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Dual Degree Program Approved

January 1, 2010

The dual degree program with the International University of Applied Sciences in Bad Honnef, Germany has been approved. Bad Honnef is one of our 10 partner schools of Leading Hotel Schools of the World, an organization that Niagara University helped to form about 7 years ago. Bad Honnef offers a highly respected hospitality and tourism program in Europe.

This dual degree program allows a student majoring in tourism or in hotel & restaurant at Niagara University to earn two degrees in four years: one degree from Niagara University and one degree from Bad Honnef in either international tourism management or international hospitality management. To earn the two degrees you need to study abroad for one year in Germany. You study abroad in your senior year so the students that should be applying for the program now are currently juniors. If you successfully complete all required course work in Bad Honnef you will receive the two degrees. This program begins in Fall 2010 for the 2010-11 academic year and the students who are eligible to participate in this program in Fall 2010 are currently juniors majoring in tourism or in hotel & restaurant management.

In your senior year you pay tuition to Niagara University like you normally do and you qualify for your normal amount of financial aid; hence, the tuition cost is the same ? whether you study at NU or in Germany. You will need to pay room and board to Bad Honnef. You will live on their campus. All instruction is in English but you will need to take German language courses to help you make the most of your experience abroad. The other courses are all in tourism or hospitality depending on your major.

The program at Bad Honnef, like ours, is applications oriented. The difference is that you receive an international perspective that we can't provide. The hospitality and tourism industry is the world's largest industry, employing 10% of the worldwide labor force. Much of the growth in the industry is abroad. For example, Carlson Hotels Worldwide, the 9th largest hotel company in the world based in Minneapolis, has 67% of its existing hotels in North America but 70% of its hotels currently under construction are abroad. Carlson, by the way, has operations in 140 countries. Their senior management team looks like a page out of the United Nations. Having an international experience provides you with a competitive advantage in today's rapidly developing global market place.

If you want to know more about this study abroad program, please contact Dr. Praetzel, Dean of College of Hospitality and Tourism Management, at gdp@niagara.edu or 716-286-8272.