Year 4 | Option 1

Innovating the sector

During the first half of your final year (option 1), you will customise your curriculum based on your interests and ambitions. During the second half, you will work on your graduation project at a hospitality company of your choice

Specialisations

In your final year, you can choose a specialisation depending on your interests:

Business: This option addresses what keeps CEOs awake at night and prepares students to lead in hospitality finance, investment, and real estate. It explores regenerative business models, corporate strategy, and planetary health, showing how to use hospitality for the greater good while building resilient and responsible enterprises.
Gastronomy: The Gastronomy specialisation explores the evolving role of food and beverage in today’s world. It examines food’s roots, power, and impact, from culinary heritage and ethical sourcing to innovation and circular design. Focused on health, technology, and sustainability, it empowers students to drive positive change and shape a more conscious, regenerative future of gastronomy.
Work: Focusing on Leadership in Hospitality, this option develops future-ready leaders in people management and organisational transformation. It explores purpose-drivenleadership, cultural intelligence, and human–AI collaboration, alongside sustainable HR practices and well-being. Students learn to lead with empathy and innovation toward a regenerative future of work.
Society: This specialisation is for students who aspire to build a more hospitable and inclusive world through hospitality. It explores how our spaces and communities are shaped through themes of urban planning, justice, belonging, and digital realities, encouraging reflection on privilege, activism, and personal responsibility. Rooted in ethics, inclusivity, and social gastronomy, it empowers students to help create a fairer, more compassionate society.
Experiences: This specialisation explores the art of creating transformative hospitality experiences. Students learn to design with purpose, integrating regenerative concepts,stakeholder engagement, and meaningful guest interactions while developing the tools to measure impact and sustain organisational change.

And then you can choose a track that suits your ambitions:

Consultant for an Industry Dilemma: In this option, students step into the role of industry consultants, carrying out an individual applied research project that tackles a genuine problem faced by a hospitality organisation. A range of real-world study cases, provided by external partners (Commissioners), offers students the chance to select a challenge that aligns with their interests. Students work independently while exchanging ideas and progress updates within a peer group addressing the same Commissioner project.
Entrepreneurship, working on your own business idea: Students choose to act as entrepreneurs, designing and executing an individual research project centered on their own business concept. Participants work independently yet remain part of a collaborative peer group on the entrepreneurship track, where they share feedback, ideas, and practical insights to strengthen their ventures.
Consultant for a Placement Company that you will propose: In this track, students function as consultants, completing an applied research project linked to their own in-company placement. They work independently while taking part in a peer community pursuing the same consultancy theme. Admission to this track requires students to submit a well-defined proposal outlining the purpose, scope, and approach of their intended project.

Launching Your Career (LYCar): Experiencing the sector -30 ECs

15 weeks in company

Launching Your Career (LYCar) is a stepping stone to your future career and an accumulation of your previous and continuous learning. In this course you need to show you are a critical and reflective learner, who can contribute to the world as an intercultural hospitality leader. You have significant flexibility in shaping this course.

This involves actively working on two main end-products namely:

1. The LYCar project Report: This project, whether within a placement, for a company/commissioner, or your own business, allows you to problematise/solution design and apply gained knowledge. You establish your presence in a specific field through dissemination.

2. The LYCar Career Portfolio: this report showcases your professional, social, and personal development, i.e. your growth & development toward Launching Your Career, this is achieved in a comprehensive learning portfolio, including a 360 evaluation.