Megan Dillon
Thank you for tuning in to this session of Victoria University's undergraduate webinar series. My name is Megan, I am a future student advisor at Victoria University, and in this session, we will be discussing our courses in Tourism, Hospitality and Event management. Before we begin this webinar, I would like to do an acknowledgement of country and pay my respects to the traditional owners of the land, which we live work and study on today and I would like to pay my respects to the elders past present and emerging. Just a few housekeeping rules before we begin. Firstly, this webinar will be recorded for repurposing and all participants who registered for this webinar will receive a copy of the recording via email. Secondly, all attendees are muted and not visible so none of the panellists can see or hear you and finally if you have any questions at any point during this webinar please leave them in the q a box and you’ll receive a written response from a staff member working behind the scenes. Firstly, we will talk about some of the benefits of studying tourism, hospitality and event management that you can look forward to if you choose to study at Victoria University. Our degrees are highly regarded both in Australia and around the world, with our rankings including 37 in the world for tourism and hospitality management and world standard for research and tourism. When studying tourism, hospitality and event management at Victoria University you will be studying with the school for the visitor economy. Across university, school providing qualified professionals to the tourism, hospitality and event management industries both locally and internationally our teachers within the Victoria university business school are experts in their field and many are still practicing professionals meaning they can share their up-to-date industry knowledge with our students. Our bachelor of business has 11 majors that you can choose from including event management and tourism and hospitality management, which we will go further into detail about shortly. Finally, when you choose to study at Victoria University you will get to experience study with the revolutionary VU block model, which allows students to focus on just one subject at a time for a period of four weeks. Instead of the traditional way to study that other universities offer which is four units over a whole semester. Now we are going to hear from Dr Colin Drake senior lecturer in the Victoria University Business School.
Dr Colin Drake
Hi, I am Dr Colin Drake, senior lecturer in the VU business school. We started hospitality management courses nearly 60 years ago here and we're still going strong today and in terms of event management, there are only a handful of universities around Australia that are studying all the way from certificate through to PhD level and we are one of those. Victoria University is probably one of the oldest event management establishments in Australia. We have been teaching event management for more than 25 years. The benefit of tourism and hospitality management and event management more generally is it is a global industry and therefore skills are transportable and the market is growing generally double the growth of other industry sectors so the prospects are bright in this particular field. Benefit of being a dual sector university is students can start at the VU polytechnic and they can start from a certificate and if they like what they are studying they can move into a diploma or an advanced diploma and all of those studies can be credited towards a degree. When they make the jump from the VU polytechnic into the university, it does not mean that they will be going backwards. Every amount of study that they are doing is contributing towards their final award. I think the work integrated learning program that we've had established over the last 20 years or so has been a significant driver to full-time employment for our students we’ve had students work at Disney world in Florida, work in ground operations for Qantas, in LA, work for the Melbourne convention centre. So, we have some very positive student success stories out of tourism and hospitality management at VU. We have professional development units all the way through first, second or third year that culminates in an applied business challenge. So that's taking away the theory and putting in you know, practical examples and so you can't get any more ready than doing a placement at the very minimum of 150 hours and up the maximum up to 12 months. We have connections with Victorian tourism industry council that also allows us to do internships; there is a range of different relationships that we have established over a long period of time. both the full-time academics and the part-time academics, mostly have come from a backgrounding these disciplines, so being able to fuse the practical experience of the lecturing staff with the theory being taught in classroom makes it a more reality-based course. Event management is a discipline that allows our students to become professional conference organisers, working the exhibition sector, work in corporate public, not-for-profit organisations in terms of broad range of events predominantly business events. We teach subjects ranging from live performance management, business events, introduction to tourism, hospitality and events. Tourism and hospitality management is another sector of the visitor economy. From tourism and hospitality management, students have the opportunity to work in a range of different roles whether that is within the attraction sector. So things like museums or zoos through to working on, in airports, aviation in terms of aircraft and tour wholesaling, all the way through to destination management organisations. We have had students from Victoria University end up with professional conference organizers, crown resorts, the Melbourne convention and exhibition centre, the Eureka sky deck, the list goes on. One of our students was working for a professional conference organiser in London, working on some major brand product launches and so forth. Another student was working for one of the big box offices in Broadway and had an amazing experience there. There is very few dual sector universities in Australia and certainly none that offer the breadth of courses that we do and in terms of what they study, they study things like sustainable destinations, sustainable operations, tourism, design, international trends and issues and again a broad range of business subjects related to the bachelor of business studies.
Megan Dillon
These are the majors that are offered as part of our bachelor of business degree with a focus on tourism, hospitality and event management. Our bachelor of business is a three-year program and teaches students to improve their analytical, organizational and interpersonal skills to succeed in the constantly changing world of business. Students study core units in the first year of this degree and select one or two options from our choice of majors from 11 different specialty business areas. Students who choose the events management major will develop key insights into the events sector and gain the skills to create manage and market events at both local and international level. They will also gain an understanding of the events industry including event creation and design live performance management, business events and sustainable operations. Students who study the tourism and hospitality management major will gain the skills and knowledge needed to develop operate manage and market sustainable tourism products including experiences, businesses and destinations. Students will combine their interests in travel experiences fine dining andexceptional events and learn about the industry's core trends and issues as well as insights into product and service development, tourism innovation and working with stakeholders for various cultural backgrounds. Students studying tourism, hospitality and events at Victoria University will have the opportunity to join our school for the visitor economy which works with a high-level industry advisory panel as well as industry partners to make sure our training, education and research is closely aligned with industry needs. Students in school for the visitor economy will join a large network of alumni as well as industry partners and tourism researchers that can stay connected after graduation. Up next we will hear from Dr Joanne Pike, director of the school for the visitor economy at Victoria University
Dr Joanne Pike
Hello I am Dr Joanne Pike, the director of the school for the visitor economy at Victoria University in Melbourne. The visitor economy is one of the fastest growing industry sectors in the world and VU is the only university in Australia to offer hospitality, tourism and events management from certificate levels through to degrees, masters and PhD level. Industry partnerships and placements are central to our teaching at VU and ensure our students graduate as experienced and qualified professionals.
Christy Musco
Accor has a good relationship with VU, we employ a lot of VU graduates we also take work integrated learning placements whenever we can and a lot of people whilst they're studying also enjoy casual work with us as well. Doing a work integrated learning placement often leads to more permanent ongoing employment with the Accor hotels.
Dr Joanne Pike
Pathways are available from related fields such as food science, transport and logistics management and marketing sports management and our prestigious MBA program. All programs are closely linked and guided by our industry partners and all our programs include the opportunity to gain hands-on and professional work experience.
Amanda Wilson
I think the things that we've really enjoyed with VU, is the way that they tailor their courses so this is why we’re excited about partnering with VU. To actually have some industry input into or at least support of the curriculum. I think that co-collaboration on how we do make this the best school for visitor economy in the best university is exciting.
Megan Dillon
At Victoria University we have revolutionized tertiary education with our award-winning block model. The VU block model allows our students to focus on just one subject at a time. Instead of juggling multiple subjects, over six months like at other universities and is offered to students in all years of our undergraduate degrees. With the VU block model, you will be fully focused on each subject and if you are fascinated by one particular subject, you can immerse yourself in it and enjoy all that that subject has to offer. If you do not enjoy it you will be pleased to have, it finished in just four weeks without needing to wait until the end of the semester to know your results. Up next is a brief video to show you what your year is going to look like while you are studying with the block model at Victoria University.
VU Block model VIDEO
We have been teaching the same way for hundreds of years now but the world around us has changed and along with it, employer and industry needs so at VU we change the way you learn with our Australian first VU block model. Traditionally you juggle the demands and deadlines of four units at once instead the VU block model has you focus on one unit at a time each semester will be broken into four blocks, which run for four weeks. You focus on one unit in each block completing all your assessments before moving on to the next. So, instead of this, the VU block model looks like this. VU's block model gives you greater focus by studying just one unit at a time in smaller more collaborative classes and provides flexible study options to suit your lifestyle. With the introduction of block model, student success is soaring, more students are passing first year and second year too and over 40 percent of students are now enjoying grades at or above distinction levels. VU students are more engaged and satisfied with their Uni experience, employers have also noticed the difference ranking VU graduates in the top 10 of more than 40 universities for work readiness and more than 90% of graduates are ranked highly for employability. So when you study with the VU block model you know it is proven to give you the support and skills you need to succeed.
Megan Dillon
Moving on to pathway options for our tourism, hospitality and event management courses at Victoria University. We offer many different ways for you to build pathway connection to your dream course, one of our most popular pathway courses is our higher education diploma of business enterprise. Higher education diplomas prepare students to transition into university helping them to develop good study habits and teaching time management skills for further study or transitioning into the workforce. Students in this diploma will learn up-to-date skills and knowledge for a career in business with guaranteed entry into the second year of our bachelor of business upon completion. We also offer several TAFE diplomas with a focus on tourism, hospitality and event management, which not only guarantees entry into our bachelor of business upon completion but also provides credits for this degree. Our diploma courses in hospitality management, travel and tourism management and event management provide 96 credit points into the bachelor of business, which is equivalent to eight units or one year of full-time study. Our advanced diploma of hospitality management provides 144 credit points into the bachelor of business equivalent to one and a half years of full-time study and our associate degree in hospitality and hotel management provides 192 credit points equivalent to two years of full-time study. We also offer a foundations course, which is a 13-week program that is available for both international and domestic students and provides guaranteed entry into many of our courses upon completion; this course may potentially help you reach your study goals if you have not met the admissions criteria for your course of choice. Remember that there are many ways you can get into your course of choice and these are just some examples. Moving on to our industry connections at Victoria University. We know that the number one reason for wanting to study is to achieve your dream career and that is why our courses are designed together with industry to ensure that you learn the skills employers want and because our courses are so relevant to the workplace many have been recognised by leading organizations as industry standard. these are just some of the industry partners we have at Victoria university that help us to ensure our courses are not just up to date but designed with the latest expertise. Our courses within the school for the visitor economy are informed by these industry partnerships to help provide our students with hands-on experience so they graduate with a professional network and key industry knowledge and gain the most authentic and practical experience possible. The Victoria university work integrated learning team works closely with our industry professionals to organise suitable placements for our students to ensure our students are job ready when they graduate. Students studying any major in our bachelor of business will undertake preparation program during their second year of study and enter the workforce the following year with our cooperative education program. The program offers up to a year of full-time employment as an accredited component of the bachelor of business degree, meaning you get work experience while you study. Students also have the option of completing up to two work integrated learning units, which will extend the duration of the course to four years. Finally, we will tell you about our application process, if you are currently in year 12 studying VCE you need to submit your application through VTAC. You can find further information and submit your application by visiting vtac.edu.au. If you'll be applying as a mature age student you can submit a direct application by visiting the page for the course you're interested in and click apply, make sure you check the relevant course page to view our upcoming intakes. If you will be applying as an international student, you will first need to check the course page to find out if international students are eligible to apply. Depending on your country of citizenship and visa status, you can either submit a direct application or contact an authorised agent of Victoria University to help you apply. For further advice and instructions on international applications, you can contact VU international by emailing [email protected]. That brings us to the end of this webinar so I’d like to thank everyone who tuned in. If you do have any questions about the content in this presentation, please leave them in the q and a box if you have not done so already and your questions will be answered by a Victoria University staff member. Alternatively, you can contact our future student’s team by emailing [email protected]. A reminder that everyone who registered for this webinar will receive copy of the recording via email in the coming days and our contact details will be in the email if you would like to discuss your study options further. Once again thanks for watching and we look forward to receiving your application.
