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Education/training

Four-year post-secondary programs offer an applied degree or a Bachelor of Commerce degree

Hospitality is big business

Last year there were more than 1,800 applications for the 180 or so places Ryerson University has available in its Hospitality and Tourism Management program.

DAVID CHILTON

[ 2008-02-06 ]

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DAVID MARTIN
Ryerson

This year, students from the class of 2008 in George Brown College's Hospitality Operations Management program are already being recruited by the likes of Delta Hotels and Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts.

In fact, Shangri-La wants George Brown grads so badly it will place six of them in their properties in Asia and the Middle East so they can gain experience before coming to work in Vancouver and Toronto, where the company is opening hotels in 2009 and 2011, respectively, says Joanne Gellatly, chair of George Brown's Centre for Hospitality and Tourism Management. She says 60 students will graduate from the course this year, and their employment prospects look good.

COLLABORATION

George Brown introduced the four-year program, which operates in collaboration with Niagara College in Niagara Falls, in 2003. George Brown students earn a Bachelor of Hospitality Operations Management applied degree.

Ryerson's four-year program, which confers a Bachelor of Commerce degree on its graduates, has been around for a lot longer, says David Martin, the university's director of the Ted Rogers School of Hospitality and Tourism Management.

Martin, a 1977 graduate of the program he oversees and the holder of a doctorate from the University of Sarasota in Florida, says the grade average for his students now is 80%, which he notes is a business school admission mark.

Not all students in the two programs come directly from high school. At George Brown, Gellatly says there's a "blend of students" in her classes -- high school grads, career changers and some others who have switched from one discipline to another.

At Ryerson, the bulk of the program's students come straight from high school and consequently are younger than they once were thanks to the scrapping of Grade 13, Martin says.

"That means we've spent a lot of time in student engagement," he says. During their first year at Ryerson students learn what is expected of them now that they are enrolled in university. A mandatory pass-fail course teaches them how to study, how to deal with stress, and so on, Martin explains, noting Ryerson also pays senior students to act as mentors and tutors.

A further difference between the two programs is the gender makeup. Gellatly says her current crop of 55 students is a 50-50 male/female split. At Ryerson, Martin says, about 65% of the students are women. "A lot more women are coming into our industry," he continues, and the university is keen to find a male-female balance since "equity is important."

BRIDGING OPTION

George Brown differs from Ryerson in another way: students in its hospitality and tourism diploma programs can, if they have a 75% average or better, switch to the degree stream at the end of their second year. That means taking extra courses from May to August to draw level with the other students, says Gellatly. This bridging option allows another 30 students to work towards a degree.

Despite their differences, graduates of each school can expect to find career opportunities pretty much right out of the gate, but they won't need a Brinks truck to take home those early paycheques. Gellatly says salaries start in the mid $30,000s, although she knows of one student who landed a $65,000 position fresh out of school.