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People travel for many reasons: to visit places of interest, to experience the local culture, and to enjoy the local cuisine. No matter the motivation, these activities form the backbone of the hospitality industry.
The hospitality industry is even a major contributor to some countries’ income.
Before you start to study Hospitality in Malaysia, let’s dive into the details on to better understand what it is all about and the career paths that you can take by pursuing this field of study.
What is Hospitality?
The word hospitality originates from the Latin word “hospes”, which means visitor or stranger.
Hospitality means extending a welcome to travellers or offering a ‘home’ away from home while giving an enjoyable experience to all participants. It often shares similarities with tourism or travel since all three deal with travellers who spend money for the same purpose.
Even so, hospitality centres on the service aspect of travel rather than the end product. It is also a breeding ground for entrepreneurs. This warm field prepares you with all the necessary knowledge and skills to start your own business.
If you are enthusiastic about meeting people and providing good service, then hospitality is absolutely for you. This field of study enables you to transform the industry with innovative ideas yet promises exciting future global opportunities.
Why Should You Study Hospitality In Malaysia?
People person
If you consider yourself an extrovert who loves meeting new people, this field of study is your best fit.
The performance of the hospitality industry is measured through human experience and customer satisfaction. Therefore, your interaction with people is paramount to your job.
By measuring these daily experiences, businesses can guarantee customers’ satisfaction, pleasure and experiences. Doing so will eventually lead to the customers spending their disposable income on hospitality services.
Enjoys travelling
Hospitality is absolutely for global trotters who enjoy exploring new places. Hence, if you love going places, this field of study is certainly for you.
The world of hospes provides many opportunities for international career progression as the skills you acquire are globally appreciated. Your experience and fascination with bringing the best service to guests can take you to places all around the globe.
Broad career field
Hospitality is a resilient and dynamic industry that has evolved exponentially due to technology and consumer demands.
Once you enter into this field of study, you will have a rainbow of job opportunities waiting for you.
Among the many sectors available for graduates who study Hospitality in Malaysia include:
- Travel Agencies
- Tour Operators
- Cruises
- Car rentals
- Hotels
- Air BNBs
- Homestays, casinos
- Amusement parks
- Food and Beverage (F&B)
- Outdoor adventure tours
- Entertainment Establishments
Major Fields For Those who Study Hospitality in Malaysia to Explore
Hospitality is a broad field that involves overseeing the day-to-day administrative, operational and commercial activities of businesses in the hospitality industry.
The four common fields you will encounter when you study Hospitality in Malaysia are as per below:
Event Management
Event management involves overseeing a large team to create a successful event for your clients. Its focus is on organising and developing small to large-scale events. As an event manager, you can have fun hosting festivals, carnivals, conferences, celebrations, seminars, weddings, functions, concerts and even parties in your job.
In an event management course, you will learn the behind-the-scenes of hosting one. The list of knowledge includes
- Planning
- Marketing
- Set-up
- Operation
- Clean-up
- and even Post-event Assessment Skills.
Tourism Management
Tourism Management is a multidisciplinary field that includes all activities related to the tourism and hospitality industries. It encompasses the management of many activities to give travelers fun experiences during a trip.
A tour manager’s task list includes:
- Studying tour destinations
- Planning the tour
- Making travel and accommodation arrangements
Aside from the tasks above, Tourism Management also heavily involves marketing efforts to attract tourists to travel to particular destinations.
Hotel Management
Hotel management is an area of the hospitality industry that involves overseeing the operations of a hotel. It observes the operational aspects of a hotel while touching on a wide range of affiliated topics.
When you study Hospitality in Malaysia, you also get to dabble in topics like
- Accounting
- Administration
- Finance
- Information systems
- Human Resource Management
- Public Relations
- Strategy, Marketing
- Revenue Management
- Sales
- Change Management
- Leadership
- Gastronomy
and so much more!
Culinary Arts
Culinary arts is a broad term that refers to preparing, cooking, plating, presenting and serving food. Simply put, culinary arts covers anything related to making food.
By stepping into this industry, your teachers will teach you about
- Food Preparation
- Menu Planning
- Food Styling (or designing edible art)
- Diet and Nutrition
- Hotel Kitchen & Restaurant Management, and even
- Food Photography
What Are The Popular Pathways To Study Hospitality In Malaysia?
After completing your SPM or any equivalent qualification, you can choose to either study a Pre-University course for 1 to 2 years or take up a Diploma in Hospitality for 2 years.
If you opt for the Foundation in Arts or any pre-university course first, it will take 3 years for you to finish your degree. However, you can choose to pursue a diploma too.
Upon graduating, you can enter the workforce immediately or continue your studies with the Degree in Hospitality for another 2 years. The study duration for diploma graduates is shorter as you will directly enter Year 2 of your degree programme.
Moreover, Hospitality degrees usually include a compulsory internship or practical training at hotels and fine-dining restaurants. Then, students may also pursue a Master’s Degree in Hospitality should they wish to do so.
So what does your pathway to study Hospitality in Malaysia look like?
Also, read this: Must Knows Before Choosing A Pre-U, Diploma or Degree
Diploma in Hospitality
To qualify for a diploma course, you only need to have 3 credits in SPM/O-Level. This requirement includes a pass in Bahasa Melayu and History as well as a Credit in English.
Diploma courses usually take between 2 to 2.5 years to complete and start at RM 22,000. Once completed, you will be immediately qualified for a job in the industry.
Bachelor’s Degree in Hospitality
Before you begin to further study Hospitality in Malaysia, you will need to have 5 credits in SPM/O-Level qualification, including Bahasa Melayu and History, with a pre-university certification of one of the following:
- STPM: min. 2Cs
- A-Level: min. 2Es
- AUSMAT/SACE: min. ATAR 55
- CIMP: min. average of 50%
- UEC: min. 5Bs
- Relevant Foundation: min. CGPA of 2.00
- Relevant Diploma: min. CGPA of 2.00
A pre-university course can take up to 2 years to complete and can cost RM 17,000. Once you’ve completed your pre-university course, you can then move on to a Hospitality degree.
Degree courses take 3 years and RM 57,000 to complete. Diploma students have shorter study periods as they will directly begin with their Year 2 studies instead.
Do note that different universities have varying qualification entry requirements for entry and tuition fees for the respective programmes offered.
For more enquiries, you can contact a counsellor by using the Live Chat function.
What Are The Skills Required In Hospitality?
Communication
One of the most crucial skills needed in hospitality is communication skills, which your mentors will stem into the classes early on. This is because having the ability to communicate clearly and professionally through your speech, writing and body language is essential to good customer service.
Another vital component of effective communication is listening.
When dealing with customers, you will learn to adopt a genuine warmth and interest in them by asking questions, and listening to what they have to say before responding accordingly.
As a bonus, if you can actively listen while communicating with your team members, it will help you complete satisfactory work.
Resilience
The definition of resilience is the ability to overcome obstacles.
In today’s dynamic and fast-moving hospitality industry, this quality is deemed an important competence to demonstrate in the workplace, particularly as a leadership skill.
Along with resilience comes confidence in yourself. Having preserved many unexpected curveballs in the industry, you can overcome its many challenges. Thus, knowing that you can overcome these hurdles will inadvertently calm you down.
By being resilient and staying calm at all times, things will become easier for you to manage.
Initiative
Taking the initiative is the ability to be resourceful and work without always being told what to do. People with initiative demonstrate that they can think for themselves and take action when necessary.
When you use your initiative, you do things without being asked, solve problems that others may not have noticed needed solving and go out of your way to continue learning and growing. This valuable trait will motivate you to do additional research whenever required, ask questions and seek help in times of need.
In hospitality, that could be the difference between a decent experience and a great experience.
Top Universities To Study Hospitality In Malaysia
Taylor’s University
According to the QS World Ranking, Taylor’s University is No 1 in Malaysia and 17th in the World For Hospitality and Leisure Management.
Hospitality students participate in the weeklong KL Hotel takeover, where students perform operational and managerial duties under minor supervision.
Here are several courses offered by Taylor’s to help you study Hospitality in Malaysia:
- Foundation in Arts
- Diploma in Culinary Arts (2+0) with Académie de Toulouse, FRA
- Diploma in Hotel Management (2+0) with Académie de Toulouse, FRA
- Bachelor of International Hospitality Management (Hons) (3+0) with University of Toulouse-Jean Jaures, FRA
- Master in International Hospitality Management (Coursework) (1.5+0) with University of Toulouse-Jean Jaures, FRA
UOW Malaysia KDU University College
UOW Malaysia KDU offers an optional 10-day study trip to IMI, Switzerland, for degree students (both Hospitality & Culinary).
Internship opportunities also are available with partners such as HOSCO, Hilton Worldwide, J1 Exchange Visitor Visa Program, and Accorhotels worldwide.
Here are several courses offered by UOW Malaysia KDU to help you study Hospitality in Malaysia:
- Foundation in Arts
- Foundation Studies (Art & Technology)
- Diploma in International Hotel Management
- Diploma in International Hotel Management (2+0) with International Management Institute (IMI), CH
- Diploma in Professional Chef Training
- Bachelor of Hospitality Management (Hons)
- Master of Science in Hospitality and Tourism
SEGi University & Colleges
In 2020, SEGi University showed excellent performance for a first-time entrant as the university successfully emerged in the top 54% of the 2020 QS World University Ranking: Asia.
To date, up to 85% of SEGi graduates received employment within the first 6 months!
Here are several courses offered by SEGi to help you study Hospitality in Malaysia:
- Foundation in Arts
- Diploma in Culinary Arts
- Diploma in Tourism Management
- BSc (Hons.) International Tourism & Hospitality Management (3+0) with University of Sunderland, UK
- Bachelor of Hospitality Management (Hons.) (3+0) with University of Central Lancaster, UK
Career Things To Know Before You Study Hospitality In Malaysia
Hospitality is not merely about greeting customers or serving meals. On the contrary, Hospitality Management is dynamic and ever-evolving.
Due to the diversity of the industry, a variety of hospitality positions exist, and career prospects are limitless. It is unquestionably one of the world’s fastest-growing employment sectors. Many experts also predicted that hospitality will continue to come out strongly in the coming years.
Popular Jobs For Future Graduates Who Study Hospitality In Malaysia
According to Payscale, the average annual salary for those working in the hospitality industry is RM 38,000 which is approximately RM 3,167 per month.
For example, a quick browse on JobStreet shows these hospitality jobs for fresh graduates:
- Hospitality Operations Executive
- Front Office Assistant (Genting View Resort)
- Barista (Costa Coffee)
If you want to study Hospitality in Malaysia, feel free to reach out to us on WhatsApp or message us on our social media.
We’ll be happy to assist you.