Leisure & Events Management course summary
With our Bachelor’s degree in Leisure & Events Management, you'll have a strong industry foundation that combines business skills, communication, concept development, project management, production and corporate social responsibility.
The programme for Leisure & Events Management
From working on projects for businesses to developing your insights into your own talents and ambitions, the Leisure & Events Management programme covers a range of subjects. Whether you’re organising your own event, supporting socially relevant volunteer work, transforming spaces and buildings into attractive leisure locations or producing a professional product for your final project, you’ll develop skills on a professional and personal level.
The Leisure & Events Management programme covers:
Why leisure time is more than just a moment of relaxation – and how you can add value to it
Trends & developments in the leisure and events industry
Storytelling, learning to tell a story that moves people
Developing sustainable, future-proof concepts
Innovative leisure time experiences
Learning about different industry branches and cultures
Placemaking, creating a place together that lives, connects and inspires
Management skills
Business economics and creating sustainable value
Semester 1: Your launch into the world of Leisure & Events Management
In your first semester, you dive into the world of leisure, discovering why free time is far more than ‘doing nothing for a while’ - it contributes to health, happiness and unity. You’ll do volunteer work, explore the field and reflect on the future of leisure. You’ll also examine your own leisure time activities and develop your own vision of what leisure can mean today and tomorrow.
Semester 2: A strong foundation in creating events that leave an impression
How do you put on an event that works and leaves an impression? In this semester, you learn the basics of event organisation and concept development. You analyse an existing event, think where improvements could be made and find out how you can use tools to help you work smartly and efficiently. You’ll then develop your own event concept – from idea to execution. You'll immediately put into practice the things you learn.
You’ll work on projects for SC Cambuur and will visit the TT Circuit in Assen. You’ll get to observe and join in as volunteer for large events and festivals in Northern Netherlands and the Randstad.
Subjects:
Study load: 20 contact hours, 20 self study hours | 60 ECTS per year
Semester 1: Your step towards tomorrow’s leisure experiences
How do you develop an experience that moves people and that they remember? In this semester you learn to develop innovative leisure concepts that evoke feelings, stimulate the senses and contribute to well-being. You’ll combine creative thinking with the latest technology and innovations and, by bringing different perspectives together, you develo experiences that are meaningful and future-proof. The cherry on the cake is a field trip to Disneyland Paris where you’ll feel how experiences work.
Semester 2: Events that matter, next level management
In this semester, you and your team will create an event with social impact in a neighbourhood or community. Using gamification, you’ll lift your management skills to a higher level, build on the knowledge you gained in your first year and learn to handle unexpected situations.
Subjects:
Study load: 20 contact hours, 20 self study hours | 60 ECTS per year
Semester 1 or 2: Placemaking
How do you turn a place into a meaningful destination? In your third year, you take on a placemaking project, working with others on reviving an existing space.
Subjects:
Semester 1 or 2: Minor subject (study abroad)
During your minor you focus on a specific subject or expand your knowledge by taking an additional subject. This allows you to truly take charge of your education by ‘customising’ your course.
You can take these minors on the NHL Stenden campus in the Netherlands or at one of the NHL Stenden Grand Tour locations in South Africa, Bali or Thailand. You can also choose from minors offered by other courses and universities of applied sciences via an Exchange programme – this is all part of broadening your academic skills.
Read more about the options available and where you can take your minors in the section below on minors and specialisations.
Study load: 20 contact hours, 20 self study hours | 60 ECTS per year
Internship and graduation
This is when everything comes together, entering the work field with confidence. You’ll complete the programme with an eight-month internship and graduation project, taking on responsibilities, considering strategies and demonstrating what you can do. You can do your internship at a company in the leisure industry anywhere in the world, like RAI Amsterdam, Hugo Boss, NOC*NSF, and TUI. With your final professional product, you’ll apply the knowledge you have gained to resolve a complex issue.
You could also do your internship in your own start-up. The Center for Entrepreneurship can advise you.
60 ECTS per year
You can earn additional industry certification while you study, working on, for instance your Level 1 certification in Event Design Canvas TM from EDC. EDC is an internationally recognised organisation that trains and recognises event professionals worldwide. In addition, you graduate from leisure & events management with certification from the trade association IDEA (Independent Dutch Event Association).
Europass profile
Your Europass profile is a record of your experience, skills and experience in one secure, online location. You can also include your volunteer work and is a useful profile to use when seeking jobs. Find out more about the Europass Certificate.
Download the brochure to get a really useful one-page overview of the curriculum with a description of the modules and a list of subjects per year, the study load and the ECTS you can earn. Use it to compare the programme with other studies you’re interested in.
Minors and specialisation Leisure & Events Management
In your third year of Leisure and Events Management, you get to specialise by taking a number of minors.
- Event Management (Bali, South Africa, Leeuwarden)
Focusing on organising events and projects, you look at how events can be used to build customer loyalty. You also take English-language modules earning certification on successful completion. - International Sport Management (Leeuwarden)
Preparing you for a career in the sports world, you explore the role sport plays in society. Drawing on your insights into tourism, media and recreation you write a strategic marketing plan or organise sports clinics. - Art and Culture Management (Leeuwarden)
Focusing on how cultural organisations such as museums, theatres, cultural centres and pop music venues are run, you learn about management, booking events and performances, financial management and arts funding, marketing and art education.
Research and practice
You will gain substantial practical experience in your chosen field of leisure & events throughout your studies, for instance by taking on practical assignments from companies, our various departments and our European Tourism Futures Institute (ETFI) or the Centre of Expertise for Leisure, Tourism and Hospitality (CELTH). NHL Stenden’s ETFI is the leading specialist in future studies and scenario planning for leisure & tourism. It develops clear visions, strategies and action plans for leisure & events organisations drawing on its insights into the sector. You get to work with them applying research methods such as customer journey mapping, strategic foresight, and unique to the leisure & events sector, scenario planning.
Course Catalogue
Practical approach of Leisure and 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.
International opportunities
We want to prepare you for an international, intercultural, and ever-changing environment, so that you can dive into the unknown and gain experience in an international context. It is possible with our Grand Tour, Exchange programme or one of our mobility options offered by RUN-EU. Or you can choose to do your internship abroad. You’ll be able to put together the right combination of courses and internships to develop both your professional and personal skills – and develop your own network for the future.
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.
