The Oxford School of Hospitality Management (OSHM) at Oxford Brookes University launched a new strategic risk management course in collaboration with InterContinental Hotels Group, the global hotel organization with nine hotel brands including InterContinental Hotels and Holiday Inn. OSHM faculty and IHG's risk executives have co-developed the content for P58908: Tourism Industry Dynamics and Strategy, which is offered in OSHM's MSc in International Hotel and Tourism Management and MSc in International Hotel and Tourism Marketing.

The course exposes students to the 'risk universe' of international hotel groups and uses IHG as a live ongoing case study to teach them strategic risk management principles and practice based on real-life examples from the company's experience. Students learn how to identify, evaluate and 'treat' corporate and operational risks through mitigating controls and risk financing, to ensure the business continuity of a hotel group's global operating system and to develop and implement crisis management and recovery plans. The course is led by Dr Alexandros Paraskevas, OSHM's senior lecturer in strategic risk management, and facilitated by John Ludlow, SVP Global Risk Management in IHG and a host of top ranking professionals from his team.

"In the context of IHG Academy activities, our Risk Management division is reaching out to top hospitality schools in order to share our knowledge of risk management and help educate the next generation of hoteliers in this discipline," said John Ludlow. "Our research and knowledge transfer collaboration with OSHM started six years ago and the co-development of this course is a natural evolution of this relationship." Dr Alexandros Paraskevas commented: "The engagement of top industry risk professionals gave us the unique opportunity to build a bridge between theory and practice and present students with a course which combines academic rigour with industry relevance."

"The embedding of risk management thinking in hospitality curriculum provides students with a set of skills that enable them better evaluate the tradeoffs between risks and opportunities in their decision making as professionals," said Catia Guimaraes, IHG's Business Continuity Risk Manager, course facilitator and OSHM's postgraduate alumnus. "The understanding of risks at both corporate and operational levels is an essential quality for all hotel management staff, regardless of their function. In today's dynamic business environment it may make the difference between success and failure," said Raksha Singh, another OSHM's postgraduate alumnus who is now IHG's Risk Manager South West Asia.

About IHG | IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is a global organisation with nine hotel brands including InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts, Hotel Indigo®, Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn® Hotels and Resorts, Holiday Inn Express®, Staybridge Suites®, Candlewood Suites®, as well as our two newest brands, EVEN™ Hotels and HUALUXE™ Hotels & Resorts. IHG also manages Priority Club® Rewards, the world's first and largest hotel loyalty programme with over 65 million members worldwide.

IHG franchises, leases, manages or owns over 4,500 hotels and more than 661,000 guest rooms in nearly 100 countries and territories. With more than 1,000 hotels in its development pipeline, IHG expects to recruit around 90,000 people into additional roles across its estate over the next few years.

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC is the Group's holding company and is incorporated in Great Britain and registered in England and Wales.

Visit www.ihg.com for hotel information and reservations and www.priorityclub.com for more on Priority Club Rewards. For our latest news, visit www.ihg.com/media www.twitter.com/ihgplc www.facebook.com/ihg or www.youtube.com/ihgplc.

About the Oxford School of Hospitality Management | The Oxford School of Hospitality Management is the leading European higher education institution in hospitality management. Part of Oxford Brookes University, the leading modern university in UK according to the Sunday Times University Guide, OSHM enjoys an international reputation for teaching excellence and innovation, as well as strong links with business and industry. The School is ranked number one in the UK for hospitality management education (Taylor Nelson, Sofres, 2011); top in Europe for hospitality research; and top in the world for research productivity (Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research, 2012).

Latest news and information on the Oxford School of Hospitality Management can also be found through the School's website http://hospitality.brookes.ac.uk/news/, https://twitter.com/brookesOSHM and http://www.youtube.com/user/brookesOSHM/videos

Alexandros Paraskevas
Oxford Brookes