Worms University in Germany has postponed the start of its new degree in business travel management.
Its Master of Business Administration (MBA), the first of its kind in business travel, was due to start this autumn but will now start in 2009.
Dr Klaus Fischer, professor at Worms University of Applied Sciences, said the reason for the delay was that it now plans to offer the advanced degree to all students regardless of whether they already have a degree.
He said the local authorities in Rheinland Pfalz, the German region in which Worms is located, had changed the rules to allow a wider scope of students.
The MBA will now be open to students who do not already have a degree but do have good experience of business travel management.
"We have agreed this with our partners, the VDR (Germany's association for business travel managers) because people were saying that a lot of people working in business travel do not have degrees," Dr Fischer said.
"The new rules will help us overcome this hurdle and we shall attract a broader type of student."
Dr Fischer said ten people had signed up for the degree when it had been due to start later this year which exceeded the university's target of eight.
He said these students would hopefully agree to start in 2009.
Dr Fischer said the delay would also give the university more time to approach companies to sponsor the students.
"We already have a couple of companies which have offered to support the students both internally and externally.
"We want to generate more possibilities like this for the students so they can get financial support," he said.
Dr Fischer said the university also planned to change the curriculum of the MBA by offering non-degree students pre-course assistance in some subjects like economics to bring them up the course's standards.
The MBA is a two year course covering 10 modules. Among them are international management, marketing and e-business, financial control, human resources, communications and negotiations, purchasing and technology.