Events Project Management MSc/PgD/PgC

The MSc programme is delivered over 2 semesters of taught modules, followed by the 60 credit final project.  The programme can also be studied part-time, with the minimum period of study being two years and the maximum five years.

To meet the educational and professional needs of each student, the programme offers three awards and exit points: Postgraduate Certificate; Postgraduate Diploma and MSc.  Learning and teaching strategies are designed to promote active engagement of the student with the subject area and reflect the strong vocational emphasis of the awards. 

Distinguishing features of the programme include:

The Industry Project Management module, which involves students undertaking a live consultancy project as a group.  In addition, students will have the opportunity to gain an additional professionally accredited award (Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM), accredited by the Project Management Institute) as part of this module.

An optional Internship module, which will enhance students’ employability.

An option for the final project is an Individual Consultancy Project, which gives students an opportunity to engage with an industry practitioner.

Students also have the opportunity to pursue a language module as an elective, potentially enhancing their employability.

Students can also engage with the opportunity to achieve additional professional certificates, e.g. Wine and Spirit Educational Trust, First Aid and Royal Society for Public Health Food Hygiene Awards, as these professional certificates provide added value and can enhance student CVs. 

Learning Strategies
Postgraduate students are expected to take increased responsibility and ownership for their own learning. The course structure and teaching strategies are designed to encourage greater student evaluation of content than at undergraduate level. Lectures are used to deliver information to students, whilst tutorials, seminars, workshops and case studies are used to develop higher cognitive capabilities.

Postgraduate students are required to undertake greater independent reading around their subjects and to critically evaluate the material throughout the programme. Practical exercises given to the students are more investigative in nature, require greater skills of analysis and synthesis and require the results to be put into a broader context than is expected of students at undergraduate level.

All non-lecture sessions require students to participate and contribute both prior to and during the sessions. Where group work is appropriate, students become aware of self-management and also group dynamics and the team approach to problem solving. Underlying these activities is the desire to utilise the experience, opinions and knowledge of the student body and to provide a creative context for the collaborative exploration and development of ideas.

Within the overall programme aims, students are encouraged to evaluate their own learning needs. Students are encouraged to seek many additional sources of information and then critically evaluate the knowledge obtained. The benefits of a self-analytical approach to learning and the process of learning, as well as the product, are emphasised.
Across the programme, the aim is to develop active and independent learners who can:

• Set their own goals by identifying their own learning needs and relevant issues for study;
• Reflect critically on theory in the light of their professional experience;
• Manage and evaluate their studies.

Study Skills

Dedicated study skills support is available from Cardiff School of Management’s Personal Tutoring team and, for international (non-EU) students, from the International Office.

The extant CSM Personal Development Planning (PDP) Strategy is designed to build upon current good practices that allow students to monitor, build and reflect upon their personal development. Elements of PDP will be embedded in modules such as Research Methods, Industry Project Management, Tourism, Hospitality and Events Industries in Context and Internship. This approach should ensure that students develop their personal reflection and to ensure that they have the appropriate knowledge and understanding, cognitive skills, practical and professional skills and transferable skills to operate within a tourism or hospitality management position.

Teaching Strategies

The programme has been designed to facilitate student learning that takes place against a background of professional expertise, exposure and commitment and internationalism. Whilst Wales is often used as a case study, the teaching team place great emphasis on contrasting Welsh industry practices with alternative international examples. The pedagogic approach combines lectures, seminars, workshops, tutorials, case studies, guest speakers, field visits and groupwork, as well as independent study. The overall philosophy of the programme is based on student-centred learning which will provide students with the optimal opportunity to utilise and extend their experience within a participative learning environment.

Lectures

Lectures contribute to the teaching strategies for the programme. They are an effective way of delivering core material and establishing a framework for a module against which other material can be set. Students are issued with a Module Handbook which outlines the content of each module and a list of the topics to be covered as well as sources of additional material (required and recommended reading).  Members of staff aim to present lecture material in as effective and stimulating a manner as possible.

Thus, use is made of presentation software, e.g. Microsoft PowerPoint, and all lecture rooms on the Llandaff campus have appropriate data projection equipment. Lecturers make their notes and other resources available on Blackboard which students can download as required.

Seminars

Seminars involve student(s) presenting previously-prepared work to peers and a lecturer. This strategy is used to extend specific theoretical or practical concepts as well as incorporating problem-solving approaches into the programme. Seminars are used to provide students with valuable experience in presentational skills as well as providing staff with a method of assessing student-centred learning.

Workshops

Practical workshops are used to develop skills in a supportive environment where students can get feedback from a member of academic staff. Practical workshops represent a valuable bridge between theory and practice.

Tutorials

These are meetings of a student or group of students with a lecturer or lecturers to: expand on material covered in lectures through an enquiry-driven problem solving approach appropriate to the needs of postgraduate students; include additional work to overcome deficiencies in a student's background knowledge.

Case Studies

Case studies are a learning and teaching strategy which can be employed within a variety of teaching methods.  Students may be presented with a real or simulated complex problem which they will have to analyse in detail and suggest/present their own solutions.

Guest Speakers

Guest lecturers from the public, private and voluntary sectors also participate in the learning and teaching process. They enhance award delivery by introducing a sense of the outside world into the learning and teaching process.  Students are also encouraged to join appropriate professional associations (e.g. Tourism Society, Institute of Hospitality) and to participate in the School research ethos through internal research seminars.

Visits

Visits to a range of tourism, hospitality and events organisations and other sites will be arranged to provide students with an opportunity to see some of the theory they have studied being implemented in the work-place in a variety of settings.

Groupwork

For some modules, a specific and substantial element of the learning process takes place through students working and learning as part of a team. Whilst each team will have an allocated tutor, the team members are responsible for managing team performance.  Groupwork provides support for individual students, allows confidence building, negotiating skills and generally enhances the learning process. The ability to work as part of a team is vital in many of the career paths within tourism, hospitality and events management. Groupwork may be required for: presentations, reports, collating information or critically evaluating research.

STUDENT SUPPORT

The primary basis of student support is to be provided by the Programme Director, Year Tutors and the associated administrative resources. In addition, support will be provided by:

• CSM Personal Tutors
• Cardiff Met’s International Office, who offer English Language and welfare support for International students
• An induction programme
• Student handbook and module handbooks
• Blackboard Virtual Learning Environment
• Library and study skills packages
• Library and learning resources of Cardiff Metropolitan University and Cardiff University (by arrangement)
• Specialist computing facilities including interactive and multi-media labs
• A 24-hour open access IT facility on the Cyncoed and Llandaff campuses
• Unlimited worldwide web access

4 year degree 60% or a GPA of 2.5 or above on the scale of 4 from a recognised institution in Jordan

OR Bachelor degree from a recognised institution in the UK

OR Bachelor degree from a recognised institution in the UK

OR Masters degree