The Queen Margaret University College, Edinburgh is to offer the first MBA in Golf and Country Club Management.

The course is being devised by a team of academics and industry professionals, and will hope to attract students from around the world.

The college hopes that the course will plug an existing gap in the international market, offering an opportunity for those both inside and outside the industry to develop skills in an environment run by top specialists on golf course management, tourism, corporate hospitality.

Programme leader, Ian Buick explained the effort to tap into a growth industry: Golf is a global industry that has seen radical changes over the past 20 years. We have therefore spent the last 18 months developing the course to meet the needs of this rapidly developing and popular industry.

Buick added that the future of golf facilities could lie in multi-purpose leisure facilities: More golf facilities will diversify into country clubs featuring not only golf but other sports, for example, tennis, squash, swimming and general fitness facilities.