CUT’s new programme plugs events management training gap

by Editorial Team
8 minutes read

Despite Zimbabwe’s huge tourism potential and the growing business events industry, none of the country’s over ten universities offered a degree programme in events management until last year when the Chinhoyi University of Technology (CUT) introduced one. Most event professionals depended on the University of Zimbabwe’s short course on the subject as well as private institutions such as Speciss College.

Business Events sat down with CUT Dean of the School of Hospitality and Tourism, Dr Nelson Zengeni to establish the story behind the new programme, how it will assist the country to realise its business tourism potential and other issues.

 What prompted the University to come up with a degree programme in Event Design and Management?

The University undertook an extensive stakeholder consultation exercise and used the recommendations and feedback to start the process of developing a curriculum in event management. Trends in the tourism and hospitality indicated that event tourism is now the backbone of the sector; hence the University saw it fit to train the human resources for a seamless response to this new thrust. The degree programme is called BSc (Honours) in Event Design and Operations.

However, due to changes in Higher and Tertiary Education realm; primarily the issues to do with Education 5.0, heritage-based education and Minimum Bodies of Knowledge and Skills (MBK/S), the nomenclature (naming) has been changed to BSc (Honours) in Event Management Degree. This will enable other universities in the country to offer the degree and be able to transfer credits among themselves.

What specific gaps had the University noted in the local business tourism industry and how do you think the degree programme will address this?

As CUT, we responded to the call by the local tourism and hospitality sector to offer this kind of a programme. Like I said before, the tourism sector is being driven by events but the industry didn’t have the skills to attract event tourism to the country. Look at the number of sports tournaments we bid to host but failed to win. Our counterparts in South Africa have hosted the Africa Cup of Nations, FIFA Football World Cup and Rugby World Cup but we failed to win a simple bid to host the Africa Cup of Nations. The gaps the University noted and tried to fill include: event bidding, event hosting and even management.

The degree programme will sharpen our skills to attract high profile events, enable us to be prepared and when we eventually host the events; be able to plan and manage all aspects of the events seamlessly. We also hope to do away with challenges of time management. All in all, this programme should position Zimbabwe as the event tourism destination of choice in Africa and the World.

What has the response from students been like? 

We have had a mixed response so far. Students are different from the industry in that they don’t understand how trending event tourism is. So, our first intake in the March to  June 2019 was very small. We only managed to attract five students and we didn’t enrol any students the following semester.

We couldn’t enrol students in the March – June 2020 because there was a freeze on enrolment as universities finalised on Education 5.0 and MBK/S curriculum. The response for the August – December 2020 semester has been very good, with close to over 20 students enrolled. We have turned the corner now and I can foresee the programme becoming the flagship for the school very soon.

What kind of careers does the qualification prepare students for?

After successful completion of the degree programme, graduates will be able to start and run their own event-based business ventures given the entrepreneurial training involved. Graduates will also be employable as professional conference organisers, event imagineers, event managers, event designers, event marketing consultants, hotel or corporate functions managers, banqueting co-ordinators, amusement park managers, convention and visitor bureau managers, festival event managers and event catering managers among other careers.  Graduates may also choose to embark on post-graduate studies which can lead to academic professions.

Do you work with players in the tourism and business tourism industry? If yes, what was their reaction to the introduction of the new degree programme?

Yes, we do. Primarily, we work with the National Conventions Bureau (NCB) at the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA). We also work with African Sun Limited, especially their banqueting sections in units across the country. We also want to mention CUT Hotels for the tremendous support for the programme.

We have also received support from organisations such as SAYWHAT who sponsored the ticket for one of our lecturers to accompany our students to South Africa in February 2020 to attend the IMEX-Future Leaders Forum University Challenge for the African Region. We also work with other event organisers. We cannot mention all names here but the support is overwhelming.

Players in the tourism and business tourism sector welcomed the introduction of the new degree programme. We say this because of the support we have already received in the programme so far.

How do you think the industry and Government can assist to make sure that the introduction of the degree programme helps the country to leverage its vast leisure and business tourism potential of being a multibillion industry and a significant contributor to the national GDP?

The National Conventions Bureau at the ZTA must tap into the talent that students have to position Zimbabwe as the event tourism destination of choice. Students have so much talent and are very innovative. ZTA should therefore tap into this talent through employing our students as well as sponsoring event design university challenges such as the IMEX-Future Leaders Forum. (The) potential is there, we just need more support from the government.

The business events (your conferences, exhibitions etc) are a key plank in Zimbabwe’s tourism sector. In your view, what is the current state of the business events sub-sector and what do you think needs to be done to ensure that it contributes meaningfully to the tourism sector? 

Before the COVID-19 induced lockdown, the business events sub-sector had been the backbone upon which tourism was anchored for quite some time now. Everyone in the tourism sector will agree with me that Zimbabwe has of late not been competitive in attracting the leisure tourist to the country. What has been driving the industry are conferences. The current state of the business events sub-sector is kind of subdued due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, as the travel restrictions are easing, the sub-sector is slowly assuming its position as the anchor for the tourism industry in Zimbabwe.

In order for the business events sub-sector to meaningfully contribute to the tourism sector, a number of strategies can be suggested:

  • Train our business executives, sports personalities, NGOs, academics, politicians and government officials to bid for more events (big and small) to be hosted in Zimbabwe. Whenever we attend conferences outside the country, let’s volunteer to host the next episode of the event in Zimbabwe.
  • The event sector is now moving towards virtual platforms. We, therefore, have to spruce up our ICT infrastructure so that we can host all these events. Let’s also work with institutions such as CUT so as to develop conferencing software that is secure and stable on the Internet. Let’s continue to work on the brand image of the country so that attracting events to the country does not become a challenge.
  • We also have to attract more international airlines to the country so that air connectivity is much easier.

What else do want our readers to know about the degree programme and CUT’s contribution to Zimbabwe’s tourism industry? 

The BSc in Event Management Degree programme is the programme of today and the future. We continue urging our stakeholders to take up the programme seriously. So far, CUT has managed to put Zimbabwe on the world map as an event tourism destination of choice. As I said earlier, CUT participates in the IMEX-Future Leaders Forum International University Challenge. In 2018, our student in the African regional competitions held in South Africa, we won first place and represented Africa in Germany for the World Championships. In 2019, CUT came second before taking first place again in 2020. This time around, our student, Brian Mushakwe won the World Championships in Germany after showcasing the Victoria Falls as the best destination in the world to host green events.

CUT is making a tremendous contribution to the tourism industry in Zimbabwe in various ways. Apart from the three hotels (CUT Hotel, Orange Grove Hotel and CUT Kariba Guest House) that we own and operate, CUT played host to the country’s 2020 World Tourism Day Celebrations. Almost all hotels in Zimbabwe have a former CUT student. It will be very difficult to mention all our contributions but we are doing a lot.

 

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