Educational establishments and the wider travel industry must engage with government to ensure academic qualifications in the sector are not viewed as second-class, delegates at Travel Weekly’s first People Summit were told.
Dr Peter Robinson, head of the Centre for Tourism and Hospitality Management at Leeds Beckett University, said proposed changes to government assessment of academic courses meant travel, hospitality and events (THE) courses could be compared unfavourably to those in other sectors.
He said his own establishment had a strategic partnership with Jet2, which was helping it “address some of the issues we have around government policy and the way that governments would like to measure tourism education in higher education institutions”.
Robinson said key metrics including the number of students judged to have progressed to “graduate-level” positions and the retention of individuals both on courses and in their entry-level roles could all count against the sector.
Explaining that low base salaries could impact whether jobs were perceived as “graduate-level”, he added: “If you are interested in studying pharmacy at 18, at university you have no choice but to complete your course to become an assistant pharmacist, which is a graduate-level job and ticks the government metrics.
“Pharmacy courses hit about 98 or 99% of those metrics but travel and tourism courses don’t. As an institution we are at 85 to 87%, which is very good for the sector, but some in the sector are around 60%.”
Robinson said implications around funding could mean fewer courses being offered, and less academic research being produced to help shape the industry of the future.
Vicki Wolf, Abta head of education and career development, said it was important for the industry to work closely with the education sector to ensure teaching and end qualifications were fit for business.
She added: “I’ve worked with Peter and a number of others, when they have asked for myself or other people in industry to actually go through the qualifications and just do a sense-check.
“Working closely with our education partners is a really important part of our work as an association.”
More: Take Off in Travel – Travel Weekly’s guide to career opportunities in travel and tourism