Educational Objectives

The Department of Tourism Management is committed to the systematic study of advanced academic theories in the field of tourism management, with the aim of contributing to the promotion of the tourism industry as a national strategic sector and the enhancement of public welfare.
The program seeks to cultivate highly qualified professionals equipped with expertise in both tourism theory and development, as well as the management of the tourism industry.

Faculty Overview

Departmental regulations

A. Matters related to admission

• Eligibility for Application
  • Applicants for the Master’s program must hold (or be expected to hold) a bachelor's degree from a four-year domestic or international university, or possess an equivalent or higher level of academic achievement as recognized by relevant laws.
  • Applicants for the Doctoral program must hold (or be expected to hold) a master's degree from a domestic or international graduate school, or possess an equivalent or higher level of academic achievement as recognized by relevant laws
• Special Admission Track
  • In accordance with the regulations of the general graduate school, applicants are evaluated based on document screening and an oral examination in the major field.
  • For the Master’s program, evaluations are made based on undergraduate academic performance, character, general knowledge, and major-related knowledge. The evaluation criteria for each item are determined by the department faculty meeting.
    For the Doctoral program, priority for the special admission track is given to applicants who hold a master’s degree and have experience in tourism education or tourism-related work. Detailed criteria related to the evaluation are determined by the department faculty meeting.
  • Admission decisions are made by combining the scores of the document screening and the oral examination.
  • Approximately 50% of the total enrollment quota may be allocated to the special admission track.
• General Admission Track
  • In accordance with the regulations of the general graduate school, applicants are evaluated based on document screening and an oral examination in the major field.
  • Through these assessments, the applicant’s undergraduate academic performance, character, general knowledge, English reading comprehension, and major-related knowledge are evaluated. The evaluation criteria for each item are determined by the department faculty meeting.
  • Admission decisions are made by combining the scores of the document screening and the oral examination.

B. Matters Related to the Selection of Academic Advisors and Examination Committee Members

• Operation of Academic Advisor System
  • Academic advisors are assigned to graduate students to provide guidance for smooth academic activities, career counseling, and related consultations.
  • The duties of academic advisors include evaluating the academic activities of master's and doctoral students, overseeing thesis proposal presentations, and offering counseling and guidance on career matters.
• Selection of Academic Advisor
  • Students admitted to the Department of Tourism Management at the Graduate School must select an academic advisor aligned with their intended major by the end of their first semester and submit an "Academic Advisor Consent Form" to the Graduate School.
  • Students who have not selected an academic advisor by the end of the first semester must be assigned a temporary academic advisor. They should submit a "Reason for Temporary Advisor Selection" to the department and obtain departmental approval, then submit the "Academic Advisor Consent Form" to the Graduate School.
  • By the end of the second semester, students can finalize their academic advisor selection by submitting an "Academic Advisor Change Request Form“ to apply for a change of academic advisor
• Selection of Examination Committee Members
  • Master’s Program Two internal committee members (full-time professors belonging to the Department of Tourism Management) are selected between the preliminary thesis presentation and the preliminary examination.
  • Doctoral Program Two, three, or four internal committee members are selected between the preliminary thesis presentation and the preliminary examination. If there are two internal committee members, two external committee members (full-time professors from departments other than Tourism Management or from other universities) are selected between the preliminary examination and the first main examination.
    If there are three internal committee members, one external committee member is selected within the same period.
    (The selection of external committee members is not mandatory.)

C. Matters Related to Credit Completion

• Credit Completion
  • To submit a thesis, the following credit requirements must be fulfilled:
    • Master’s ProgramStudents must complete Master’s Thesis Research (2 credits) and at least 24 credits in total.
    • Doctoral Program Students must complete Doctoral Thesis Research 1 and Doctoral Thesis Research 2 (a total of 4 credits) and at least 36 credits in total. Note that if a student fails Doctoral Thesis Research 1, they are not allowed to enroll in Doctoral Thesis Research 2.
  • If a student has not graduated from a similar major in their previous program (undergraduate for master’s students, master’s for doctoral students), they must complete supplementary courses designated by the department. Recognition of similar courses will be decided by the department faculty meeting.
  • However, according to Article 22, Paragraph 2 of the Graduate School Regulations (Supplementary Course Completion), if the degree program and department (major) differ or are similar, the decision regarding supplementary courses and the limit of credits to be recognized shall be made by the department (major) faculty meeting and approved by the dean of the graduate school. In such cases, exemption for part or all supplementary courses may be granted.
  • For the Master’s program, Tourism Research Methodology I is a required course. For the Doctoral program, Tourism Research Methodology I and Tourism Research Methodology II are mandatory. The remaining credits should be completed according to the credit completion guidelines.
• Recognition of Credits from Other Departments Students may take courses from other departments without limit on the number of credits. However, when applying for courses outside their own department, students must consult their academic advisor and submit an Application for Taking Courses in Other Departments to the department office.
• Course Enrollment for Korean Track and English TrackStudents admitted through the Korean Track may only register for courses offered in the Korean Track.
  Students admitted through the English Track may only register for courses offered in the English Track.
  Students admitted under a government scholarship program must choose either the Korean or English Track during their first semester and may register only for courses within the selected track.

D. Matters Related to the Foreign Language and Comprehensive Examinations

• Foreign Language Examination
  • The foreign language examination is conducted in accordance with the Graduate School’s regulations and departmental guidelines. However, for the doctoral program, only English, as the required subject, is tested.
  • International students may be exempted from the foreign language examination if they have obtained Level 3 or higher on the Test of Proficiency in Korean (TOPIK). (This applies to both master’s and doctoral programs.)
    • However, international students in the English Track who are not from English-speaking countries may substitute the foreign language requirement for graduation with the English test score submitted during the admission process.

      Exam Name		Graduation Requirement Score	Notes
      TOEIC		700 or higher	Only scores obtained within two years from the day after the test date to the date of the graduate school English examination will be accepted.
      TOEFL	PBT	535 or higher
      	CBT	207 or higher
      	IBT	76 or higher
      TEPS		600 or higher
      IELTS		5.5 or higher
      TOPIK		Level 3 or higher	For international students only.

  • A student becomes eligible to take the comprehensive examination if they have completed all required credits excluding the thesis research credits and have either submitted a foreign language score meeting or exceeding the graduation requirement listed in the table above or passed the foreign language examination administered by the graduate school.
• Matters Related to the Comprehensive Examination
  • The timing of the comprehensive examination is determined by the graduate school regulations.
  • The comprehensive examination is divided into two parts: the research methodology exam and the major subject exam.
  • For the research methodology exam, master’s students take Tourism Research Methodology I, while doctoral students take either Tourism Research Methodology I or Tourism Research Methodology II.
    • However, if a doctoral student has already completed Tourism Research Methodology II during their master’s program, they may, with the approval of the graduate school’s responsible professor, take the exam in a different major subject instead of Tourism Research Methodology II.
  • The major subject examination is conducted by selecting one course for the master’s program or two courses for the doctoral program from the completed courses, excluding Tourism Research Methodology I and II.
    The selected courses must be those taught by full-time faculty members.
  • Students who fail any part of the comprehensive examination may retake the exam for the failed subject(s).
  • Students who fail the comprehensive examination are not eligible to submit their thesis for final approval.

E. Eligibility Criteria for Degree Application

• Master’s Degree Qualification Requirements To apply for the master’s thesis examination, students must have presented at least once at a national or international academic conference, or published at least one paper in a journal indexed by the Korea Research Foundation or an international academic journal. If a certificate confirming the acceptance of a paper for publication is submitted, the accepted paper will be recognized as a published paper. In both cases, it is acceptable to be a co-author rather than the primary author (first author or corresponding author). An exception is made for graduate students applying for a master’s degree based on a research report.
• Doctoral Degree Qualification Requirements To apply for the doctoral dissertation examination, candidates must fulfill both of the following conditions:
  • Present at least one paper as the primary author (first author or corresponding author) at a national or international academic conference.
  • Publish at least one paper as the primary author (first author or corresponding author) in a journal indexed by the Korea Research Foundation (including candidate journals) or an international academic journal.
• Master’s and doctoral degree candidates must submit supporting documents for conference presentations and publications to the department’s graduate academic assistant before the final examination, and have these documents verified by the department’s graduate responsible professor.

F. Matters Related to Thesis Progress and Procedures

The thesis process proceeds in the following order: preliminary presentation, preliminary examination, and final examination.

• preliminary presentation
  • Students who have passed the foreign language and comprehensive examinations and have met the qualifications required for degree application must present their thesis (graduation thesis) proposal through a preliminary presentation.
  • Even if a student has not yet fulfilled all the degree application requirements specified in the department regulations (such as completion of required credits, foreign language examination, comprehensive examination, and thesis publication or presentation), they may still present their thesis at the “preliminary presentation.” However, any student who wishes to undergo the “preliminary review” must fulfill all the degree application requirements at least one month prior to the review date. The relevant supporting documents must be submitted to the department’s graduate program coordinator and verified by the department’s graduate program director. All supporting documents must remain valid through the end of the month immediately preceding the preliminary review date.
  • A general student who is not a degree applicant may also present the proposal of a regular paper, which is being prepared for conference presentation or journal publication, at the “preliminary presentation.”
  • A student who wishes to present a thesis or regular paper proposal at the “preliminary presentation” must submit the proposal to all full-time faculty members of the department at least one week before the presentation date. The proposal to be presented at the “preliminary presentation” must include at least the following components:
    1. Title of the paper 2. Table of contents 3. Introduction (statement of the problem and research background, research objectives) 4. Review of prior studies 5. Research methodology (design of the research model and survey method, hypothesis setting and verification method, survey design, questionnaire composition)
  • Presenting a degree-seeking thesis proposal at the “preliminary presentation” is not for the purpose of evaluation, but rather to receive advice from professors regarding the research. Therefore, the decision on whether to proceed with the “final examination” is made later during the “preliminary review.”
• preliminary examination
  • Only degree candidates are allowed to present at the "preliminary examination.“
  • Degree candidates must submit a revised copy of their thesis, incorporating feedback from the preliminary presentation, to their academic advisor and all committee members at least one week prior to the preliminary examination date.
  • The dissertation presented during the preliminary examination must include at minimum the following components:
    1. Title of the thesis 2. Table of contents 3. Introduction (research problem, necessity of the study, research objectives) 4. Review of previous studies 5. Research methodology (design of the research model and survey method, hypothesis development and testing method, survey design, questionnaire structure) 6. Research results 7. Discussion and implications 8. Limitations of the study and directions for future research.
  • The decision on whether to proceed with the final examination of the dissertation presented during the preliminary examination is made solely by the academic advisor and the appointed internal committee members.
  • Doctoral students who pass the preliminary examination must submit the finalized list of four internal and external committee members to the Graduate School and conduct the final examination three times during the designated period, in the presence of the advisor and committee members. In the case of master’s students, one final examination must be conducted with the advisor and two internal committee members.
• Final Examination Students who wish to present their degree-seeking thesis during the “final examination” must submit a copy of their thesis to their academic advisor and all committee members at least one week prior to the date of the “final examination.”
• Master’s Thesis Substitution Requirement (Research Report)
  • For the master's program, a research report may be submitted in lieu of a degree thesis.
  • A research report refers to a document that presents specific findings on tourism-related phenomena or issues without using statistical analysis or verification methods. Instead, it utilizes literature reviews, interviews, observations, photographs, videos, or other forms of primary data to redefine existing theories, conduct case analyses, or carry out capstone projects.
  • The research report is subject to two evaluations: one preliminary review and one final review.
  • The research report evaluation committee consists of the academic advisor and one full-time faculty member from the department (a total of two members). (Alternatively, it may consist of the academic advisor and the graduate program coordinator of the department, for a total of two members.)
  • The research report must include the following components: title, table of contents, introduction (including research problem, necessity of the study, and research objectives), main body (including literature review, research subject and methods, and results), conclusion (discussion and implications), and references.
  • Students who wish to apply for or change their thesis substitution (research report) must submit the designated form to the graduate department office before the semester in which the thesis evaluation is scheduled.

Curriculum