Programme overview

Main Subject

Hospitality and Leisure Management

Degree

MA

Study Level

Masters

Study Mode

On Campus

Master’s degree - 7M11103 - Restaurant and Hotel Business

Independent Kazakhstan Center for Accreditation (IKCA) - 20.05.2022–19.05.2027

The uniqueness of the program is defined by its deep integration with the real sector of the economy and international standards. One of the key features is its focus on dual education, which implies the active involvement of government representatives and top management of the tourism business directly in the educational process. The program is distinguished by its innovative orientation: it includes the development of start-up projects based on its own business incubator and the integration of courses from leading global platforms such as Coursera.

A distinctive feature of the educational program is also its emphasis on multilingualism and international mobility. This involves not only teaching disciplines in English, but also the development of joint educational programs with foreign partner universities. In addition, the program has a high degree of adaptability: catalogs of elective disciplines and curricula are regularly updated based on direct recommendations from employers and national development strategies. The graduate competency model is focused on versatility: the master’s graduate is trained as an expert capable of simultaneously designing business facilities, implementing IT management systems, and ensuring international service standards.

Improvement of the educational and research content of education, enhancement of graduates’ competency levels, and their competitiveness in the domestic market.

Training highly qualified personnel in the field of restaurant activity and hospitality aimed at meeting the needs of specific consumers, possessing practical knowledge in modern innovative technologies, professional service skills, as well as universal and subject-specific competencies that contribute to social mobility and labor market sustainability.

Graduates of this programme can perform the following types of professional activities: organization of restaurant and hotel business; planning and implementation of restaurant and hotel activities; organization of reception, allocation, service, and catering for guests; rational control and management of staff activities in hotel and restaurant enterprises; innovative activities in restaurant and hotel business management; organization and planning of preventive activities.

Qualifications and positions of graduates of the educational program «7M11103 – Restaurant and Hotel Business»:

- director (head) of a public catering organization;

- director (head, manager) of a hotel (hotel, camping site, boarding house);

- manager (head of department);

- banquet sales manager;

- conference and banquet service manager;

- hall manager (restaurant, café, etc.);

- hotel wellness center manager;

- guest relations manager;

- head of department (reservation, reception and accommodation, human resources, marketing and sales);

- reservation department manager;

- guest service manager;

- head of the hotel telephone service department.

Fields of professional activity: tourism enterprises, state and local authorities involved in the regulation of the hotel and restaurant business, as well as enterprises and other economic entities operating in the hospitality industry.

Objects of professional activity of the master in the field of services include public administration representatives related to the organization of the hotel business; state and private companies engaged in restaurant and hotel business; the service sector; enterprises related to catering organization (restaurants, hotels, and other structures); property complexes (enterprises, institutions, organizations) and other hospitality industry facilities; research organizations engaged in the study of issues related to the development of nutrition and marketing; advertising agencies involved in promoting services in the restaurant and hotel business in domestic and foreign markets.

The implementation of the development plan of the educational program «Restaurant and Hotel Business» suggest achieving leading positions in university rankings and a significant increase in student enrollment. A qualitative improvement in educational and professional activities of students and faculty members is expected, including through the recruitment of specialists who have obtained masters and doctoral degrees from foreign universities. An important outcome will be the development and implementation of joint educational programs with foreign universities, as well as systematic improvement of the quality of teaching and learning materials and the updating of catalogs of elective disciplines in accordance with current employer requirements. In the research field, an increase in the number of publications in peer-reviewed journals (RSCI, Web of Science, Scopus). The result will be the training of highly qualified masters in the field of services with practical skills in the use of innovative technologies, dual education skills, and international experience, capable of effectively managing hospitality enterprises and competing in the domestic market.

Classes within the educational program are conducted by a highly qualified faculty, including doctors of sciences, professors, candidates of sciences, PhD holders, as well as lecturers with substantial practical experience in the hotel and restaurant industry.

Master’s students actively participate in international and national Olympiads and, over the past three years, have taken 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places in the Republican Competition of Master’s Research Works. In addition, at the Regional WorldSkills Almaty 2025 Championship, a master’s student served as the chief expert in the «Restaurant Service» competence.

The program is delivered on modern campuses with a comfortable learning environment. There are two academic buildings, a scientific library with a collection of modern literature (more than one thousand books), classrooms, a computer park (more than 500 computers), a gym, a choreography hall, a sports hall equipped with a futsal field, two medical centers, and a student residence.

Practical training of master’s students of the educational program «Restaurant and Hotel Business» is carried out on the basis of the laboratories «Academy of Hospitality» and «Restaurant Concept Laboratory» (room B805). This platform represents a simulation of a real hotel room and restaurant hall, which allows students to practice service standards in conditions maximum close to real production environments.

Practical training of master’s students is focused on mastering current service standards, modern managerial and digital technologies used in the hotel and restaurant industry, as well as on developing skills in working with professional software products. Practical training is conducted at leading industry enterprises, including LLP «President Hotel» (Rixos Hotel), Sheraton Hotel, Mumtaz Restaurant, Saad Hotel, and Comfort Hotel.