Program Overview

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Events and Hospitality Leadership MSc

Overview

The course is industry-inspired and forward-facing to meet industry needs. You will benefit from a mixture of theoretical input and practice to ensure the relevance of your studies to employability. This means you’ll develop solid business principles, alongside contemporary sector knowledge, and plenty of hands-on experience working in areas related to your field of study.

We will encourage you to take a strategic approach to various sectors of the industries. This will enhance your understanding of the ever-changing business, economic and social demands placed on these complex industries.

Employer engagement will be embedded throughout the course both in the delivery of the curriculum and participative activities including trips, workshops, guest speaker sessions and work experience. This will enhance your understanding of contemporary issues in the industry. Our reputation and East London base have helped us to develop valuable links to national and multinational organisations. These connections can provide opportunities for you to gain work experience and build your professional network.

Course Options

• MSc
• Start date: September 2025

Entry Requirements

Academic Requirements

• Bachelor's degree with minimum Second Class (2:2) or equivalent in any subject.

International Qualifications

• We accept a wide range of European and international qualifications in addition to A-levels, the International Baccalaureate and BTEC qualifications.

English Language Requirements

• Overall Academic IELTS 6.0 with a minimum of 6.0 in Writing and Speaking; minimum 5.5 in Reading and Listening (or recognised equivalent).

Fees, Funding, and Additional Costs

Fees

• Home Applicant: £12,600 per year
• International Applicant: £16,200 per year

Funding

• Postgraduate Loans Scheme: £10,280 to fund your Masters Programme
• Postgraduate Scholarship: 50% discount on course fees
• Alumni Discount: up to 15% fee waiver
• Early Payment Discount: 5% fee waiver
• Asylum Seekers scholarship: 100% fee waiver
• Civic Engagement: £1,000
• Hardship Bursary: up to £2,000
• Sport Scholarships: Up to £6,000

Additional Costs

• Textbooks
• Computer equipment
• Printing
• Travel
• Personal laptops and other personal devices
• Personal copies of books
• Optional study visits and field trips
• Your own chosen materials and equipment

Course Modules

Year 1

• Mental Wealth: The Events and Hospitality Professional Core Module
• Professional Development - Internship Core Module
• Consultancy Project Core Module
• Managing and Leading the Events and Hospitality Workforce Core Module
• Events and Hospitality Business Performance and Analysis Core Module
• Critical Issues in Events and Hospitality Leadership Core Module

What We're Researching

Our teaching team have years of experience in managing events, hospitality and sports. Many have worked in the industry, so will share their stories and reveal what it takes to keep up in the fast-paced environment.

Like our community of students, our lecturers come from a diverse range of backgrounds. We have experts in development studies, sociology, political science, marketing, arts and cultural studies. One thing they all have in common is their ability to inspire and share invaluable insights.

Research is important to us too. We’ve worked with London City Airport to explore the well-being of business travellers. Lisa Wyld, Director of the Institute of Hospitality and Tourism, researches areas related to events and hospitality, in contexts such as event design and theming, impacts of food and beverage on culture, event impacts, consumer behaviour and experiences as well as leadership challenges within these industries, as well as the links between industry and academia.

Dr Raoul Bianchi, Reader in International Tourism, has carried out research over many years on the international political economy of tourism, sustainable tourism and on questions of tourism citizenship and borders.

Dr Naz Ali, Senior Lecturer in Events and Leisure Management, investigates critical geographies related to global tourism, sport events tourism and matters of identity.

Dr Henrik Linden, Senior Lecturer in Tourism and Cultural Industries Management, explores fan cultures, arts audiences and the representation of places and destinations.

Birte Schmitz, Senior Lecturer in Tourism and Hospitality Management, research interests lie within tourist behaviour, food tourism and rural tourism planning and development.

Lynthon Musamadya, Senior Lecturer in Events and Hospitality Management, has an interest in strategic, operational and quality management issues and their impact on financial and revenue performance within the events, hospitality and tourism industries.

Your Future Career

The increasingly professionalised and globalised nature of hospitality, events and tourism industries means that employers are looking for management/leadership graduates with an academically informed understanding of these sectors as well as the critical and analytical skills needed to reflect upon and solve a range of management-related problems. Through a combination of academic rigour with practical engagement with innovative industry partners and applied research, this programme will equip you with the knowledge, strategic vision and competencies to take a leading role in your chosen workplace.

Industry Links

UEL is connected to a number of trade and professional associations whose membership comprises employers and operatives from across the hospitality sector. These include:

• Meeting Professionals International (MPI)
• UK Hospitality
• Institute of Hospitality (IOH)
• London Food Board
• Royal Academy of Culinary Arts (RACA)
• HR in Hospitality

Career Options

Explore the different career options you can pursue with this degree and see the median salaries of the sector on our Career Coach portal.

How We Support Your Career Ambitions

We offer dedicated careers support, further opportunities to thrive, such as volunteering and industry networking. Our courses are created in collaboration with employers and industry to ensure they accurately reflect the real-life practices of your future career and provide you with the essential skills needed. You can focus on building interpersonal skills through group work and benefit from our investment in the latest cutting edge technologies and facilities.

Career Zone

Our dedicated and award-winning team provide you with careers and employability resources, including:

• Online jobs board for internships, placements, graduate opportunities, flexible part-time work.
• Mentoring programmes for insight with industry experts
• 1-2-1 career coaching services
• Careers workshops and employer events
• Learning pathways to gain new skills and industry insight

Mental Wealth Programme

Our Professional Fitness and Mental Wealth programme which issues you with a Careers Passport to track the skills you’ve mastered. Some of these are externally validated by corporations like Amazon and Microsoft.

How You'll Learn

You'll be taught by a range of staff, many of whom have relevant experience within the events and hospitality industries.

Guided Independent Study

When not attending timetabled sessions, you will be expected to continue learning independently through self-study. This will typically involve reading journal articles and books, working on individual and group projects, and preparing coursework assignments and presentations. Your independent learning is supported by a range of excellent facilities including online resources, the library and Moodle.

Academic Support

Our academic support team provides help in a range of areas - including learning and disability support.

Dedicated Personal Tutor/Academic Advisor

When you arrive, we'll introduce you to your personal academic advisor. This is the member of staff who will provide academic guidance, be a support throughout your time at UEL and who will show you how to make the best use of all the help and resources that we offer.

Workload

Each year you will spend around 300 hours of timetabled learning and teaching activities. These may be lectures, workshops, seminars and individual and group tutorials. Contact hours may vary depending on each module.

Your Timetable

Your individualised timetable is normally available to students within 48 hours of enrolment. Whilst we make every effort to ensure timetables are as student-friendly as possible, scheduled teaching can take place on any day of the week between 9.00am and 6.00pm. For undergraduate students, Wednesday afternoons are normally reserved for sports and cultural activities, but there may be occasions when this is not possible. Timetables for part-time students will depend on the modules selected.

Class Sizes

To give you an indication of class sizes, this course normally attracts 25 students a year. In the classroom, you will be taught in small groups of students. However, this can vary by academic year.

How You'll Be Assessed

Assessment tasks are mainly spread across the year to make the workload manageable. Assessment methods include group work, exams and individual work including essays, presentations, case studies, professional development and practical activities depending on the nature of the course. All grades count towards your module mark. More details will be included in the student handbook and module guides.

Campus and Facilities

• Docklands Campus, London, E16 2RD
• Our waterfront campus in the historic Royal Docks provides a modern, well- equipped learning environment.
• Join us and you'll be able to make the most of our facilities including contemporary lecture theatres and seminar rooms, art studios and exhibition spaces, audio and visual labs and a multimedia production centre.
• Features include our 24/7 Docklands library, our £21m SportsDock centre, a campus shop and bookstore, the Children's Garden Nursery, cafés, eateries, a late bar, plus Student Union facilities, including a student lounge.
• The University of East London is one of the few London universities to provide on-campus accommodation. Our Docklands Campus Student Village houses close to 1,200 students from around the world. We are well connected to central London and Canary Wharf, with London City Airport just across the water. We also run a free bus service that connects Docklands with Stratford campuses.

Who Teaches This Course

This course is delivered by the Royal Docks School of Business and Law

• Course leader: Michael Palkowski
• Course leader: Zoë Adjey

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