Elite Programme
Purpose
The elite programme in Tourism is directed at particularly motivated and competent students. As an elite student you are provided with excellent conditions for developing your academic competences, such as intensive supervision by selected professors and access to research networks in tourism. The elite programme (4 semesters) leads to a Master degree in Tourism Cum Laude provided that an average mark of 10 on the Danish 7-point grading scale is obtained. Having completed the elite programme in tourism, you will be particularly well-qualified for pursuing a Ph.D. career, but your competences will also make you highly qualified for a position in a public or private tourism organization.
Content
As a tourism student enrolled in the elite programme, you will attend the same courses as the rest of the tourism students, and in addition to these you will attend selected, relevant courses from the Master’s programme: Culture, Communication and Globalisation or other relevant Master’s programmes. You will be expected to participate actively in the course and project work and contribute to the educational environment of the tourism programme in general.
In connection with the project work at each semester, extra hours of supervision are offered. An elite student is expected to deal with more complicated problems and issues than what is standard at the specific semester. This will demand comprehensive overview of project relevant literature, theoretical insight and creative analytical skills. The elite students will be expected to work in groups for their semester project and can not form groups with the other tourism students. It is, furthermore, the ambition of the programme to train elite students’ research and writing skills, so that they will be able to prepare at least one project report of such a standard that it can form the basis of an academic article.
A special curriculum, concerning the project work on the 1st and 2nd semester, applies to the elite programme. Hence the elite curriculum should be seen as a supplement to the standard tourism curriculum. You can download the elite curriculum on: http://fak.hum.aau.dk/fileadmin/FAK/studieordninger/appendiks_elite_turisme.pdf and the standard tourism curriculum on http://turisme.aau.dk/rules-regulations.
Being an elite student also involves getting insider knowledge of what it is like to be an academic researcher. Hence you are invited to research seminars held by Tourism Research Unit (TRU) at Aalborg University and offered the possibility to join relevant research projects. Study trips to relevant tourism practitioners, a tourism research center and/or a tourism conference are also offered the elite students.
Moreover, an elite school for the entire university is established which offers you the possibility of forming networks with elite students from a wide variety of educations spanning the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences. Also courses are offered, for instance on publishing academic articles, which will be useful for you during your studies. For more details see http://eliteeducation.aau.dk/.
Admission requirements
A maximum of 10 elite students distributed across the Aalborg and Copenhagen campus will be admitted each year and they are selected on the basis of the relevance of their bachelor background as well as bachelor degree grades. The highest or second highest mark is required in relation to the bachelor project (12 or 10 on the Danish grading scale, A or B on international grading scales). If your bachelor degree does not conclude in a larger assignment, the admission requirement is high grades in general (A and B).
Application deadline
Application deadline is July 1. If you are an international student you need to seek admission to the ordinary tourism programme in advance. You need to fill in and submit the application form: http://www.eliteuddannelser.aau.dk/GetAsset.action?contentId=3767723&assetId=3767727 together with your exam certificate and an application explaining your reasons for seeking admission. You send the application to Aalborg University, Studiekontoret, Fredrik Bajers Vej 5, 9220 Aalborg Øst.
If you meet the admission requirements, you will be invited to a personal interview with professors from the tourism programme to establish that you are suitable for the elite programme. This will take place early August. For international students a telephone interview can be arranged.