The Club Managers Association of Europe (CMAE) has announced the first in a series of e-learning courses for club managers. ‘Membership, Marketing and Food & Beverage for Clubs’ will begin in October.

This is the first of four e-learning courses that are being developed by the CMAE and Hotelschool The Hague, one of the world’s top universities for hotel management, which already boasts Hilton, Starwood and Hotel Okura Company among its global clients.

CMAE chief executive Jerry Kilby said: “This is an important step in our development, as we’ve been trying to source a practical and affordable solution for club managers to gain the knowledge they need to take our CCM (Certified Club Manager) exam. This series of e-learning courses are an important step forwards in that process.”

The development of the first e-learning course has been possible thanks to a partnership with the European Golf Course Owners Association (EGCOA), which was signed in Amsterdam last December. EGCOA CEO, Lodewijk Klootwijk, commented: “Educating our managers is vital in this ever-changing market and to be successful we have to run our golf courses as professional companies, which these new e-learning programs will help us achieve.”

The CMAE and EGCOA have been working closely together with Hotelschool The Hague in the planning of this first e-learning course for current and potential club managers, ensuring the content is relevant and appropriate for the European market.

The three other courses, which are expected to take place in 2011, are Governance and Leadership for Clubs; Golf, Sports and City Club Management; and Finance and Regulation for Clubs

The cost of the first course is €700 per person, at the end of which, certificates of completion will be issued on achieving a minimum pass mark of 70 per cent