Stenden University Leeuwarden

I love this school, it feels like my home. It has recently been renovated and it looks awesome. Since 1 January, 2018, it goes by the name NHL Stenden University.

The building

It is a great building, which has room for a lot of different studies, from Media and Entertainment management, to my education International Hospitality management to studies with business and economics or even with arts. A lot of studies are offered, and since NHL and Stenden are bound together now, even more studies are offered. As I said, the school has recently been renovated, there is a whole new space with study landscape and a new cafe, which features slow coffee and tea, super cool! There is another study landscape with computer space and loading spaces for own laptops. There is a big library across the study landscape where students can loan books for free for different set times per time. Cafe IF is our regular cafe that also goes by the name IFood. It offers a wide selection of salads, toasties and there is a coffee bar where coffee is freshly brewed and handmade with foam. There is also a regular canteen with food from all over the world, featuring stands from all Grand Tour locations, South-Africa (breads and burgers), Netherlands (goes by the name Europe and offers pancakes, pastas and more), Asia (offers great noodles), Bread corner (with selection of breads, salads, combined with warm options for bread, such as warm ham, frikandel or kroket), and a coffee corner with all kinds of small snacks, from cookies and cakes to fruits. A wide selection is offered. A lot of students choose to get their meals at school instead of bringing their own. There is a special IShop, where Stenden merchandise and school equipment can be bought. In the back there is a special helpdesk for people with computer problems, I for example had a problem with the Wifi on my computer and phone, and then they solved it for me, for free. They are very friendly and helpful.

Source

International Hospitality Management studies

My studies, and I love love love it! The education lasts 4 years, and then you have your bachelor in Hospitality Management. The education system of Stenden is a little different than other schools. They offer lectures in groups from around 100 students, workshops in groups of 24 students and PBL (Problem Based Learning) in groups of 12. The latter is twice a week. You will start up a problem, make learning goals and answer your learning goals. The education is in English, because there are a lot of international students. Around 60% is Dutch, 40% is International.

Year 1

During the first year you have 4 modules (not this particular order), Real World Learning, Hospitality Operations, Resources and Guest Experience. Stenden has a commercial five star hotel and restaurant attached to school, where all International Hospitality Management students work during practice modules. In the first year you have 1 module, so 10 weeks of practice, you will work in all different departmens of a hotel on a base level. Managers need to have insight in all activities in a hotel, therefore, you need to start at level 0, so you can later be a good manager for the people beneath you. Hospitality Operations is all about the basic knowledge about Food, Wines, the paring of both and all other information you need to function well in a department. Resources will have a big assignment, about a hospitality company you have worked in, you will analyse everything and draw different conclusions. Furthermore, business finances will be discussed. During Guest Experience, different theory about data analysing methods and business economics will be covered. It is a really interesting year, you will learn a lot, but you also have to keep up with everything.

Year 2

During year 2 you will have 4 modules as well. Hospitality Operations Performance covers 5 weeks of supervisory practice in the Stenden Hotel (you may choose two departments yourself of which you want to carry out your 5 weeks of practice) and 5 weeks of theory, you will play a game on the computer on which you are a hotel in business, you will compete with the other groups and then a winner with the best strategy will be drawn. Hospitality Operations Design will cover Revenue Management lectures, Business Statistics and theory about all the processes within a hotel. It is a tough module, but very interesting. Hospitality Operations Environment covers topics as Law and Finances again. Another module is the language module. You may choose if you want to follow Spanish, French, German, Mandarin or Russian. So basically the conclusion can be drawn that Year 2 gives a deeper insight and deeper knowledge on the information from year 1.

Year 3

Year 3 is a little different. You will have two semesters, instead of 4 modules. The first semester covers strategic management, very interesting, but very hard. You will write a trial thesis and have more assignments. The other semester is the semester of minors. You can go on Grand Tour to a Stenden location on Bali, Thailand, South Africa or Qatar, you can go on Exchange, or you can stay in the Netherlands and study minors at Stenden or a partner university.

Year 4

10 months of management internship, you will do internship and write your thesis at the same time. You can stay in the Netherlands or go abroad.

Events

School organises different events for the students, from guest lectures from very important people, to a Study Start Week for the new students, to international day, a lot of fun and very educational.

Note: some of the pictures have been taken of the Facebook page of Stenden Hotel Management School, to show the school in a greater way

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Photo gallery