B.S. Hospitality Administration

A degree in Hospitality Administration prepares students to begin their careers in a variety of industry sectors: hotel operations, sales and revenue, marketing, human resources, food and beverage management, real estate development, event management – even entrepreneurial ventures.

Degree Requirements

All BU undergraduates complete coursework in the BU Hub, the university’s general education program. Students in this major fulfill many BU Hub requirements—including Historical Consciousness, Social Inquiry, Quantitative Reasoning, Global Citizenship, Communication, and the Intellectual Toolkit—through major courses and additional electives or co-curricular activities.

BU students who enter as freshmen are required to take 26 units of Hub units. All BU students who externally transfer from another institution are required to complete 10 hub units. Students majoring in Hospitality Administration will be able to complete more than half of their Hub requirements through their required major coursework. The remaining BU Hub requirements will be satisfied by selecting from a wide range of available courses outside the major or, in some cases, co-curricular experiences.

A candidate for the degree must earn 128 credits/units in BU Hub, major, and elective courses. In addition, 600 hours of on-the-job experience are required. This experience, monitored and supervised by staff, is divided equally between two separate 300-hour experiences and may be completed at any time during the degree program. An international and/or intercultural experience is also required.

The Hospitality Administration major curriculum includes the following requirements:

Sample Schedule

What might your educational path at SHA be like? Here’s a sample lineup to give you an idea. But the possibilities don’t end here. Take a look at the different specialization, distribution, and elective courses to imagine all the ways you can mix it up to make an experience all your own.

These are the 12 required 4-credit courses for SHA students. In addition to these, students will still be required to complete 12 credits of SHA elective courses and a total of 128 credits in order to be eligible for graduation. The required work experiences may be completed during the summer or school year. Students typically enroll in 16-18 credits each semester.

Foundational Courses

You can’t beat a broad foundation. These courses develop your analytical thinking skills, advance your mathematical comprehension, hone your knowledge of another language, and prepare you for the breadth of your hospitality coursework. 

SHA Core Courses

These are the courses that introduce you to the amazing breadth of the hospitality industry. Seminars, discussions, and lectures help you think critically and advance your knowledge base, while the Field Experience components give you a real-world understanding of what it’s like outside the classroom.

SHA Elective Courses

Our electives are your chance to explore the industry or dive deeper into an area of interest. Students are required to complete a total of 12 credits of hospitality electives.

BU HUB Curriculum/Electives

Students are required to fulfill their remaining academic unit requirements to reach 128 credits, as well as any remaining BU Hub requirements through elective coursework at any college within the University. Elective courses should be selected by the student to complement and broaden the student’s background. Students who are considering studying abroad through any of Boston University’s Study Abroad programs should save some of their electives for the term in which they plan to study abroad. Additionally, students interested in minoring in another school or subject at the University should utilize their elective allotment for that purpose. Physical Education and ROTC courses do not count toward degree units.

Concentrations

The School of Hospitality Administration offers flexibility in the Bachelor of Science in Hospitality Administration program. Students are not required to choose a concentration, however, concentrations allow students to focus their degree on an area of particular interest to them.

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Our Learning Outcomes

The Hospitality Administration curriculum is carefully designed in order to achieve the following learning outcomes:

• Describe the segments, history, icons, market leaders, lexicon and service elements of the hospitality industry.
• Apply the competencies in the core functional areas (e.g. finance/accounting, operations, human resources, and marketing) of hospitality management.
• Synthesize the critical thinking of hospitality systems: financial, operational, human resource and design.
• Develop interpersonal skills: communication, team building, leadership and cultural diversity awareness.