SP Tourism & Resort Management | Why it is a good choice? What to expect?

Friday 13 May 2016

DTRM Cruise Trip September 2013, photo taken from my classmate's Facebook account



My life as a DTRM student in Singapore Poly Business School

Upon writing this blog post, I find myself subconsciously thinking back on the day I submitted my JAE application. I was pretty sure that I would have no regrets after a long & hard debate between SP's Diploma in Tourism & Resort Management (DTRM) and Diploma in Business Administration (DBA) as my first choice. To console myself further that I made the right choice, I went down to SP's course counselling on the last day of JAE submission - after i've submitted my application with SP DTRM as my first option. Thankfully, I felt even more excited with my selected choice after listening to the lecturer's elaboration and prayed hard I would get it instead of my second option - SP DBA.
And so... I would say that I was on the lucky side to have been placed into the first choice of my desired course. 

DTRM is a course under Singapore Polytechnic's Business School. In my opinion it's a course that is really broad in the things you will learn regarding the tourism & service industry. What I mean is that, instead of learning a certain specialisation e.g. hotel management or integrated events (which are both courses under SP ABE school), you get to learn more about the different aspects in the tourism industry. The different aspects generally include hotel, food & beverage, airline, cruise, events and many more!





So what can you expect as a DTRM student in SP?

While my memories of the past 3 years are still fresh as recently student-turned-alumni of DTRM, I hope that this post will help students whose interests are leaning towards the tourism studies in SP after secondary school.  





In Year 1:

• You will be taking up modules that are business-related (this is standardised for all business students in SP)
• Cruise trip with your coursemates
• DTRM Retreat (Bonding Day for Year 1s)

Don't expect to be taught tourism knowledge right in your first year. It is just as fundamental for tourism students to have general business knowledge as a business school student. We all know that the tourism industry is a very important sector for most countries' economical development and is also a major contribution to the economy. Therefore it is also significant to have general business knowledge. If you're someone who has the least interest in business topics just like me, I feel you. It's gonna be a long year of boring business studies... But it'll all pass before you know it! 

To lighten up your mood, every September, DTRM year 1 students will embark on a cruise learning journey where you'll get to have fun and gain valuable knowledge on cruise operations. (What a good opportunity to bond with your coursemates right in your first year in DTRM!) Back in 2013, my cohort of students were required to make payment since the trip was not fully subsidised. However, from what I've heard, the cruise trips are now fully subsidised for DTRM students. Not sure if it was only for my juniors' cohort or it's permanently fixed... But still! You lucky kids.

Lastly, there will be a retreat day for DTRM year 1 freshmen students every year. I doubt that this culture will ever change. Again, you will get to bond with your coursemates, seniors as well as lecturers. You'll also make new friends, so treasure this opportunity!

In Year 2:

• 70% of your modules are tourism-related
• Experiential Learning Trip to Johor @ Le Grandeur Palm Resort
• Opportunity to be the facilitators or game facilitators for DTRM Retreat

Year 2 becomes slightly more exciting since it is the actual start of learning things related to your course. During your 2nd year as a DTRM student, you will have to be prepared to devote more time to your project work & presentations. But don't worry! The project works for the tourism-related modules are especially fun and encourages you to be more creative in your reports & presentations. 

Again, DTRM students are really lucky because we get to go on trips almost every year to enhance our learning. There will be a DTRM JELT Trip to Johor's Le Grandeur Palm Resort in Year 2. This trip is about a week long, and usually held in May. Trust me, it's a trip that you'll never forget. By then, you will be doing all sorts of fun things with your coursemates. In this trip, you'll get to learn more on resort operations as well as experience hands-on activities e.g. dining in a fine-dining setting, making of your hotel bed. But! Becareful not to be overly playful... You'll have to be really attentive or you'll miss out. The things you do during this trip are especially important for your grades, you'll know why in time to come ;-)

In addition, as a senior in year 2, you will find an opportunity to become the facilitator for DTRM Retreat. It is a good chance to for you to know your juniors better! Don't forget to make them feel welcomed as a member of the DTRM family when the time comes!!

DTRM JELT TRIP 2014, Classes 01, 05, 07

Fine-dining activity DTRM JELT Trip 2014

Hotel room bed-making DTRM JELT Trip 2014

DTRM Retreat for Year 1s in 2014; Taken as a facil

In Year 3:

• 90% of your modules are tourism-related
• spending a semester at internship
• Loads of time invested in doing projects  

In your final year, majority of your modules will be tourism-related and are heavily dependable on projects. The modules will require a lot of time and effort in your projects, and you will expect consecutive presentations for a couple of weeks towards the end of the semester. However, in my opinion these were the best projects I've ever done. I had so much fun doing the projects! In addition, you will definitely learn a lot in the process. It may possibly be the most tiring semester, yet the most enjoyable one in terms of academics.

For tourism students in SP, our internship lasts at least 24-weeks. It is a huge advantage for us since we get to go out into the real word and meet different people from this industry. For us, first-hand experience & exposure is most significant, especially when it comes to dealing with customers. Having a 5 to 6-months long internship benefits us in gaining real & practical knowledge which we can't get in class, and it is a good duration for an internship since we will be adapted to the environment. (Good to have a break from school too!)

To visit SP's website on what you'll study in this 3-year course, click here.
(Wow future DTRM students are so lucky, new modules are added which weren't offered to my seniors' and my own cohorts!)




Other wonderful things to expect 

• Joining the course chapters known as DTRM Chapters
• Being a part of a closely-knitted course
• Helpful, fun and extremely caring lecturers
• A chance to go for a 1-year long internship programme
• Overseas internships
• Regular out-of-classroom learning trips
• Regular guest talks
• Generally fun tourism modules & project works compared to other business courses

In business school, every course has our own chapters community. In year 1, you will get the chance to sign up to be a part of our course chapters, DTRM chapters. As for myself, I did not do so since I prefer to be a part of the business school in general rather than being course-oriented, so I was a part of SBA (School of Business Ambassadors). In my opinion, DTRM is by far one of the most enthusiastic and closely-knitted course in business school. (It's as though it's a tradition that most DTRM students are full of enthusiasm). This is definitely not a biased opinion. Over the three years, be it my seniors' cohort, juniors' cohort or even my own cohort of coursemates, I've noticed the bond & enthusiasm between all of us. This opinion is obviously supported by the fact that DTRM has many various bonding activities throughout our 3 years. The population for each cohort is just nice too! Hence, joining the chapters is a great thing to do so for those of you who may want to contribute more to the course.

Another significant observation as a DTRM alumni now, is that our course has few but very caring lecturers. In school, our lecturers play a big part in our learning journey. I am proud to say that DTRM has very helpful and fun lecturers who genuinely care for their students. They are also lecturers whom you can feel comfortable with and have great little talks too! Their lessons are always fun to attend and definitely, presentations were fun to do as we look forward to seeing their reactions most of the times. Oh ya, they are also the kinds who would never forget to take a group picture at different events or other school activities. As long as DTRM is there, we'll never fail to take a DTRM photo! 

Internship-wise, several new things were introduced to my juniors' cohort. Currently, about 11 of the students are on a 1-year internship programme. I believe this is something that will go on for the subsequent batches of DTRM students, though I am not exactly too sure about it. With that said, it means gaining more exposure in the real world than in school! DTRM also offers overseas internship; There are disney internships (which unfortunately wasn't offered to my batch), but I trust that this offer is valid again for the upcoming batches of students. On the other hand, a few of my coursemates had their internship at Mauritius.

Generally, DTRM students get to have local internships at companies such as JetStar, Experia Events, Changi Airport Group, Wildlife Reserves ZOO/JBP, USS, Chan Brothers, and hotels such as Novotel, MBS Hotel and many more. There's a wide variety of local internship opportunities in the various tourism industry offered by our course.

DTRM also offers opportunities for regular learning trips & visits to hotels, exhibitions and etc. These make learning fun and enhance your out-of-classroom learning experience! Our lecturers also often invite guests from well-known corporations in the tourism industry to give us talks, and these talks are usually advantageous to our in-depth learning of the industry.

In addition, compared to other business courses, DTRM has the most interesting and really practical projects. Just to keep your interests in check, our modules' projects usually require us to "build" a new restaurant/hotel or organise an event in relation to the modules. What I am trying to emphasise on is that you get to experience many real-world related learning and conduct necessary research. Like i've mentioned, the projects encourage creativity too. This means that our presentations are usually full of creativity, and we have the opportunity to dress up according to themes and conduct various role-plays. (Pretty much different from the typical business presentation and black/white formal attires) Other fun-filled project works involve experiencing customer service first-hand for our projects, e.g. visiting a restaurant, a hotel, etc. Definitely, DTRM projects are not typically boring but uniquely exciting!




Overall

As a DTRM student you'll have to understand that most of our modules are project-based and will require you to have loads of teamwork. In addition, time management is important since there will be several deadlines within the same period of time (especially in year 3). Presentations are also another significant part of your projects, but you'll gain loads of fun and valuable learning experience after 3 full years of project works. However, knowing that there will be many projects and presentations shouldn't be a reason to turn off your interest for DTRM. In poly, it's all about group work, projects and presentations along with your own independence and integrity to do your work. Nothing comes easy, and no course should be deemed easier than the other. I believe that all courses require the same amount of time and effort and that what matters most is your attitude towards learning. But still, on top of all the other opportunities for learning outside of class, DTRM is generally a fun-filled course!

Lastly, why is SP DTRM a good choice? 

Here are the summarised points.

• Many opportunities to learn - in and out of class, locally/overseas
• Fun projects & modules
• Valuable internship experience
• Valuable knowledge on the tourism industry in various aspects
• Opportunity to forge wonderful friendships with your classmates and coursemates
• Opportunity to forge close relations with helpful, caring lecturers
• Gaining better qualities as a person and EQ that will benefit you when working with people, especially in the real world 
• Many great opportunities for a successful career in the tourism industry
• Having a sense of belonging to a closely-knitted course
• Opportunity to have fun & learn at the same time
• Opportunity to forge wonderful memories that are valuable for life!

BUT!

If you are a girl hoping to see many boys in your course (tsktsk you shouldn't even think of this!), kiss your hopes goodbye because the ratio of girls:boys in DTRM is probably 1:9 or sometimes 3:7. Most of the times, 70% to 90% of DTRM students are females. So if you are a male... it's paradise for you... Hahaha!

As a DTRM alumni I would say that my life as a DTRM student was pretty fun and enjoyable! I may not be really keen in business-related topics, but tourism was a special kind of business to me. Can't imagine how much I would have suffered if I chose Business Administration instead. 

Though I may possibly not pursue a career in this industry since my true passion is elsewhere, I do not regret spending my 3 years in SP as a student of this course. I may regret not chasing my passion right from the start, but I do not find it regretful to be a part of such a wonderful course and family. 

However, if you are truly passionate for the tourism & service industry, I would definitely recommend SP's DTRM. 

Thank you so much to my classmates, coursemates and DTRM lecturers who made me feel like i'm truly a part of the DTRM family & gave me such a memorable journey in Singapore Polytechnic!

I am proud to be part of the DTRM Family.

WE'VE GRADUATED!!

DTRM on Graduation Day, 09 May 2016