Dr Emmanuel Jurczenko, Director of Graduate Studies at Glion Institute of Higher Education, explains why a Master’s degree offers far more than just extra letters after your name.
Many of you will have seen a version of the clever graphic that zooms in from a satellite image of the Earth to a particular city or landmark. It provides a good analogy for the essential difference between Bachelor’s and Master’s level education.
This is in no way intended to denigrate the achievement of earning a Bachelor’s degree; nor to devalue its worth in the employment market. But with a Master’s the key words are focus and granularity, and these are elements that simply can’t be replicated at the more generalist Bachelor’s level.
This effect is amplified when the Master’s is of a vocational nature. As an example of what I mean, take the new MSc in Finance, Real Estate and Hotel Development which we have launched in Glion this year. This offers 360 hours of teaching across the three disciplines that make up its title. If you are studying a real estate course incorporated within a Bachelor’s program this will usually add up to no more than 30 to 40 hours of teaching. Thus our Master’s students will be receiving around ten times the faculty input – all of it focused on the specific topic area they’ve chosen.
Such a substantial volume of teaching time allows a Master’s program to delve deeply into both the theory and the practice of the subject. And this is where the employability factor of a Master’s graduate starts to multiply. Employers hiring from highly vocational Master’s programs know they will be recruiting individuals who can hit the ground running, because they will already have acquired the fundamental sector-specific skills and knowledge.
For example, if an employer hires a graduate from our MSc in Finance, Real Estate and Hotel Development, they can be confident that there’ll be no need to explain to this individual the mechanics of valuing real estate assets, or how due diligence processes work, because this is taught in detail within the program.
Industry immersion pays off
Industry networking is another major component of a vocational Master’s degree. Students will be mixing with peers who are also focused on the particular subject matter, so are likely to be working in related sectors in the future. Many MSc programs – and particularly the ones offered by Glion – also take specialist faculty members directly from industry. This provides excellent pathways to employability, alongside the up-to-date, real world experience these senior industry practitioners bring to the table.
For Indian students, a Master’s in hospitality or its related disciplines can offer a fast-track into a sector which is developing at an incredible pace. Foreign arrivals reached a record high of 10 million in 2017. To cater for the needs of these visitors it is vital for hospitality professionals to gain international exposure and experience.
Glion’s MSc portfolio is purpose-designed to offer this exposure, with two taught semesters in Switzerland or London (depending on program choice) accompanied by a six-month industry internship or capstone project.
Immersive field trips also play their part in broadening horizons. For example, students of our MSc in Luxury Management and Guest Experience will visit Paris, Bordeaux and Milan; while our MSc in Hospitality, Entrepreneurship and Innovation takes students to technology hotbeds Berlin and Silicon Valley.
When to start your Master’s?
If these are some of the reasons why a Master’s makes sense, what about the ‘when’? Is there an ideal time to undertake a Master’s? In my view, the optimum time is as a follow-on to completing your Bachelor’s degree, especially if that program featured some practical internship experience corresponding to your chosen Master’s subject matter.
However, this shouldn’t be seen as the only window. We regularly see career switchers opting for a Master’s as the ideal way to gain knowledge in a focused and intensive manner. At Glion we even assist this process by offering a Hospitality Immersion Program to kick-start the candidate’s knowledge of the operational aspects of hospitality.
Ultimately, a Master’s should be seen as an investment of time and effort towards building – and differentiating – your personal ‘employee brand’. You will acquire valuable knowledge and tools, as well as boosting your soft skills at a time when these are increasingly valued across all industry sectors. And you will acquire the maturity and professionalism that will set you apart from peers educated to Bachelor’s level. With all this at your disposal, you will be well-positioned to get your career on the fast track and rise quickly through the ranks.
