an entrepreneur-manager. Merely acquiring only theoretical knowledge is not considered enough. The 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 educators today need to consider when delivering tourism and hospitality management courses. Thus, it means 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) degree course at ICON College of Technology and Management has been developed based on these criteria. It has been designed to deliver these expectations and the course delivery will therefore focus on achieving them. 

Tourism and Hospitality Management BA (Hons) students 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 three-year 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.

When delivering the modules, tutors will follow the five-step approach that consists of introduction, teaching (lectures, seminars and tutorials), activities, reflection and feedback, and consolidation and integration in their weekly plan. In a virtual learning environment using Kaltura, tutors can lead tutorials and group tasks in Breakout rooms. 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 at different levels. The delivery will be designed to be flexible based on expectations and learning styles of the students. Tutors at ICON College, with the help of the state-of-the-art technology in the classroom environment, 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. Visits to tourist attractions, conference venues, and hospitality facilities, attending travel trade shows, and guest lecturers all remain an integral part of delivery for certain modules during the course.

Since every course 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 formative assessment. In the delivery of specific modules at all levels, achievement in gaining employability skills will be assessed through workshop sessions, homework assignments, and group presentations etc. Such skills to be gained 

will include, for example, critical thinking, creativity, research and analytical skills, teamworking, communication, and self-management. All these remain a part of professional development.

The THM BA (Hon) course structure and contents are designed to align with the subject benchmark statement for Events, Hospitality, Leisure, Sport and Tourism (EHLST, QAA: Nov 2019). The EHLST Benchmark Statement places emphasis on I) the principles; II) teaching, learning and assessment; III) generic skills; and IV) subject specific benchmark (tourism and hospitality). The course, therefore, focuses on the Hospitality and Tourism components from the EHLST Benchmark Statement. In defining the principles, the benchmark standards point to three key areas: Events and Creative Industry, Sustainability and Environmental impact, and Digital Technology. 

The level 4 modules set the foundation to acquire the basic knowledge and tools so that the level 5 and 6 modules can be delivered progressively considering the subject contents focusing on the application and critical reflection in the later stages. This also allows the taught contents to be balanced well across all levels and facilitate independent learning as the student progresses. In year-1, the level 4 modules of THM 101 and THM 103 lay the foundation for understanding tourism and hospitality as a socio-economic process so that students can build upon their knowledge base on the subject whilst exploring personal and professional development opportunities in THM103. In stage 2, students are exposed to the basic tools of financial decision making in THM 104 and understanding the tourism market and customer behaviour in THM 105 and THM 106. In the first year, they will also be introduced to essential business and transferable skills such as self-management and commercial awareness through Professional Development and Work-life Balance, Financial decision making, and Understanding Marketing trends in Tourism. Examining the basic financial data, market intelligence, understanding the principles of service marketing and customer experience remains the focus here.

The level 5 modules reflect on the application of relevant theories and models as well as management tools in practical settings. The role of effective leadership and management of human resources as well as other destination related resources and facilities are emphasised here. The level 5 modules from THM 107 to THM 112 (Responding to Global Tourism Crisis, Strategic Talent Management, Managing Service Innovation, Tourism Development and Promotion, Managing Tour Operations, and Managing Tourist Resorts) all reflect on the EHLST benchmark points 2.7 to 3.9 in hospitality and 3.27 in tourism. These modules will further enrich and complement the students’ knowledge and skills of business and management in the tourism and hospitality industry. Responding to Crisis in Global Tourism, Tourism Development and Promotion, Managing Tour Operations, and Managing Tourism Resort & Spa are essentially practical modules where students will be expected to demonstrate their ability to apply theory in real-world setting.

The final year level 6 modules are designed to consolidate and critically reflect on what the students have learned. Essentially, the EHLST benchmark points 2.4, 2.5, and 2.6 under defining principles are explored in the level 6 modules of THM 113 to THM 116 (Sustainable and Responsible Management in Tourism, Devising Digital Marketing Strategy, Strategic Hospitality Management, and Event and Entertainment Management). 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. They are also designed to help students acquire essential employability skills which will make them competitive when seeking a career in the field.

The module THM 117 provides an opportunity to consolidate all what they have learned and complete a research project. Dissertation provides the 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 the student to show high level of self-management and critical reflection. In addition, students will be expected to demonstrate creativity and be able to communicate effectively with professional presentation skills to a relevant audience.

The BA (Hons) course in Tourism and Hospitality Management makes use of a range of assessment methods to reflect on meeting the College-wide assessment criteria against the modular learning outcomes. An essential feature of the assessment strategy is that each module is assessed 

independently at the end of the semester. As indicated in the TPA table, every module is assessed by specific assessment methods such as Coursework Assignment, Portfolio, Project Report, Critical Review Report or by an independent written report.  In summative assessment, however, no module is assessed by more than two pieces of assessments. Also, an average of three learning outcomes from the eight common learning outcomes are usually assessed, excluding the dissertation which has six TPAs. The subject specific benchmark standard points of 6.6 to 6.11 for hospitality and 6.22 to 6.25 for tourism (EHLST, Nov 2019) are emphasised in the teaching, learning and assessment strategy of this course. Detail assessment policy and procedures can be found in the College Quality Assurance and Enhancement Manuel.

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 pieces. 

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. Employability skills tracking sheet maintained during the module delivery will be also discussed during the feedback session.

Formative assessment and feedback: Formative assessments are useful ways to track students’ progress and attainment against certain modular aims or objectives such as gaining employability skills and this forms an integral part of the course assessment strategy. Tutors may use a variety of methods that would include homework assignment, group projects and presentations, individual study reports etc. Students can demonstrate their achievement as learned from directed or self-directed independent learning. However, formative assessments are not formally graded but intended to help students achieving specific module learning outcomes as per the TPA table through summative assessment. At least two formative assessments are expected for every module, except for the dissertation module where students’ progress will be monitored throughout the process by an assigned supervisor and students may 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.

Students can use this feedback to shape the work being submitted for summative assessment. As for the entire course, formative assessment and feedback received in year 1 and 2 modules may have some bearing on the year 3 modules; although 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 and Critical Review report remain the key methods of assessment and are designed to facilitate learning and how students develop knowledge and competencies along with critically reflective thinking. Some modules may have more than one method used for assessment purposes. Module guide will have clear explanation on how each module will be assessed. The following are typical assessment method used in this course:

• CA: Coursework assignment
• CR: Critical Review essays or reports
• PP: Presentations and pitches
• PO: Portfolios of production work
• TH: Thesis  
• OT: Other (Case study, essays, research log/journal, group/individual presentation individual report, Financial report blog etc.)  

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 the 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 the 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 the Assessment Board.

Third Class (3):

• Students achieving an overall mean score of between 40% and 49%

Students submit assignments through the ICON VLE where a check for plagiarism is made and feedback from the tutor is provided. A student will not be able to submit their assignments if their attendance is low and is not in line with College’s attendance policy. A student can only submit their assignment if s/he has met attendance requirements.

Any assignment submitted later than two weeks after the deadline (Final & Late) will not be accepted. The assignment will be submitted in the resubmission time.

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.

The College 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 would act as a mentor, and guide the student who encounters non-academic problems, e.g., 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:

• 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.
• To ensure a student has someone who will support the student academic progression and identify any problems.
• To ensure that a student has a named person they can go to for support.

The College has a 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.

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 the Academic Board.

The College also provides feedback on assignments to students through an online Formative Feedback Forum

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.

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

Download Course Handbook in PDF