ABTA plans to endorse the best travel and tourism degree
courses as part of an employer-led radical overhaul of the
university system.
As the sector’s popularity has increased among
universities and the number of courses has spiralled, employers
have become increasingly dissatisfied with the quality of graduate
applicants.
The industry’s Sector Skills Council’s People First
initiative, formed earlier this year with £2 million worth of
funding split equally between the Government and the
industry’s employers, aims to get to grips with the content
of courses by developing a template for the educational
institutions to base their courses around.
Those that meet its criteria will be approved by ABTA. The move
will help employers sift through graduate job applicants, while
undergraduates will know ABTA-approved courses give them the best
opportunity for employment when they have graduated.
People First is to start consultation with employers and
universities next year over the shape and content of the course
template. Chief executive Simon Turl expects the template to be
complete by the end of 2005, so universities can use it to form
courses starting in the 2006/07 academic year.
ABTA head of policy and member services Stephen Alcock said the
body does not have the “skills or resources” to
accredit courses under the current system, where universities all
develop their own degrees without any guidance from the
industry.
“It’s an important point. The industry’s input
into course content is limited,” said Alcock.
Turl said: “The inconsistency in the university system is
an issue.
“We have to play a part and introduce standards that the
employer and the student can recognise.”
People First plans to officially announce the introduction of a
framework for university courses at its inaugural annual conference
in December.