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their company,” says Chris Sleeman, senior business relations officer for Regent’s College.


Flexibility The shortest time in which someone could complete the MA would be 21 months. “The course is designed to be compatible with full-time employment,” says Sleeman. “The weekends will be compulsory but they will be scheduled within academic terms.” Regent’s College has worked with


A former villa, Regent’s College is located in London’s Regent’s Park Programme director Lorna Walker


On the right course W


Regent’s College’s Lorna Walker and Chris Sleeman tell Katherine Lawrey how an MA in travel can help your career


hen Lorna Walker was employed as marketing manager at Wexas 10 years ago,


she was vexed by the lack of industry- specific higher qualifications available. “There was nothing tailored to the travel industry at the executive level so I completed an MBA, a generic management qualification,” she says. Since she made the move into higher education, working at Regent’s


College in London, Walker now has the opportunity to change this. As programme director of the MA in Business Management in International Travel & Tourism, she is one of the driving forces behind a new specialist qualification designed for people who have some work experience at management level in the travel industry.


The first intake for the programme starts on September 1 and the course


My Travel Career Simon Beeching, visiting industry professor at Regent’s College


When I was 17 I worked as a campsite rep in France – so the travel industry has been in my blood from an early age.


After graduating from Oxford, I joined Thomson Holidays’ graduate management trainee scheme – a lucky break in the early 1980s, when the package holiday market went crazy. Within a decade I was the youngest director on the executive board – heading


up the market-leading direct-sell subsidiary company Portland Holidays.


Roger Davies is the boss I have admired the most. He had the vision to take the disparate elements bought by the Thomson family and turn Thomson into the driving force of UK package holidays.


I then spent 13 years as managing director of upmarket independent


will be delivered via intensive face- to-face teaching at weekends and distance working online. There will be five course themes: internationalism; professionalism and employability; technology; ethics and sustainability; and critical and reflective thinking. Participants must complete core modules, plus a choice of electives, and also a dissertation or consultancy project. “This can be a tangible report, which the participant takes back into


and business travel specialist Wexas Travel and two and a half years as managing director of Simpson Travel. I am now director of call centre management specialists Syntec Telecom, with a number of travel clients including Teletext Holidays and the On Holiday Group.


All my career, from Thomson to telecoms, there’s been a customer service theme. Look after your customers and they’ll become your best advocates.


I am also interested in the environ- mental impacts of travel. I was chairman of the travel industry charity Friends of Conservation


the travel industry to design the course, and the MA is supported by Abta, the ITT and Advantage among others. “All the academics will have worked in the travel industry,” explains Sleeman. “You can learn the theory yourself but academics will bring this to life with their experiences. The course content will be focused on what’s happening in the industry now.” The MA costs £9,950, but this can be divided into a payment plan and split across consecutive financial years. Regent’s College is holding an open


evening for the MA on Tuesday, April 24 from 6.30pm to 9.30pm at Regent’s Business School. Sleeman adds: “If you’re keen to find out more, come along, and bring your boss too, so they can see how this could help your career.” ■ regents.ac.uk


and set up my Travelwatch consultancy as an early voice for what is now better known as sustainability.


I was fortunate to be sent to the INSEAD business school by Thomson – it helped me to understand the broader aspects of the business.


Now, as visiting industry professor for the new Travel & Tourism MA programme, I want to help develop the managers of tomorrow. The industry is great fun but it’s also important to see it as a professional career choice.


05.04.2012 29


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