GCI emphasizes to build on learning in the blend of theory and practical work relating to hotel management areas. The course of delivery embraces multidimensional problem solving activities that contribute positively to enhance student’s individual ability to work, lead, follow, and understand the general and specific features of hospitality world and professional job related skills of this very field. Guided by this constructive and skill focused thought, the academic approaches for BTTM at GCI embody in the student centric and team based cooperative learning as instrumental to augmenting hospitality professional skills of students. The GCI program of BTTM follows the timely updated curriculum that too demands use of modern teaching methods. The classroom instructions combine a number of innovative teaching-learning techniques shaped on an eminence of engaging students in the managerial and technical issue based case studies, seminars, presentations, discussions, jigsaws, internships, homestays, and hospitality science lab visits, projects, experiential excursions, talk shows, video-conferencing, guest lectures, etc.
The subject faculty of BTTM assign the credit based practical projects of professional relevance for students to accomplish that are designed to nurture their hospitality skills along with augmentation of their research and academic skills as their multimodal outcomes.
COURSE DELIVERY
The courses of BTTM are delivered with an exclusive emphasis on student active participation both in theory and practical as its main driving course of learning in self-engaged, team and collaborative-actions. The foundational and core theoretical content is delivered by using the basic texts which are also combined with the external resources. Each subject is delivered by embracing teaching methods that lend students an autonomy in problem-solving tasks integrated within learning in construction that will help them acquire knowledge through first-hand experience. Within this concept, course delivery for BTTM at GCI constitutes in these interactive practices:
-Lectures and guest lectures
-Group discussions and presentations
-Experiential learning with field visits
-Seminars and conferences
-Projects, and
-Travel and tourism business lab based practical works
In the combo incorporating the lab and field-based practical actions with the classroom deliveries on theories, the students of BTTM are motivated to be participative, take lead, and learn to create. Besides, linking the intellectual significance, the classroom deliveries constitute in the analysis of travel and hospitality problems and then to explore and evaluate diverse perspectives, and make decisions relating to different specificities of travel and tourism within which come etiquettes of hospitality combined. Let alone the practice of lectures, delivery of BTTM course incorporates these interactive sessions such as student presentations, role plays, group exercises, debates, leadership and entrepreneurial training, internships, refreshment programs, events management etc. that considerably complement learning from the combination of case-methods, experiential tasks, and projects.
PROJECT WORK
Project work as provisioned in the BTTM curriculum is a core activity of 3 credits and it is designed on different themes relating to tourism businesses and many a professional fronts connected to it. As a credited course, students are assigned individual as well as group projects. It is mandatory to write a report and present the project work in scientifically valid form. Students are required to acquire knowledge to write report so that they can prepare a report on a specific issue that they are interested in tourism and hospitality sector. Students are well oriented and trained when assigning the projects for individual as well as group work.
CASE STUDY
Case Study is a major instructional strategy for BTTM at GCI. Case method boosts learning by example model relating to different tourism and hospitality management. It allows teaching to make an emphasis on analytical skills in students that are basic to solving business problems in any field of business in general and in the field of tourism in particular. Students are assigned the cases relating to problems, decisions, entrepreneurial issues, marketing issues and others for them to comprehend, analyze and solve them with constructive conclusions.
SEMINARS AND CONFERENCES
GCI organizes international conference together with a number of seminars, webinars on diverse themes of tourism and hospitality management. The students of BTTM program are encouraged to volunteer and also prepare for conference presentations for that the interested members are required to prepare and submit their research based articles. The students in general cases, are allowed to attend these events for exposure which too helps them learn about how of the research disseminations and presentations that make an instrumental impact on learning career in tourism and hospitality business where presentation is a leading component.
INTERNSHIP
Students are required to gain actual work experience through one semester of structured practical training as industrial exposure in eighth semester. The objective of the industrial training is to bridge the gap between theoretical input and the real-life work experience in the business world locally and globally. GCI has created a pool of corporates and tourism business companies contracted through CPD on annual basis for internship practice. The students as required to undertake this activity for the period of semester are sent to the selected places after training and orientations on how to take up internship so that their involvement enables them to extend it to job either in the same company or others on completion of their program. Generally, GCI students of BTTM are encouraged to take up internship with companies of international repute. Yet, depending on students’ choice, the star hotels operating at the domestic setting are also chosen for this activity on demand. In some cases, students can complete internship at travel and tourism businesses of their existing employment or choose to take the one that is arranged by the college.
RESEARCH WORK
BTTM students together with other programs of GCI are ensured of training and research apprenticeship assigned by the concerned faculty members in their respective areas as relevant to study and business management relating to hospitality sector. Research in case of BTTM is a group as well as individual project followed by report writing subject to evaluation for credit. The college has been selected as the research partner for ERASMUS+ research and innovation program on Sustainable Tourism funded by European Union which the BTTM students can use for research promotion and learning.
HOSPITALITY SECTOR VISITS
GCI facilitates the students of BTTM for field visits of hospitality and tourism sector on annual basis. In addition to the surveys conducted in groups, students participate in the visits of home stays, hiking and trekking sectors, and so on. The main intent behind this activity is research learning by means of observation, survey and analyses of the real business fronts in tourism and hospitality within Nepal and beyond. The participants of field visit are required to submit reports and make presentations in a valid format acceptable from the perspective of university education standards.
SOCIAL WORK
Social work at GCI is a student initiated humanitarian program and is conducted within the lead of social club of the college. The students of BTTM teamed with others organize different social welfare programs in order to promote in the youth a feeling of altruism and social service. For the systematic contribution on the corporate social responsibility through social work, the college has endorsed social club of students under that GCI Food and Clothing Donation Circle (GCI-FCDC) is formed as its operating level. Students in this circle collect clothes, food and also fund for aid upon crises to be donated to the people or communities under risk.
