How to choose the best leisure, hospitality, tourism or retail postgraduate course for you

More students than ever are choosing to go on to complete a masters qualification in hospitality and related areas of work. With the prevalence of first degrees, a postgraduate degree can help make candidates stand out from the crowd. However, further study requires commitment, discipline and self-motivation and can be expensive. Transferable skills and work experience are also of interest to potential employers, particularly in the hospitality, leisure and tourism industry; in many ways they could be more advantageous than another paper qualification. So when choosing a course, the most important thing is to make sure you are doing it for the right reasons.

The questions to consider if you're thinking about postgraduate study in leisure, hospitality, tourism or retail

• Will further study improve my career prospects? Some areas of work in the retail and leisure sectors require specialist knowledge that you may not have acquired at undergraduate level, so a relevant conversion course could be a route into a specific area of work, such as logistics, retail property management or fashion design.
• When is the right time? You could begin straight after your undergraduate degree, particularly if you want to further your knowledge in one area of your subject. However, some vocational courses will expect relevant work experience before entry and this experience will be important when it comes to getting a job on completion of your further qualification.
• Will an employer help you with funding? Most postgraduate courses in this area are closely related to a specific job areas, so you may be able to get funding and/or time off to study.
• Would part-time study be right for you? Evenings and weekends will be spent studying, and after a long day at work this may be the last thing you want to do. The advantage is that although it will take longer to complete, you are less likely to find yourself in debt at the end of it and will have lots of on-the-job experience to talk about at interview.

Other practical considerations

It’s important to think carefully about your reasons for undertaking postgraduate study: if you simply see it as a way of delaying job-hunting for a year, the costs in money and time are unlikely to be justified. If you do choose to do a postgraduate degree, it is vital that you can explain clearly why you chose to continue studying, how you have benefited from it and what you can offer.

Entry requirements vary: some courses are aimed at people with little or no prior knowledge of retail or business, while other courses require a basic understanding of business practices. Some postgraduate degrees, such as MBAs, are tailored for those who are already in employment, so it is an option to delay postgraduate study until you have gained some industry experience – you may even be sponsored by your employer.

Next steps: choosing the right leisure, hospitality or retail postgraduate course

Use our course search facility to find the courses that are right for you: search by location, research rating and study mode and look at students' and employers' ratings of courses.

Thanks to Isabell Hodgson, principal lecturer in the tourism, hospitality and events school at Leeds Metropolitan University, and Cathy Hart, senior lecturer in retailing and operations management at Loughborough University, for their assistance.