22 December 1992 Lincoln Focus on Hospitality Industry

Tourism growth in New Zealand inevitably spins off into associated service industries, chief among which is accommodation.

"The more tourists you have, the greater the demand for hotels and other hospitality institutions," says Lincoln University lecturer Kevin Moore, who teaches in the tourism area.

To meet the demand for management expertise in the hotel industry, Lincoln has developed a new area of specialisation within its Bachelor of Commerce degree called Hotel and Institutional Management.

The first papers for this degree – B.Com.(H.& I.Mgmt.) – will be offered in 1993. Peter Cosgriff, a senior lecturer in the Economics and Marketing Department, is among those associated with its launch.

"The degree provides an avenue into the management of a hotel as a trading institution, or the management of the property on which the building stands," he says.

 "We are not providing practical skills such as food preparation, table waiting and the like. These would need to be acquired through practical on-the-job training or through one of the polytechnic courses.

"And it also has to be pointed out that the Lincoln degree is not the only entry into hotel management. It is only one way in, but an increasingly important way. The trend overseas is definitely for the top management of hotels to be university qualified in management.

"The Lincoln degree has been developed in consultation with the industry and is structured to keep it in accord with Lincoln's other Commerce degrees so that there is a useful mix of flexibility and specialisation. After all, today's graduates might be looking at two or three career changes in the course of their working years."

The Bachelor of Commerce (Hotel & Institutional Management) degree aims to prepare graduates for management positions not only in hotels but in other institutional providers of accommodation as well, e.g. hospitals, hostels and even accommodation complexes associated with large scale sporting events such as Commonwealth Games, World Cup Rugby and the like.

For those wanting to focus on the general area of tourism rather than exclusively on the accommodation side, Lincoln offers three degree channels – the Bachelor of Commerce (Tourism), the Bachelor of Resource Studies and the Bachelor of Parks and Recreation Management, both with Tourism streams.

In simple terms the first degree concentrates on the commercial, economic and financial aspects of tourism, the second degree has a focus on the natural resources which are the foundation of tourism and the development of policy relating to their utilisation, and the third looks at Tourism in the general context of leisure and recreation.

Liaison staff and course advisers at Lincoln are always willing to discuss degree programmes prior to enrolment so that students embark on the course most suited to their ambitions and expectations.

"Don't hesitate to get in touch with us if there's anything you would like to discuss," – that's the joint message from Kevin Moore and Peter Cosgriff.

Ian Collins, Journalist, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand.