‘Our Curriculum Meets the Challenges of the Business Environment’
The HSE master's programme 'Experience Economy: Hospitality Management and Tourism' offers knowledge which is required in business, but not yet widely available in textbooks. Marina Predvoditeleva, Academic Supervisor of the programme, speaks about the innovations that will be introduced to the programme curriculum in the next academic year.
The principles of student training
Hospitality and tourism are not a closed world. This area is constantly acquiring advanced technologies and management practices from other fields. While preparing the programme, we work with one eye on the future — we focus on problems emerging in various areas (not necessarily in Russia). We already teach what will be practiced in Russian hotel and tourism business in a few years, although now it may seem to be fantasy.
We do not give students only time-proven knowledge. The classic is good and useful, but the business landscape changes rapidly, and we and our students can't afford to be slow off the blocks.
Our studying process is based on three elements:
internationalization
business contacts
focus on research
Each of these elements is updated annually, and continually developed in order to make the curriculum more interesting and relevant, so that it meets the challenges of the modern business environment.
About our new courses
Innovations for the next academic year are aimed at the transfer of ‘proactive’ knowledge.
Thus, we're launching the ‘Introduction to Data Science’ course, and this is a big deal. Working with data has already become a compulsory part of HSE's undergraduate studies. Now we're offering it to the students of our programme — it will certainly be useful to them in their future careers.
The course ‘Digital technologies in hospitality and tourism’, will also be transformed - it will include such topics as blockchain, the Internet of things, artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Focusing on teaching specific knowledge, we're introducing two new courses in finance — ‘Economics of hotel and tourism business’ and ‘Financial management and financial modeling in the hospitality industry and tourism’.
Let’s not forget about soft skills: existing courses will feature the latest approaches to leadership and team building (including the concepts of teaming and ‘leader without a title’). These courses will enable students to develop design thinking, negotiation skills and so on.
About new career trajectory
It is worth noticing that it’s not only the HSE faculty who deliver lectures to our students.
In addition to the new courses, during the 2019/20 academic year we will be starting to work on a new career trajectory for our students: travel departments of large companies and the MICE-industry. Various events, such as the Russian Hospitality Awards, can be used as an example of activity in this field. Such specialists are in demand on the market, and we have the resources for this training.
New partnerships abroad
Another innovation in our programme is related to internationalization. We have signed an exchange agreement with LUISS Business School (Rome) — students will be able to spend a semester there on the English-language programme ‘Master in Tourism Management’.
This academic mobility programme will be the third in our portfolio: our students can already study on exchange programmes at the University of Bologna and at MCI Management Center, Innsbruck.
Иконки: flaticon.com/ Smashicons
Marina Predvoditeleva
Academic Supervisor of the programme 'Experience Economy: Hospitality Management and Tourism'
See also:
HSE University Participates in Youth Hiking Tourism Development Strategy
HSE University and the project team of ‘Hikes of the First—More than a Trip’ are working on a strategy to promote hiking tourism among young people through 2030. At the HSE University project session, honoured travellers of Russia, trail builders, and representatives from various institutions, such as HSE University and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Russia, came together to work on proposals. For three years, university experts were designing mechanisms for creating the infrastructure for hiking tourism, taking into account safety standards, eco-friendliness, and professional training for guides.
Wild Travel Festival Dazzles with Hitchhiking, Volunteerism, and Dance
How can you live in Europe a whole year without spending a single euro? Is it safe to travel alone? Do you need to learn the local language of your destination if you know English? At HSE’s Cultural Centre on January 25, guests could get answers to all their burning questions about independent and off-the-beaten-path travel at the Wild Travel Festival.
What Russians Tell Tourists about their Towns
Residents of provincial Russian towns put it differently when talking about their towns to Muscovites, foreigners, and tourists from other Russian regions. Such an ‘individual approach’ is spontaneous and may be useful in creating city tourist brands, concluded Nadezhda Radina as a result of her experiment, which involved over 800 residents of Russian provinces.
'My Heart Is in the Mountains'
Elena Koleva was born in Sofia, Bulgaria, and studies psychology at HSE. She not only masters the depths of psychology, but also actively participates in the HSE Extreme Sports Club. Elena says this club and its activities were one of the decisive factors in her choosing to study at HSE.
HSE Team Conquers Mount Elbrus for Fourth Time
Members of HSE’s Extreme Sports Club again reached the top of Russia and Europe’s highest peak on Mount Elbrus in August of this year. All participants in this ascent received the title of ‘Alpinist of Russia’. Below we present a diary of their trip, covering such topics as a thunderous snowstorm during their ascent, eating lunch at Yury Vizbor’s favorite café and much more.
'We Want to Show Our Guests All the Best Russia Has to Offer'
For many foreigners, Russia is still considered a region of extreme tourism. HSE graduates Anastasia Efimova and Alexei Chichvarin opened up the Brick Design Hotel on Myasnitskaya Street not only as a business, but also as a project aimed at changing the stereotypes that tourists have about Russia. In the latest edition of Success Builder, Anastasia and Alexei talk about how easy it was for them to start a business after graduating from HSE, what is complicated about reconstructing a historic landmark, why foreigners like farm products for breakfast, and how to benefit during times of crisis.
HSE Students Invite Everyone on a Trip
The first ‘I Like Trip’ festival was held at HSE Media courtyard, 2/8 Khitrovsky Pereulok. During the day, visitors had the chance to sample national dishes cooked by HSE students from all over the world, learn folk dances (and other kinds of dance), find the job of your dreams in tourism at the careers fair, and get some inspiration from open yoga classes. You could also choose how to spend this summer with the student travel club ‘I Like Trip’ or HSE Tourism Club.
An Excursion to the Sky
In July, students from the HSE Extreme Sports Club planted the university’s flag at the top of Mount Elbrus, one of the world’s highest peaks. Garry Rutberg, one of the club’s leaders, and Alexandra Oleinikova, an HSE alumna and the club’s guide, tell us about the complicated nature of the mountain, ways of fighting hypoxia, and what it’s like to walk amongst the clouds.
Will Tourism Survive in a Changing World?
The international graduate student conference organized by the Master's Programme in Experience Economy, ‘Sustainable Tourism Development in the Changing World’ which took place from February 5-6 at HSE St. Petersburg, was a forum for the discussion of new approaches in researching the tourism and hospitality industries for young researchers from St. Petersburg, Moscow, Arkhangelsk, Petrozavodsk, and South Korea.
‘Our Programme Turns Tourism Lovers into Professionals’
Professor Valery Gordin, Head of the Faculty of Economics and Management at HSE St Petersburg, presents the Master’s Programme The Experience Economy; Hospitality and Tourism Management. He is academic supervisor of the course which comes under the Events Management and Cultural Tourism field of study at HSE St Petersburg. Teaching is in Russian and English.