Curriculum structure
The three-year curriculum of Stenden SA consists of a foundation phase of 1 year, and a post-foundation phase of 2 years. All years of the programme are divided into 2 semesters of two modules each. The programme operated by our Education can be depicted as follows:
Year 1
Year 2 Year 3
Food & Beverage Performing daily operations Strategic Hospitality Management
Rooms Division & Facilities Controlling & Evaluating Hospitality Operations Management
Guest Experience Planning Industrial Placement
Resources International Business Communication
Curriculum structure BCOM – BBA route for double degree
Students may decide to add a year to their studies and obtain a double degree:
- The South African BCom; and
- The Dutch BBA (Bachelor’s of Business Administration.
The Dutch BBA is an accredited professional degree in The Netherlands that is recognised worldwide.
When students select this route, they will replace their third year internship with a minor semester and additionally go on a 10 month internship. The minors may be done in South Africa, but also at any other site of Stenden University. The minors enable the student to gain more wide-ranging and in-depth knowledge of subjects that are of special interest to him. A current overview of minors open for students at the different locations is available on the Stenden SA Groups Drive. The 10 month internship generally has the same requirements as the 23 week BCom internship, though through the length of the internship students may find opportunities for better positions in the respective hotels.
At the beginning of their fourth year the student will be enrolled in The Netherlands, the cost of which will be carried by Stenden SA. Upon successful completion of this last year the student will graduate with both a BCom and a BBA degree.
The structure of the BCom – BBA route is as follows:
Year 1
Year 2 Year 3 Year 4
Food & Beverage Performing daily operations Strategic Hospitality Management Industrial Placement
Rooms Division & Facilities Controlling & Evaluating Hospitality Operations Management
Guest Experience Planning minor
Resources International Business Communication minor
Study load of the Hospitality Management Curriculum
The South African regulations require that students should do a minimum of 476 credits in order to obtain the B Com degree. The degree of Stenden SA exceeds this requirement as it comprises of 504 credits. A minimum of ten hours of learning activities equals one credit.
There are a minimum of 34 credits per module per academic year, and four modules per academic year. The study weeks are compulsory and a student cannot pass a year without successfully completing the study weeks, community hours and personal coaching assignments related to the career development programme. Also the student needs to pass the progress test. In the third year students do 23 weeks of industrial placement for 84 credits.
To pass a module, students have to obtain an average of 65% for the module and may not fail any sub-norms for which the pass mark is 55%.
All educational activities including lectures, PBL meetings, individual study, introduction lectures, self-management/personal coaching, industrial orientation, tests, writing module assignments etc. are included in the calculation of the study load and are therefore taken into account when determining the credits. The study load for the foundation year is 168 credits, and the study load for the post-foundation phase is 336 credits .