Department of Tourism & Hospitality Management
WELCOME
Tourism is one of the promising industries in Papua New Guinea but lacks high quality and competent professionals to respond to its operational challenges. Seeing this significant need, Divine Word University, since 1998 through its Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management (THM), continues to offer programs to address ever changing issues and concerns in the field of tourism and hospitality. Ever mindful of the important part and contribution that tourism plays in the economic growth and development of any nation such as Papua New Guinea, it intends to become a leading educational institution in the region by resolving to provide strategic approaches and sustainable solutions to the many tourism issues defined within the context of the PNG setting.
THM department programs are designed to provide its graduates with ethically sound values and moral understanding that will initiate, develop, and build a local tourism infrastructure that is environment sensitive and socially responsible and further, to create viable tourism ventures and employment opportunities for its indigenous people.
Students are trained and developed to acquire a holistic and realistic knowledge about the different sectors of the tourism and hospitality industry. They are also provided with appropriate communication and management skills necessary to make them better and active participants in their chosen profession.
ABOUT DEPARTMENT
VISION & MISSION
The Faculty of Business and Informatics is committed to the pursuit of quality in all its administrative and academic responsibilities in the fields of business, tourism, information systems, and mathematics and computing science. It brings together the professional fields of accountancy, management, tourism management, mathematics and computing science, and information systems.
VISION
To be a respected Faculty, open to all qualified applicants, serving society through quality teaching, learning, research and community engagement through the application of innovative technologies in a Christian environment.
MISSION
The Faculty of Business and Informatics aims to achieve its mission through the following objectives:
• Offer quality education in the fields of business, accountancy, management, public administration, tourism, information systems, mathematics and computing science, with a special emphasis on encouraging moral and ethical behavior.
• Provide undergraduate and postgraduate programs in all the academic areas in which the Faculty is involved, that meet international academic standards, and are responsive to local, national and international development needs.
• Produce programs which are responsive to the priorities of national development.
• Develop a responsive and innovative research agenda.
• Develop systems and procedures for the efficient and effective delivery of educational services.
• Advance the goals and objectives of DWU and that of the FBI by discovering success models as well as some of the best practices in the field of business, information systems, mathematics and computing science and tourism education.
• Develop sustainable and strategic partnership with other universities overseas and within the country and to promote internationalization.
CORE VALUES
Divine Word University’s Core Values, as articulated in the University Charter and also expressed in its Vision and Mission statements, are at the heart of Divine Word University’s academic and non-academic programs and its philosophy. These values provide a framework for the University’s development and enliven the University's identity, the University’s heritage and its commitment to knowledge for holistic, personal development and social progress.
Integrity - offers to the University the ability to realize the Christian values and maintain the highest academic standards by upholding academic policies. It promotes the University strategic objectives and its Vision by emphasizing holistic education at the University and encouraging a consistency of actions and values.
Academic Excellence - DWU is committed to quality of research, learning and teaching or every individual learner. DWU’s diverse academic faculties with a qualified academic staff, in collaboration with international academics and universities, promotes critical thinking for staff and students who are engaged in learning, research, and creativity. Thus, DWU stimulates academic and personal leadership for staff and students with a spirit of ethical values and personal discipline.
Community Engagement/Service - commits the DWU Community to follow the example of the Divine Word to utilize our gifts, talents and abilities to advance the genuine well-being of the people we encounter in our community and the nation.
Respect - the DWU Community respects every person’s dignity, background and potential, and appreciates and respects the right to express diverse ideas with a freedom of academic enquires.
Diversity - the University’s Founders were from a different cultural and social background. Diversity nurtures an international academic community within the university that fosters a culture that is open and welcoming to people of diverse backgrounds, and promotes ideas and perspectives that engages the faculty, staff and students in academic and non-academic activities in an educational environment, and prepares the students to live and work in an international society within a global economy.
Hospitality - at DWU we attend to our daily duties with a spirit of openness and kindness that welcomes new ideas and people with a diversity of backgrounds and beliefs. We receive and value our visitors with divergent ideas and new insights and challenges.
Learning for Life - DWU is committed to providing opportunities to staff and students for personal growth in an environment that supports the development of discipline, ethical decision- making, and personal responsibility.
Social Responsibility - DWU is committed to equity, social justice, and diversity, and maintains the highest standards of integrity in our relationships with others.DWU is an institution that serves as a resource for and stimulus to social, economic, educational, cultural, environmental, and community development in Papua New Guinea and the South Pacific.
GRADUATE ATTRIBUTES
In the context of a Divine Word University graduate, the Faculty of Business and Informatics is committed in facilitating the experience of its students as reflective lifelong learners acting on well developed Christian ethical principles. Graduates will display personal qualities of scholarship and social awareness at local, national and international levels as evidenced through the following eight attributes:
Scholarship
1. Professional knowledge – achieve levels of knowledge and skill appropriate to entering and maintaining employment and to continuing career development in their chosen professional area through their commitment to lifelong learning.
2. Analysis and problem solving – apply their abilities with academic integrity to identify and define problems, exercise informed critical judgment and acknowledge their own limitations in understanding and solving problems.
3. Research – demonstrate independent analytical, critical, logical and creative thinking in systematically identifying and solving problems to establish or to create appropriate new and ethical solutions.
4. Information technology – have experienced the use of archives and libraries and the application of a range of computer software, particularly software appropriate to their disciplinary area, and established receptiveness to the expanding opportunities for electronic technology.
Social Awareness
5. Personal development – have been assisted to develop a philosophy of life based on the absolute human dignity of all persons, particularly the disadvantaged, through a commitment to Christian personal and professional ethics.
6. Communication – have excellent communication skills, in written and oral language, and understand and use English as the language of international scholarship as well as respecting the linguistic diversity of PNG.
7. Social Responsibility – accept the responsibilities that accompany the privilege of an education and display willingness to serve the needs of society through application of their disciplinary knowledge and professional skills.
8. Social interaction – demonstrate the ability to work productively, both autonomously and co-operatively, with tolerance, respect and valuing for human diversity, but also with a passionate commitment to truth.
STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES
The Faculty of Business and Informatics Strategic Objectives fall in place accordingly to the strategic directions of Divine Word University. The Strategic objectives shall serve as the framework for the development of our Faculty programs, activities and strategies:
Strategic Objective 1: Enhancing the Student Experience
The University’s first strategic objective is to enhance the student experience. Academic and non-academic experience of students at DWU aims at producing graduates academically qualified, with life skills, competencies and sound philosophy of life based on Christian values. Seeking to continually improve the student experience must be what will drive much of DWU’s efforts and actions.
Academic and non-academic experience of students at DWU aims at producing graduates academically qualified, with life skills, competencies and sound philosophy of life based on Christian values. Seeking to continually improve the student experience must be what will drive much of DWU’s efforts and actions.
Strategic Objectve 2: Promoting Quality of Distinctive Programs
The University’s second strategic objective is to promote the quality of distinctive academic programs. Responding to the changing needs and demands of the public and private sectors and developments that will be required towards the achievement of Vision 2050, all academic and nonacademic programs offered at the University must be of quality and prepare graduates for the future.
Strategic Objective 3: Supporting High Quality Research and Knowledge Exchange
The University’s third strategic objective is to support high quality research and knowledge exchange. DWU has to focus its research activities within the faculties, attract active researchers who can publish in international journals, attend international symposiums and contribute to the new body of knowledge. All University program specification documents have to be annually updated through research. DWU has to establish a culture of research and engage in partnership with overseas researchers.
Strategic Objective 4: Capitalize on Opportunities for Partnership
The University’s fourth strategic objective is to capitalize on opportunities for partnerships. Details can be found in the Strategic Plan 2006-2016. Each faculty of the University is strongly encouraged to establish partnership with other universities overseas and within the country.
Strategic Objective 5: Optimizing the Contribution of Staff
The University’s fifth strategic objective is to optimize the contributions of our staff. Each academic staff at the University ought to perform the following duties: teaching, research, administrative work and community engagement.
Strategic Objective 6: Maximizing Organizational Effectiveness
The University’s sixth strategic objective is to maximize organizational effectiveness. The University is a national institution on a continuing quest for excellence through effective, integrated systems and performance management. We need to optimize the output of the University’s talent and capabilities through operating as a single organization with one financial plan, one marketing strategy and one set of funding priorities, sharing resources, ICT technologies, staff allocation and admin support to promote collaboration and interaction between faculties, divisions and campuses across the whole University.
Strategic Objective 7: Making the Most of Our Assets
The University’s seventh strategic objective is to make the most of our assets. Staff are the most important asset for any university. The extent to which they maximize the effectiveness of their time and their use of available physical resources determines the overall significance of the Faculty offering. All University staff and students should feel responsible for proper use of all DWU assets such as lecture rooms, auditoriums, dormitories, staff houses, ICT equipment, vehicles and all other assets of the University.