Resources

The QAA Hospitality, Leisure, Sport and Tourism Subject Benchmark Statement outlines the curriculum areas for undergraduate honours degree programmes. It states that on completion of their degree students should have developed specific skills and aptitudes, and should have had the opportunity to:

"plan, design, execute and communicate a sustained piece of independent intellectual work which provides evidence of critical engagement with, and interpretation of, appropriate data." (5.2)

In addition, the QAA Higher Education Qualifications Framework for England Wales and Northern Ireland, states that honours level students will be able to:

"apply the methods and techniques that they have learned to review, consolidate, extend and apply their knowledge and understanding, and to initiate and carry out projects; critically evaluate arguments, assumptions, abstract concepts and data (that may be incomplete), to make judgments, and to frame appropriate questions to achieve a solution - or identify a    range of solutions - to a problem; communicate information, ideas, problems, and solutions to both specialist and non-specialist audiences." (35)

The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) outlines the expected outcomes for Scottish qualifications and this includes honours degrees.

Dissertations

A dissertation is often the most challenging and rewarding piece of work undertaken by undergraduate and masters students at university, and may be seen as a significant test of the ‘honours’ quality of a student. It is an independent piece of work involving the collection, interpretation, analysis and presentation of data.

Responsibility for undertaking the work for a dissertation lies with the student, indeed a major aspect of the learning which takes place involves development of self management, independent learning and research skills. In terms of the level of support offered to students across a programme, dissertations often make significant demands on staff time. Students are generally allocated a dissertation tutor who will be available to the students on a regular basis throughout the dissertation process. Synoptic modules (known as capstone modules in the US) or project modules are now sometimes being used as an alternative to dissertations.

Various resources are available from the HLST website:

Examples of current practice in the Case Studies Section, for example in linking teaching and research, entrepreneurship and dissertations 

A resource guide on dissertation supervision.

A resource guide on dissertations, projects and synoptic modules.

A Guide for Staff on Managing Dissertations, and a guide that can be used by staff and students in the subject specific guides

A further guide that can be used by staff and students engaged in social science based dissertations is available from the C-SAP subject centre.

HLST has hosted various Assessment Standards Workshops which have explored the differences between dissertations awarded first and 2:1 grades, 2:1 and 2:2 grades and the marginal pass standards. Position Papers are available that detail the outcomes of these workshops.

Also see:

Projects and Synoptic Modules

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