The School of Leisure, Sport and Tourism is one of five discipline-based teaching Schools in the Faculty of Business.

The School had its origins in 1979 in the former Kuring-gai College of Advanced Education. Since that first cohort of 20 undergraduates in one program, the School now has grown into the largest of its kind in Australia. Over 1000 undergraduate and postgraduate students are enrolled in the School's courses. This growth in the School's programs has developed in response to changes in the Australian economy as it has increasingly moved from primary industry and manufacturing toward one which is largely service oriented.

As part of this economic change, changes in the way people use and value their free or non-work time have also taken place. There is now increasing demand for professionals to plan, manage and provide direct service delivery across the spectrum of activities undertaken by Australians in their free time - be it using a national or local park, attending an art gallery, playing sport, participating in a cultural event, or taking a short break or extended holiday. It is the School's mission to provide students with the knowledge and skill base to both respond to, and shape this demand.

At the academic level, the School employs 20 full-time staff and up to 15 part-time staff each semester to service its range of programs. In addition to their teaching responsibilities, School staff are also actively engaged in research. Visit our research pages for details. In particular, the School is a participant in the nationally funded Sustainable Tourism Co-Operative Research Centre. In the area of sport, staff are engaged in both the study of sport as a social phenomenon and its organisation and management.  Several researchers are working on projects in the Sports Science field. In the broad leisure area there is a particular interest in recreation planning and management, museums and cultural venues, land-use management, venue and facility management and risk management.

In addition to teaching and research, the School also plays an active role in providing short professional development programs. The Australian Centre for Event Management (ACEM) is the major provider of education for event professionals in Australia. ACEM offers its short course program throughout Australia, New Zealand and Asia. The School also hosts the Beijing-Sydney Institute for Sport Management (BISM). BISM was established in 2001 to provide training and development for Chinese sports officials, particularly those with links to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The School is also a foundation partner of Sport Knowledge Australia (the Australian Government's International Centre of Excellence in Sports Science and Management); established in 2004.  In 2004 the Australian Centre for Olympic Studies was established by the School to further its already considerable involvement in Olympic related research and teaching.  Other short courses offered by the School include sport marketing and management, arts marketing, hospitality development, and urban park management.

While the School has a national reputation, it also operates within an international environment offering programs in Malaysia and China. In addition many international students choose the School's courses; this is particularly the case at the graduate level with our tourism and sport management programs.

The School is a dynamic, enterprising and industry focused academic unit. Its continued success is attributable to the quality of its academic and support staff, teaching and industry based programs, and importantly, its students.