Master International Leisure, Tourism & Events Management course summary
The 1-year master’s programme in International Leisure, Tourism & Events Management focuses on sustainability, inclusivity and future-readiness in the industries. You use established theories, examine real-world cases and work with transition management so as to shape future developments. You'll lean through different means, from seminars, workshops and lectures, to presentations, group assignments and guest lectures.
The programme for International Leisure, Tourism and Events Management
During this course, you’ll follow seminars, lectures, workshops and presentations, work on group assignments and attend guest lectures. As part of your studies, you will write a master’s thesis. Research classes will support you through the research process and you will be assigned a thesis supervisor and study coach.
Module 1 Social Behaviour
Explain tourism and leisure behaviours through various academic disciplines, including human geography, sociology, anthropology and cultural studies. Explore how various leisure industries (sports, events, tourism, recreation, arts and culture) contribute to shared prosperity and society. Shared prosperity has become a common goal in international developments and is a desired outcome of leisure, tourism and events.
Module 2 Experience Design
Work on a design challenge from the work field in small, creative teams. Explore the cause of the challenge, why it’s relevant, and what innovative and viable solutions are possible. Key to it all are the ways in which solutions contribute to the United Nations shared prosperity and sustainability goals.
You’ll use storytelling, technology and immersive experiences to create meaningful designs. The design challenges will inspire you to look in different ways at complex issues and develop solutions that really have impact.
Module 3 Transition & Risk Management
Analyse, interpret and reflect on developments in tourism, leisure and events and form visions that help the industry prepare for transitions and respond adaptively to risks. Work with the European Tourism Futures Institute on current, complex issues such as climate change, labour market challenges, over-tourism and other global challenges.
Module 4 Public Management
Delve into the complex world of public policy making in leisure, tourism and events. Critically analyse how policy is formed and how they are influenced in different contexts and at different levels. You’ll also discover how political ideologies influence policy decisions, how the balance shifts between the state and the market, and how the rights of citizens play a role in forming policy. You'll also learn to work with practical planning frameworks and tools in public policy making that will help you form a course for future-proof policy.
Modules 1 and 2 finish with a graded individual exam. The design challenges are group projects and graded as a fail, pass, good or excellent.
Minor electives
In the second semester, you can choose between five electives. Three are listed below.
1. Critical Events Perspectives (RUN-EU Short Advanced Programme)
Understand the influences events have on transforming people and places by examining the ethical issues of designing, managing and evaluating events. The elective is part of RUN EU which means that you will do this elective with students from other European universities, either in the Netherlands or elsewhere in the European Union.
2. Contemporary Issues in Heritage
Assess the potential of heritage in contemporary society with respect to the leisure, tourism and events industries in a given situation. Includes a field trip to Amsterdam or other European city.
The field trips are at your own cost.
3. Critical Issues in Destination and Hospitality Development (South Africa)
Learn how to develop destinations strategically and sustainably so that tourism and hospitality benefit the local community, maintain natural resources, and respect cultural heritage. You research the importance of local stakeholder participation and learn to find a balance between economic growth, social welfare an environmental responsibility.
Personal Professional Development
Develop your professional international network and career path and match your master’s thesis or graduation project and your electives to your areas of interest.
Master’s thesis/Graduation project
After semester 1, you choose a subject for your master’s thesis or graduation project. By then you will have a good overview not only of the issues and challenges the industry is currently facing but also of the areas that particularly interest you.
At the start of semester 2, you will follow research classes and workshops that help you with writing your thesis or graduation project. For your master’s thesis, you carry out research, summarise your findings, and draw academic-based conclusions. Your thesis supervisor or project coach will guide you through the whole process.
Course Catalogue
Practical approach of Leisure, Tourism & Events Management
We aim to help you put theory into practice as quickly as possible. Through our educational concept, Design-Based Education (DBE), you work in small teams of students, teachers, researchers and industry professionals. You tackle current, real-life issues developing and adapting your visions and ideas to form a solid solution. And you gain yet more practical experience during your internship in your final year.
As part of this master’s degree, you work on research projects from the European Tourism Futures Institute (ETFI). Most of the lecturers in the master's programme are also researchers at ETFI. You work specifically with ETFI in modules 1, 3 and 4.
Module 1: you learn about product development and innovation in leisure, tourism and events.
Module 3: you investigate what changes the tourism, leisure and events sector is set to undergo over the next two decades. These insights are essential in this fast-changing industry with constantly changing trends.
Module 4: you can choose to do an ETFI project as an elective subject to gain more experience in policy advice, market research, and consultancy.
NHL Stenden’s research groups bring together people from the industry and researchers from universities of applied sciences. Students are stimulated to be actively involved as they work on projects from the industry that are initiated by our research group. For this master, the European Tourism Futures Institute provides a rich research context with a professorship in Scenario Planning.
Is this the degree for you?
If you're confident this degree is the one for you, then why not apply online straightaway? Or pick one of the other options to help you take the next step.
