Learning by doing

Procedia Economics and Finance, 2012

jobs and new skills are rising, as technology, demographic and global climate change generates new demands. To make a smart, property, sensible, green, sustainable, and high employment tourism sector, Europe needs to create or adapt skills -makers ought to adapt educational curriculum to the anticipated modification in skills for brand spanking new jobs initiative. medium -labour market skills forecast demand and curriculum supply. What becomes obvious is that the want for continuing modification and investment in the -

2019

In a context of unprecedented dynamics and rapid changes, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) face the challenges of adaptation, and the need to anticipate and be prepared for the future. Despite the inherent uncertainty of the future, one can be sure that soft skills will play a critical role for the future generations in many industries, including Tourism and Hospitality. Soft skills are crucial for talented professionals, along with technical (hard) skills, and are increasingly commonplace in job descriptions, indicating that many employers recognize their importance, not only as employability criteria, but also for their businesses’ performance and competitiveness. However, and despite the recognised importance of soft skills, it seems there is a gap between what market needs and what European HEIs with Tourism degrees actually offer. Traditionally, the curricula of HEI’s in Tourism has been mostly narrowed to teaching and learning of hard skills and when soft skills are contem...

Journal of Teaching in Travel & …, 2009

Tourism in Southern and Eastern Europe, 2021

Purpose – To improve the employability of tourism and hospitality (T&H) graduates, faculty must continually reassess what soft skills are essential for T&H graduates to possess and amend their curricula to meet these needs. Thus, this study aims to identify the soft skills perceived as essential for the T&H graduates through a systematic literature review (SLR). Methodology – Google Scholar was systematically queried from 1990 to April 2018, resulting in 77 T&H soft skills-related peer-reviewed publications. Four T&H researchers/educators produced an initial pool of 1447 T&H soft skills from these publications, categorized them in either conceptual/creative, leadership or interpersonal dimensions of Sandwith’s (1993) Competency Domain Model and trimmed for relevance. Finally, the elicited key soft skills were further edited via an online survey of 19 T&H researchers/educators from Italy, Malta, Portugal, and Spain. The relevance of generated soft skills was double-verified thought s...

Discussions about the new competences and skills needs for the tourism sector have recently gained a particular significance. Employers are increasingly concerned with what employees know, understand and are able to do in practice, rather than focusing on formal qualifications, degrees and certificates. At the same time, education and training systems are moving away from input approaches – describing learning with input factors such as the time spent on learning and where the learning takes place. This shared focus on competences and skills provides an opportunity to bridge the communication gap between the worlds of education and employment. The current paper focuses and makes critical analysis of students ‗competence profiles built by 2 higher education institutions in tourism in Bulgaria, based on the evaluation by the graduates and by the business. Conclusions and recommendations are drawn.

The discussions about the new occupations, competences and future skill needs for the tourism sector in Europe has a particular significance. It has been risen at EU level, launching different initiatives such as ESCO – European classification linking skills competences, qualifications and occupations. From other side the employers are increasingly concerned with what workers know, understand and are able to do in practice, rather than focusing on formal qualifications, degrees and certificates. Additionally, there is a growing understanding of the importance of transversal skills and competences, such as communication, ability to learn and a sense of initiative and creativeness. Public and private employment services respond to this trend by gradually changing from an occupation-focused to a skills and competence-oriented approach. Some employment services have thus begun to complement their existing occupational classifications with skills lists. At the same time, education and training systems are moving away from input approaches – describing learning with input factors such as the time spent on learning and where the learning takes place. This shared focus on skills provides an opportunity to bridge the communication gap between the worlds of education and employment. It will help to increase the relevance and responsiveness of education and training provision and to improve matching of supply and demand on labour markets.

Journal of Hospitality Leisure Sport & Tourism Education, 2009

This study examines how universities can attain knowledge of the generic competences demanded by society. The paper discusses to what extent this knowledge should be used in the design of tourism programmes and presents a critical approach to the role played by the labour market in tourism education, while the survey and its methods act as a practical tool for those developing the tourism curriculum. The research findings of this study indicate that, in the case of the Balearic Islands, generic competences are relevant for most organisations and that tourism graduates meet the expectations of the employer, although at a lower level than desired.

Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education, 2013

This paper addresses the aspirations of graduates of the Finnish University Network for Tourism Studies (FUNTS) in their search for employment within the tourism industry and their actual employment rate in the field. FUNTS offers courses in multidisciplinary tourism studies that can either be included in the degree as a minor subject or integrated into a student's major subject. One of the objectives of the programme is that the students will be able to apply the knowledge and skills acquired during their studies to professional duties and responsibilities within the tourism industry at a later stage. According to the results, the motivation level among the students towards the studies is high and many times their aim is to become employed in the tourism industry. A significant proportion of the FUNTS students are working in the industry and as graduate's progress in their careers, their responsibilities also reflect their education level. However, in relation to the actual employment rate in the tourism industry, the expectations for tourism studies as a minor subject exceed the actual employment opportunities.

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 2001

Journal of Human Capital Development, 2009

This exploratory study aims to identify the need of generic skills in the tourism industry in Melaka. The subjects consist of 70 front liners, male (N=29) and female (N= 41) who work at recreational and hotel sectors in Melaka. Subjects responded to the Social Inventory for Melaka Tourism Sector (Inventori Kemahiran Sosial Pekerja Pelancongan Melaka). The inventory has a fairly high reliability of 0.85-0.88, hence suggesting its pragmatic utility. Findings of the study show that Melaka tourism front liners views the importance of generic skills as follows; ethiques and