Boston Business School: Host of Singapore’s leading hospitality programs

As a species, we are travelling at historically unprecedented rates. As the global middle class expands, trips abroad have become cheaper and more accessible. The internet and companies like AirBnB have made the process of booking something halfway across the world not only possible, but also simple and efficient.

Nowhere is this more evident than within the nation of Singapore. In the first quarter of 2018, international visitor arrivals grew by 7.3 percent to reach 4.6 million, according to a recently released Singapore Tourism Board (STB) report. It was the second-most visited destination in the Asia-Pacific region among international visitors in 2016, taking the top spot in terms of visitor spend. In short, the industry is booming.

Chief Executive of STB, Lionel Yeo, described this a second consecutive year of “record tourism performance”.

With this in mind, where better for those looking for a place to launch a career in tourism than Singapore’s leading hospitality management school?

Located in the flourishing Bugis district, Boston Business School (BBS) boasts the dual quality of being part of the country’s acclaimed education system, and being located in a thriving Asian country.

Source: Boston Business School

Singapore’s education system is well-known worldwide. Its schools and universities perform consistently well in comprehensive global rankings, while its pupils are among the top scorers in the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) – a triennial test of 15-year-olds worldwide.

As part of this world-class education system, BBS takes its teaching and learning outcomes very seriously. Its hospitality management courses – Specialist Diploma in Hospitality Management, CTH Levels 4 and 5 Diploma in Hospitality Management (QCF), CTH Level 7 Post Graduate Diploma in Hospitality and Tourism Management, Pearson BTEC Level 5 HND Diploma in Hospitality Management (QCF), and Diploma in Global Tourism Management – are not exempt from this strive for excellence and are delivered to the highest standard of quality assurance.

Pham Thi Huyen Nhung, an international student from Vietnam, places this as the top reason why she finds BBS to be an outstanding study destination:

“The teachers here are not simply teachers, but lecturers, they guide us all the way. They have experience in the hospitality industry with a good knowledge and understanding of social as well as student psychology,” the 23-year-old said.

Randy Hu Jiayun shares this sentiment. Originally from China, the international student said he is lucky to be a student here as BBS has shaped him into a better person:

“Teachers are caring and interested enough in students’ well-being, the class is fun and interactive,” he said.

At BBS, hospitality management courses act as a great launchpad to a career in Singaporean tourism sectors, be it within hotels, entertainment venues or other tourism-related establishments. The curriculum here is simple yet effective, granting students a comprehensive syllabus, diverse teaching methods and plenty of opportunities to apply what they learn within a real-world environment.

Take, for example, the Diploma in Global Tourism Management. This Level 4 learning programme emphasises the development of knowledge and understanding of the tourism and hospitality industry. From analysing the impact of geography on tourism, to learning about the Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) sub-sector, students gain the foundation needed to progress onto a higher qualification.

Source: Boston Business School

Each module lets students dive into pressing tourism issues. The Marketing Management in Tourism Industry module, for example, lets students see how the key concepts and functions of marketing affect hospitality, travel, tourism, sports, leisure and recreation. Meanwhile, the Rooms Division Operations module gives students insight into how room divisions are deployed by management to maximise both occupancy and revenue.

Soft skills, among the most in-demand expertise employers seek today, feature significantly in this BBS diploma. Several modules are designed to help students develop a range of professional and personal skills, promoting future personal and career development.

For this diploma, learning isn’t confined to the traditional lecture hall format. Instead, the programme is delivered through a combination of classroom lectures, group and individual assignments, case studies, in-class exercises and industry visits where appropriate.

It’s also designed to be flexible, giving working professionals and mature students the option to study part-time for 24-months in a three days a week, three hours per session format, instead of just the usual full-time 18-month stint, which takes place Monday to Friday, at three hours per session.

The Industrial Attachment component then complements what students learn about global tourism by applying them in professional working environment. Such experience cannot be underestimated given how potential employers place high value on them. A new report released last week by the Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U) found that business executives and hiring managers think internships or apprenticeships gives fresh graduates “an edge” over those without.

“93 percent of executives and 94 percent of hiring managers say that they would be more likely to hire a recent graduate who has held an internship or apprenticeship with a company or organization,” the report notes. Similarly, job candidates with applied and project-based learning were viewed more favourably as well.

Diploma in Global Tourism Management students at BBS must complete a 6-month, 44-hours per week Industrial Attachment. This is where students gain hands-on learning and boost their employment opportunities – many of BBS’s students later successfully transition to full-time positions at the companies they intern at, including notable establishments such as Les Amis Holdings Pte Ltd and Ippudo Singapore Pte Ltd.

Whatever your aspirations for a career in tourism, possibilities await you at BBS.

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