Welcome to the Hotelschool The Hague MBA in International Hospitality Management

Introduction

On 4 September 2023, Hotelschool The Hague (HTH) welcomed its 10th group of MBA in International Hospitality Management (henceforth referred to as the MBA) students. As with all MBA groups that first week in September, known as the Opening Conference, is an exciting week for all involved: being in a new country, city and campus and with peers from all over the world.

It is quiet in the MBA room on that first morning, even after the warm welcome and hospitality by the MBA programme team. You can feel the excitement of the moment. Some young professionals in the room had already worked for several years and decided that a change of direction would be the way to move forward, and thus chose the MBA programme as an important stepping stone to make that possible. Others directly came to the MBA from an accredited Bachelor programme to forward their academic career.

Although the participants come from different continents, countries, educational systems and cultures, they are all highly motivated to learn and experience as much as possible during their 13 months in Amsterdam. All of them have a critical, open and constructive mindset when it comes to receiving value for their investments.

Already in the welcoming words on that first day the overall principle of the MBA programme is shared, which is to make the MBA year a true success by maximising the impact of all the experiences during the year. All stakeholders involved have a big responsibility for co-creating an open, safe, vibrant and challenging learning and development environment. Next to the individual needs, there is also the responsibility to actively contribute to the group dynamics both inside and outside the MBA room.

The MBA programme benefits from the small-scale set up and single annual cohort. The small group sizes are conducive to the learning environment and enhance the group dynamics and social learning within the group. After a full day of educational activities, the MBA students regularly gather in their ‘exclusive’ classroom to prepare for the next day or work on a project. They also may go to the MBA master suite on the 2nd floor of the campus to socialise or study, and often they have dinner and spend the evenings and some even the weekends together. Because most of the students are completely new to The Netherlands or even to Europe, the students not only focus on practicalities but also on bonding with their peers. This process has a very positive impact on the group dynamics. For example, the 2022-2023 MBA group was 85% non-EU and had hardly any social or family connections in Amsterdam. This led to shaping intense group dynamics with all its characteristics, experiences, challenges and learnings during their MBA study journey.

Since the start of the MBA, it has been the objective to facilitate constant interaction with professionals from outside the school creating a balance between the various formal courses of the MBA and the current developments in the professional world. This evolved into a Curriculum Extra component, contributing to what can be called 'significant learning experiences', and which has highly been appreciated by the students over the years.

The overall conclusion of the panel site visit in 2018 was positive stating that a solid foundation was created for attaining programme learning outcomes through the offered curriculum, teaching methods and formats. HTH embraced the result of the 2018 panel assessment as an encouragement to continue the chosen path and appreciated the suggestions for further improvements, which were incorporated over the last years of the MBA operation. Please see a summary of the panel recommendations per standard and references to the actions implemented. The efforts for continuous excellence have been recognised in the results of Elsevier Best Studies 2023 survey awarding the MBA programme a golden medal for significant performance among the Dutch universities and universities of applied sciences.

The HTH MBA programme team feels challenged, privileged and is highly motivated to continue creating an inspirational learning and development environment for all MBA participants to, as Anne Gerhardt (graduate September 2023) describes her experience,

“..unlock my full potential on an individual base and as a (future) leader for the hospitality industry. Concluding on this incredible personal and professional journey I am determined to leverage the knowledge I have gained to make a positive impact in the world of hospitality and further pursue my passion.”

Build-up of the 2024 Self-evaluation Report

The 6-year self-evaluation cycle is an important part of the systematic quality assurance system of the MBA. In this 2024 report, in Milestones Completed sections we will provide our reflection following the NVAO Extensive Assessment Framework of 11 standards including the changes and improvements implemented. We will also share the MBA future ambitions and intentions in the concluding chapter. Next to the chapters on the standards, our MBA students wrote a chapter on their student journey (Chapter 7). All supplementary documents are made available through shared MS Teams.

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Welcome to the Hotelschool The Hague MBA in International Hospitality Management

Introduction

The 6-year self-evaluation cycle is an important part of the systematic quality assurance system of the MBA. In this 2024 report, in Milestones Completed sections we will provide our reflection following the NVAO Extensive Assessment Framework of 11 standards including the changes and improvements implemented. We will also share the MBA future ambitions and intentions in the concluding chapter. Next to the chapters on the standards, our MBA students wrote a chapter on their student journey (Chapter 7). All supplementary documents are made available through shared MS Teams.

Build-up of the 2024 Self-evaluation Report

On 4 September 2023, Hotelschool The Hague (HTH) welcomed its 10th group of MBA in International Hospitality Management (henceforth referred to as the MBA) students. As with all MBA groups that first week in September, known as the Opening Conference, is an exciting week for all involved: being in a new country, city and campus and with peers from all over the world.

It is quiet in the MBA room on that first morning, even after the warm welcome and hospitality by the MBA programme team. You can feel the excitement of the moment. Some young professionals in the room had already worked for several years and decided that a change of direction would be the way to move forward, and thus chose the MBA programme as an important stepping stone to make that possible. Others directly came to the MBA from an accredited Bachelor programme to forward their academic career.

Although the participants come from different continents, countries, educational systems and cultures, they are all highly motivated to learn and experience as much as possible during their 13 months in Amsterdam. All of them have a critical, open and constructive mindset when it comes to receiving value for their investments.

Already in the welcoming words on that first day the overall principle of the MBA programme is shared, which is to make the MBA year a true success by maximising the impact of all the experiences during the year. All stakeholders involved have a big responsibility for co-creating an open, safe, vibrant and challenging learning and development environment. Next to the individual needs, there is also the responsibility to actively contribute to the group dynamics both inside and outside the MBA room.

The MBA programme benefits from the small-scale set up and single annual cohort. The small group sizes are conducive to the learning environment and enhance the group dynamics and social learning within the group. After a full day of educational activities, the MBA students regularly gather in their ‘exclusive’ classroom to prepare for the next day or work on a project. They also may go to the MBA master suite on the 2nd floor of the campus to socialise or study, and often they have dinner and spend the evenings and some even the weekends together. Because most of the students are completely new to The Netherlands or even to Europe, the students not only focus on practicalities but also on bonding with their peers. This process has a very positive impact on the group dynamics. For example, the 2022-2023 MBA group was 85% non-EU and had hardly any social or family connections in Amsterdam. This led to shaping intense group dynamics with all its characteristics, experiences, challenges and learnings during their MBA study journey.

Since the start of the MBA, it has been the objective to facilitate constant interaction with professionals from outside the school creating a balance between the various formal courses of the MBA and the current developments in the professional world. This evolved into a Curriculum Extra component, contributing to what can be called 'significant learning experiences', and which has highly been appreciated by the students over the years.

The overall conclusion of the panel site visit in 2018 was positive stating that a solid foundation was created for attaining programme learning outcomes through the offered curriculum, teaching methods and formats. HTH embraced the result of the 2018 panel assessment as an encouragement to continue the chosen path and appreciated the suggestions for further improvements, which were incorporated over the last years of the MBA operation. Please see a summary of the panel recommendations per standard and references to the actions implemented. The efforts for continuous excellence have been recognised in the results of Elsevier Best Studies 2023 survey awarding the MBA programme a golden medal for significant performance among the Dutch universities and universities of applied sciences.

The HTH MBA programme team feels challenged, privileged and is highly motivated to continue creating an inspirational learning and development environment for all MBA participants to, as Anne Gerhardt (graduate September 2023) describes her experience,

“..unlock my full potential on an individual base and as a (future) leader for the hospitality industry. Concluding on this incredible personal and professional journey I am determined to leverage the knowledge I have gained to make a positive impact in the world of hospitality and further pursue my passion.”

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