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FORWARD
University
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Bachelor of Science in Events, Conferences and Experience Management

The global meetings, incentives, conferences, exhibitions and live events industry is larger than most people imagine and rebuilt itself after the pandemic around professionals who can plan, produce and monetise experiences with precision. Kampala and Kigali are competing to become East Africa's ...

BSc (Hons)Hybrid3 years (6 semesters)Intake August 2027132 credit units

Employment thesis

What this programme is designed to produce

Forward publishes the destination of every programme before you enrol. If the thesis stops holding, the programme is reviewed and, where necessary, retired. Next review: 2032.

Roles

  • Event and conference manager
  • exhibition and trade show organiser
  • venue and conference centre operations manager
  • corporate events and incentive travel specialist
  • festival and cultural event producer
  • wedding and social events planner
  • experiential marketing specialist
  • events entrepreneur

Employer types

  • Conference centres
  • venues and hotels
  • event and experiential agencies
  • professional conference organisers
  • corporations and their events functions
  • Forward University · School of Hospitality
  • Culinary Arts and Tourism · Curriculum Volume festivals
  • sports and cultural organisations
  • government
  • international organisations and diplomatic missions
  • destination and convention bureaux
  • the graduate's own events company
  • and the graduate's own venture
  • incubated through the Forward Venture Studio

Target outcomes we hold ourselves to

  • This programme targets management roles in the meetings, conferences and events industry across East Africa and internationally, and supports events ventures. Progression routes include the School's masters programmes and doctoral study.

Compulsory · The Forward Core

How the Core works →

Every Forward programme, including this one, carries the same five cross-cutting requirements. They are graded, not optional.

  • AI Fluency
  • Quantitative Reasoning
  • Ethics and African Context
  • Human-Advantage Skills
  • Enterprise

Includes 12 months paid work-integrated learning

Students complete COP 190 Workplace Immersion in the Year 1 recess term, COP 290 Co-operative Education Placement I (six months, paid, assessed) and COP 390 Co-operative Education Placement II (six months, paid, assessed), totalling not fewer than twelve months. Placement hosts are contracted by the Co-operative Education Office. The employer completes a structured capability assessment carrying 40 to 50 per cent of the placement mark and signs the capability claims that enter the Capability Passport. Online students are placed with accredited hosts in their own city or country under remote academic supervision, or have their existing employment accredited as the placement site under Part D4. Read the co-op commitment

Am I eligible?

Check yourself against the published requirements

7 questions written specifically for Bachelor of Science in Events, Conferences and Experience Management. Every answer is checked against a requirement Forward has published, and the result tells you which page that requirement comes from. Indicative only, the admissions office decides on your full file.

Question 1 of 70%

What is the highest qualification you hold or are completing?

Requirement tested: A completed upper-secondary qualification (UACE, A-level, IB, high-school diploma or recognised equivalent), or a post-secondary award.

Curriculum structure

The same degree, in both pathways

Every Forward programme is published in both pathways: Path One, the term plan of two six-month terms, and Path Two, the block sequence of twelve four-week blocks. Same competencies, same assessments, same award. Toggle to see this programme in each.

Path One term plan shown

Path One · The Term Model

TERM 1 (SIX MONTHS) | FORMERLY YEAR 1, SEMESTER 1 | YEAR 1 | 22Year 1
22 credit units
CodeCourseCUHours
FDC 101
AI Fluency I: How Intelligent Systems Work
Both
42-2-0
BEVX 110
Foundations of the Events and Experience Industry
Both
53-2-2
BEVX 111
Event Planning and Project Management
Both
53-2-2
BEVX 112
Events Practicum I: Produce a Campus Event
Performance
42-2-4
BEVX 113
Hospitality and Venue Operations for Events
Both
42-2-2
TERM 2 (SIX MONTHS) | FORMERLY YEAR 1, SEMESTER 2 | YEAR 1 | 22Year 1
22 credit units
CodeCourseCUHours
FDC 102
Quantitative Reasoning and Evidence
Both
42-2-0
BEVX 130
Event Production, Staging and Technical Design Forward University · School of Hospitality, Culinary Arts and Tourism · Curriculum Volume
Both
53-2-2
BEVX 131
Event Marketing, Sponsorship and Sales
Both
53-2-2
BEVX 132
Events Practicum II: Conference and Exhibition Delivery
Performance
42-2-4
BEVX 133
Event Finance, Budgeting and Revenue
Both
42-2-2
COP 190
Workplace Immersion (4 weeks, recessterm)
Performance
00-0-0
TERM 3 (SIX MONTHS) | FORMERLY YEAR 2, SEMESTER 1 | YEAR 2 | 22Year 2
22 credit units
CodeCourseCUHours
FDC 201
Ethics, Society and the African Context
Both
42-2-0
BEVX 210
Experience Design and Audience Engagement
Both
53-2-2
BEVX 211
Risk, Safety, Security and Crowd Management
Both
53-2-2
BEVX 212
Events Practicum III: Client Commissioned Event
Performance
42-2-4
BEVX 213
Event Law, Contracts and Ethics
Both
42-2-2
TERM 4 (SIX MONTHS) | FORMERLY YEAR 2, SEMESTER 2 | YEAR 2 | 22Year 2
22 credit units
CodeCourseCUHours
FDC 202
Human Advantage: Argument, Writing and Teams
Both
42-2-0
COP 290
Co-operative Education Placement I (6 months) Forward University · School of Hospitality, Culinary Arts and Tourism · Curriculum Volume
Performance
100-0-0
BEVX 230
Event Technology, Registration and Intelligent Engagement
Both
53-2-2
BEVX 231
Festivals, Sport and Cultural Event Production
Performance
31-2-2
TERM 5 (SIX MONTHS) | FORMERLY YEAR 3, SEMESTER 1 | YEAR 3 | 22Year 3
22 credit units
CodeCourseCUHours
FDC 301
AI Fluency II: Building, Evaluating and Auditing
Both
42-2-0
FDC 401
/402 Capability Portfolio, Governance and Day One Block
Both
62-2-2
BEVX 310
Convention Bureaux, Bidding and Destination Events
Both
53-2-2
BEVX 311
Events Specialisation Elective
Performance
42-2-4
BEVX 312
Events Capstone: Deliver a Real Commercial Event
Both
31-2-2
TERM 6 (SIX MONTHS) | FORMERLY YEAR 3, SEMESTER 2 | YEAR 3 | 22Year 3
22 credit units
CodeCourseCUHours
FDC 302
Enterprise, Employability and Financial Literacy
Both
42-2-0
COP 390
Co-operative Education Placement II (6 months)
Performance
100-0-0
BEVX 330
Professional Practice and Events Leadership Forward University · School of Hospitality, Culinary Arts and Tourism · Curriculum Volume
Performance
82-2-8

Total credit units: 132

Curriculum source

Forward University Curriculum Compendium

Assessment

Assessment follows Part E without variation. Across the programme the aggregate weighting is 35 per cent continuous assessment and built artefacts, 25 per cent authentic performance including practical examination and oral defence, 30 per cent external practitioner assessment in the final year, and not more than 40 per cent written examination in any single course. The capstone is client verified and the Day One Assessment contributes 5 per cent of the final year mark. Assessment principles. Assessment is authentic, criterion referenced and, for every capability claim above Level 2, verified by someone other than the teaching lecturer. There is no compensation between competencies: a student must master each one, and a marginal performance in one cannot be offset by strength in another. Feedback is returned quickly, within seven days of a block closing in the Block Sequence, so that it can inform the next unit. A student who does not yet meet the standard is given a further, structured attempt under Part E rather than being carried forward, which protects the value of the award while supporting progression. Reasonable adjustments for disability are made under Part D without altering the competency standard.

Work-integrated learning

Students complete COP 190 Workplace Immersion in the Year 1 recess term, COP 290 Co-operative Education Placement I (six months, paid, assessed) and COP 390 Co-operative Education Placement II (six months, paid, assessed), totalling not fewer than twelve months. Placement hosts are contracted by the Co-operative Education Office. The employer completes a structured capability assessment carrying 40 to 50 per cent of the placement mark and signs the capability claims that enter the Capability Passport. Online students are placed with accredited hosts in their own city or country under remote academic supervision, or have their existing employment accredited as the placement site under Part D4.

Your week at Forward

A typical week on Bachelor of Science in Events, Conferences and Experience Management

Path One, the Term Model: your own pace across a six-month term, one live session a week, short flexible lessons, and assessment on demand.

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Mandatory live session Flexible bite-sized lesson Optional event

Curriculum explorer

Drill into the degree, step by step

Choose a study path, then a year, then a term or block, then a course. Credit totals add up as you go, and every course shows what comes before it and what it unlocks.

Step 1, choose a year

Step 2, choose a term

TERM 1 (SIX MONTHS) | FORMERLY YEAR 1, SEMESTER 1 | YEAR 1 | 22

Year 1 · this step is worth 22 CU

Cumulative

22

Programme total

132

22 CU of 132 CU completed by the end of this step (17%)

Step 3, choose a course

Pick a course to see the detail

Credits, assessment, prerequisites and what each course unlocks later.

The twelve Forward capabilities

What this programme develops in you

Every Forward degree develops the same twelve cross-cutting capabilities. The profile below is the level this programme is designed to develop and verify by graduation, on the four-level scale in Part B2 of the Curriculum Compendium. Every claim above Level 2 is verified by someone other than the teaching lecturer.

  • C1Intelligent Systems FluencyLevel 3 of 4, Independent
  • C2Quantitative and Evidential ReasoningLevel 3 of 4, Independent
  • C3Ethical and Contextual JudgementLevel 3 of 4, Independent
  • C4Communication and Persuasion CriticalLevel 4 of 4, Leading
  • C5Disciplinary MasteryLevel 4 of 4, Leading
  • C6Technical Production and CraftLevel 4 of 4, Leading
  • C7Problem Framing and Systems Thinking CriticalLevel 4 of 4, Leading
  • C8Collaboration and Multidisciplinary TeamingLevel 4 of 4, Leading
  • C9Enterprise, Value and Commercial Literacy CriticalLevel 4 of 4, Leading
  • C10Professional Conduct and Workplace Performance CriticalLevel 4 of 4, Leading
  • C11Learning to Learn and Adaptive CapacityLevel 4 of 4, Leading
  • C12Stewardship and Public ContributionLevel 3 of 4, Independent

Critical capabilities for this programme: Communication and Persuasion · Problem Framing and Systems Thinking · Enterprise, Value and Commercial Literacy · Professional Conduct and Workplace Performance. A graduate cannot pass out of this programme below the stated level on any capability marked critical.

Programme Learning Outcomes

What you will be able to do

Each outcome is assessed, and each is tagged with the Forward capabilities it is verified against.

  1. PLO 1Plan an event from brief to budget to delivery plan.
  2. PLO 2Produce live events: logistics, production, technical and staging.
  3. PLO 3Manage event finance, sponsorship and revenue for profit.
  4. PLO 4Design experiences that achieve the client's objectives and move the audience.
  5. PLO 5Manage risk, safety, security and crowds to ol of Hospitality, Culinary Arts and standard.
  6. PLO 6Win and manage clients, sponsors, venues and suppliers.
  7. PLO 7Apply event technology, data and intelligent tools to registration, engagement and measurement.
  8. PLO 8Lead event teams and volunteers under time pressure.
  9. PLO 9Cost, pitch and defend an event proposal or events venture.
  10. PLO 10Acquire and demonstrate a new capability without formal instruction, evidenced in the Capability Passport.

Why this programme exists

The global meetings, incentives, conferences, exhibitions and live events industry is larger than most people imagine and rebuilt itself after the pandemic around professionals who can plan, produce and monetise experiences with precision. Kampala and Kigali are competing to become East Africa's conference capitals, corporate and cultural events are growing faster than the people who can run them, and every hotel, venue and destination now sells experiences as much as rooms. This programme produces the events professional who can take a brief to a delivered, profitable, safe and memorable event, with real events produced from the first year and paid co-op in venues, agencies and conference centres.

Admission requirements

Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education with two principal passes; plus Uganda Certificate of Education with five passes including English and Mathematics. Applicants additionally complete a structured service scenario and reasoning task at admission, scored against Capabilities C4 and C10, and a short interview conducted by a practitioner. Equivalent international qualifications, and Forward College hospitality and culinary diplomas with advanced standing, are assessed against this profile. All applicants must demonstrate competence in English, the language of instruction, through their qualifications or an approved proficiency test under Part A. International and non standard qualifications are assessed for equivalence against the profile above under the Credential Portability provisions, so that a suitably prepared applicant may enter from anywhere in the world. Selection considers the whole application, including the structured admission task, and is conducted without discrimination under the University's admissions policy. Alternative pathways: Foundation Year, diploma entry with advanced standing, mature age entry and recognition of prior learning, all governed by Part A5 and Part G. Online applicants additionally complete the compulsory Digital Readiness orientation under Part D6.

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