Study programmes 

Degree versus Diploma

Opposed to the programme content in most diploma courses, the B Com programme from Stenden SA focuses on the development of competencies required by today’s hotel manager. Though the programme has a strong industry focus, this focus comes mainly from a managerial perspective as opposed to the operational perspective taught in most diploma courses. Stenden SA does not seek to educate waiters and chefs, but future hospitality leaders that possess the required operational skills and approach challenges from a managerial viewpoint. 

Diploma

  • Popularly regarded as a “second best” option
  • Access to the programme is generally available to anyone, regardless of academic background
  • Training
  • Is usually complete in itself, and does not offer scope for further development
  • Generally has acceptance and recognition only in the country of training
  • Usually based on rote learning and subject specific texts and practices.
  • Produces workers in an operational setting
  • Courses are usually put together by arbitrary lecturers based on their experiences

Degree

  • Generally seen as a qualification with status

  • Access to the programme is generally based on academic achievement and ability
  • Education
  • Serves as a stepping stone to further specialisation, should one so desire.
  • It is generally accepted world-wide
  • Teaches one to think for oneself, and to reason logically and effectively
  • Grooms people for leadership
  • Courses are generally based on international best-practice

The B Com programme of Stenden South Africa can be summarized by an end profile that has been developed by its mother university, Stenden University in The Netherlands in collaboration with other Universities.

In the Netherlands, Stenden University, Hotel School The Hague, the School for Hotel Management Maastricht, The Nederlandse Hogeschool voor Toerisme en Vrijetijdskunde (Breda) and the Saxion Hogeschool IJsselland (Deventer / Apeldoorn) are the universities offering Hotel Management programmes. These Universities elaborated the domain competences in a national Professional Competence Profile for Hospitality Management (2004).

This profile consists of a professional profile which gives a description of the
professional or core tasks of the professional worker, and a competence profile
in which the professional tasks have been translated into competences.
Competences describe the knowledge, insight, skills, and professional attitude
students should have acquired by the end of their studies to be adequately
prepared for the professions they have been trained to perform.

Stenden has extended this competence profile, by adding two competences to the national profile. These competences are derived from the educational concept and the mission of Stenden and concern the intercultural and the value driven competences that we feel are evident for any manager. The competence profile is directional for the development of the educational programme. Below, you will find a short description of the competences.

1. Creating of „experiences‟ by the granting of hospitality.
2. The development of a vision on changes and trends in the external environment and the developing of relations, networks and chains.
3. Analysing policy issues, and to translate these in policy objectives and policy alternatives and preparing for decision-making.
4. Implementation of Human Resource Management in view of the strategy of the organisation.
5. Setting up, managing and improving of company - or organisational processes.
6. Analysing the financial and legal aspects, internal processes and the company - or organisational environment in order to reinforce the correlation and interaction.
7. Developing, implementing and evaluating a change process.
8. Leading a company, part of a company, company processes or a project
9. Social and communicative competence (interpersonal, organisation)
10. The competence of managing one self (intrapersonal, or professional)
11. Focuses his managerial and entrepreneurial behaviour - from his own outlook on life - on core values which contribute to the care of human beings and the world.
12. Effectively identify and handle cultural differences within an international team in hospitality management.

From an industry perspective, the rationale clearly summarizes the current and future need of South Africa to have well trained managers lead the country to become a major tourism destination with all the positive spin offs for its citizens.

Problem Based Learning

Stenden SA uses Problem Based Learning (PBL) in its courses. In Problem Based Learning, learning is thought to be the process of actively acquiring and processing information that changes the behaviour of the student in a relatively irrevocable way. This acquired knowledge, being of a cognitive nature, may also be of an affective or psychomotor nature.

We have chosen to use PBL and CBL (Case based learning) in our courses as this approach supports our view on learning and requires an active study attitude on the part of the students.

Our primary motive for choosing PBL is the fact that in PBL the individual student is responsible for what and how he/she learns. An educational system that compels students to study actively is generally more motivating than a system that does not encourage active study.
PBL changes a student’s attitude towards studying that may lead to a life long increase in self-study and personal responsibility. During PBL sessions, students learn that their current knowledge is often not sufficient to address the problem they are confronted with. Through the PBL process, the students learn the problem solving process that will allow them to tackle problems in future (professional) situations.

The secondary motives for choosing PBL are:
- Social motive: Working on PBL tasks in small study groups stimulates the development of co-operation.
- Educational-didactic motive: The PBL method ‘forces’ students to develop personal discipline and an ongoing working rhythm.
- Educational contents and methodical motive: As opposed to the lecture/exam approach in which students often learn only specific significant information, the PBL approach stimulates gaining a broad array of knowledge by presenting a carefully chosen problem as a starting point. It promotes the integration of various disciplines. In addition to acquiring knowledge and skills, the PBL session gives the student the opportunity to practice and use the knowledge and skills gained.

For any questions about Stenden university please contact the information center: +31 58 244 14 41.