Sustainable Leisure Management

Overview

This two-year program delivers a non-traditional approach to studies in ecotourism and innovative leisure practices, with courses that combine field experience and classroom instruction, all within a global context. Leisure studies and sustainability studies engage students with experiential learning opportunities, delivered by expert faculty who are leaders in their field. 

Graduates of the Sustainable Leisure Management degree program from Vancouver Island University  find employment opportunities as sustainability officers, analysts and directors, working in government, private sectors, and consultant firms.

This program places graduates at the intersection of two growing, exciting, and globally significant areas of theory and practice: leisure and sustainability. 

The program prepares emerging leaders to examine and create solutions which ensure that residents and travelers alike can enjoy recreational experiences, natural and cultural amenities, heritage resources, and adventure as part of their life experiences on a sustainable basis. 

Students will engage in coursework delivered in a non–traditional, international educational setting where the instructional approach draws upon field experience, classroom instruction, and experiential styles of learning. 

Two integrated instructional streams are central to the program focus: 

• a set of principles and practices underlying leisure and sustainability; and, 

• an integrated set of research capabilities, innovation, and knowledge mobilization skills necessary to ensure that new knowledge can be effectively transformed into impact.

There is also a required thesis component wherein students will demonstrate a mastery of knowledge mobilization approaches (including, but not limited to, research skills).