1. PREAMBLE

1.1 These Regulations shall be read in conjunction with the Faculty of Commerce Regulations and the General Academic Regulations for Postgraduate Degrees, hereinafter referred to as the General Postgraduate Regulations.

1.2 The degree shall be awarded to candidates who have successfully completed the programme and passed the examinations in accordance with regulations set in the Faculty Regulations.

2. OBECTIVES

2.1 The Master of Commerce degree in Tourism and Hospitality Management is a two-year programme for students with an undergraduate background in Tourism and Hospitality Management and other equivalent qualifications. Through this programme, the M.Com. graduates will acquire in-depth knowledge and advanced competence to strategically operate and or manage key sectors of the tourism and hospitality industry.

2.2 This programme aims to develop sound conceptual, technical, analytical and communication skills that are required to succeed in the management of tourism and hospitality establishments. To this end, the programme employs a Problem Based Approach which requires students to exercise their analytical abilities.

2.3 This programme will be offered through the MSU e-learning portal in order to instil a deep appreciation of e-learning as a platform for conveying and receiving academic knowledge.

3. ENTRY QUALIFICATIONS

3.1 To qualify for entry into the Master of Commerce in Tourism and Hospitality Management degree, a student should have a minimum of a good Bachelor of Commerce Honours degree in Tourism and Hospitality Management or an equivalent qualification. The student should also have a minimum of two years working experience in the industry.

4. GENERAL PROVISIONS

The programme shall be completed over a minimum of 2 years and a maximum of four years after which any credits attained by the student maybe lost .

5. ASSESSMENT

5.1 Formal examinations will be held at the end of each semester.

5.2 For a student to be admitted to the examinations they must have:

5.2.1 Satisfactorily attempted approved modules of study including submission of required written assignments and term papers.

5.2.2 Attended compulsory lectures.

5.2.3 Participated in prescribed seminars, tutorials workshops.

5.2.4 Paid the prescribed fees in accordance with the General Regulations.

5.3 Formal examinations will normally be written papers, but in some cases the examiner may test the candidate orally.

5.4 Coursework shall account for 40% of the overall assessment, while the final examination will account for 60% of the overall assessment.

5.5 The aggregate pass mark shall be 50% and the candidate must have obtained at least 50% in all the learning activities including the final examination.

6. SUPPLEMENTARY EXAMINATIONS

6.1 A student who fails to satisfy the examiners and obtains a mark less than 50% or fails the examination but not by less than 40% may, on the recommendation of the Board of Examiners and subject to the approval of the Senate, be permitted to sit for a supplementary examination(s) in the respective module(s) failed in the fourth semester.

6.2 Overall assessment of the Supplementary examination will not incorporate continuous assessment.

6.3 Supplementary exanimations shall be marked as “Pass” or “Fail” and the overall maximum mark awarded in a supplementary examination shall be 50%.

6.4 No student shall be allowed to sit for more than two supplementary examinations in the final semester.

7. PROVISION FOR PROGRESSION

-Refer to section 6 of the General Academic Regulations

8. DEGREE WEIGHTING

For purposes of degree classification, the parts of the degree programme will be classified as follows:

9. MARKING SCHEME– Refer to Section 21 of the General Academic Regulations

10. NOTIFICATION OF RESULTS -Results lists shall be published in accordance with the provisions of General Regulations.

11. PROGRAMME STRUCTURE

12. MODULE SYNOPSES

MTHM 701 STRATEGIC DESTINATION MARKETING

This module creates a comprehensive and focused management approach to marketing a destination in the domestic and global markets. The increasing role of the internet and cyber-marketing will also be looked at and in this case students will learn how to design and manage their own websites in order to effectively market their organizations. Issues of branding, advertising and public relations will also be addressed. Students will also acquire expertise in applying tourism marketing strategies in countries other than their own.

MTHM 702 STRATEGIC TOURISM PLANNING AND LEADERSHIP

Leadership ultimately determines the kind of tourism and hospitality organisations that any tourist destination can have. It thus also determines the quality of services that we deliver to our guests and the quality of life that we also enjoy. This module therefore seeks to impart leadership skills to tourism and hospitality managers so that they can effectively formulate and implement strategies that will continuously improve and sustain their operations. Issues relating to role modeling, mentoring, training and performance management will also be looked into.

MTHM 703 SUSTAINABLE ECOTOURISM AND THE COMMUNITIES

The aim of this module is to provide students with the knowledge, know-how and skills to manage destinations with a high degree of social, cultural, ecological and/or economic vulnerability, like indigenous communities, traditional rural areas and protected areas. Students will be asked to formulate the outlines of a sustainable tourism development vision as part of an integrated rural development perspective for a region and specify the critical success factors that must be met for the tourism vision to be realized. This approach includes an analysis of the needs and the potential of a region in order to create a sound and feasible future tourism and hospitality perspective for that area.

MTHM 704 TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY LAW AND ETHICS

Currently, most students pursuing tourism and hospitality studies at under-graduate level are only being introduced to general business law which is not specific to tourism and hospitality operations. This module therefore intends to fill in this knowledge gap. On ethics, the module will look at ethical issues and practices affecting the industry as these also affect organizational credibility and profits and the long term sustainability of the industry. It will not only look at unethical practices by tourism and hospitality establishments but also by government, media, private watch groups, competitors and employees. Responses to unethical practices and how organizations can be ethical to increase profits will also be looked at.

MTHM 705 ADVANCED FOOD AND BEVERAGE MANAGEMENT

This module is designed to give students advanced skills in food and beverage management. Special focus will therefore be on food purchasing, costing, stock management.

MTHM 706 INTERNATIONAL HOTEL MANAGEMENT

Foreign ownership of tourism and hospitality establishments is key feature in most tourism destinations. This module therefore focuses on the theory, principles and practices of managing international hotel establishments. It examines the current trends, problems and challenges and considers management implications in the management of these hotels.

MTHM 707 MICE MANAGEMENT

Today, meetings, incentives, conferences, fairs and events commonly referred to as MICE – make up a substantial part of the tourism business worldwide. Compared to other types of tourism, MICE are often among the most lucrative types of tourism for destination areas. That’s why many destinations exert themselves to have their share of the MICE markets. The general objective of the module therefore will be to understand what is going on in the MICE world. Current trends in the MICE business and the opportunities they can bring along for Southern African countries and Zimbabwe in particular will be looked into. Students will also learn how to plan and manage small and large scale meetings, conferences, fairs and events.

MTHM 708 ADVANCED SERVICES MARKETING

Perception plays a key role in the provision of the tourism and hospitality product. This module therefore aims at providing students with a sound knowledge of the barriers that divide the perception of service quality from customer expectations and to understand the criteria that customers use when forming expectations. This aspect
will be looked into after students have been given some insight into the nature and special characteristics of services as well as how to manage service quality, productivity and staff. Issues relating to positioning and branding of tourism and hospitality services and their relationship to the services marketing mix will also be addressed. In this case students will learn how to build and sustain powerful and successful brands.

MTHM 801 FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT FOR TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT

This module brings to the fore, the determination of financial objectives for tourism and hospitality organizations, the selection of appropriate projects to enable the financial objectives to be met and the sourcing of funds to finance the projects. Other areas of focus will include planning, control and financing of current operations, long term capital commitments, management of cash flows, evaluation of income, production property and expansion, capital budgeting and long term financing. The formulation, implementation and evaluation of financial management practices employed by tourism and hospitality management establishments will also be looked into.

MTHM 802 STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT FOR THE TOURISM INDUSTRY

The human resource factor is increasingly becoming the most important factor in the tourism and hospitality industry. This module therefore seeks to equip tourism and hospitality managers with the relevant skills to develop strategies, policies and practices that motivate employees. Special focus will be on how managers can inculcate feelings of employee loyalty and commitment and retain labour in the long run. Issues relating to the current high rate of labour turnover affecting the industry will also be looked into.

MTHM 803 GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION

Global Distribution systems are certainly driving the tourism and hospitality industry today and will continue to do so well into the future. This module therefore seeks to familiarize students to the various Global Distribution systems. Other computer software packages widely in use in the tourism and hospitality industry today like ACC PAC, CLS, etc. The general introduction to computers that students are exposed to at undergraduate level do not cater for these tourism related packages. These will be the main focus of this module. Students will also acquire computer skills to the equivalent of advanced ICDL in power point, word and excel packages.

MTHM 804 ADVANCED TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY RESEARCH METHODS

The major objective of this module is to introduce the theories, principles, and methods of conducting qualitative and quantitative research in tourism and hospitality management. Additionally, the course will acquaint students with general issues involved in conducting research, including ethics, validity, reliability, and instrument construction. More depth and scope will distinguish this course from the general introductory research methods that the students will have covered at undergraduate level.

MTHM805 PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND LOCAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Hospitality related ideas can be transformed into achievable business opportunities. One of the key learning outcomes of the later will be the development of a feasible tourism and hospitality related business plan by each student.

MTHM 806 DISSERTATION

This Module rounds off this program and consists of a supervised dissertation of not less than 20 000 words. It carries the greatest weight compared to the rest of the modules by virtue of it mainly consisting of an in-depth and independent study of a specific area of interest to the student. Only students whose topics will have been approved by the department will be allowed to proceed with the research.