Learning Tourism: Creating Innovative and Permanent Methods and Practices for Multidimensional Education Collaboration

Context/background of the project: International tourism has a significant impact on the economies of the European Union and its member states. More than 5 % of the EUs’ GDP are generated by the tourism industry. According to recent European statistics, contribution of tourism to GDP was 3.7% of total GDP; the total contribution is estimated at 10.2% of GDP, and In 2016, the direct and indirect contribution of tourism to employment was 11.6% of total employment (26,5M jobs). See: http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/tourismRegardless of the global economic crisis, the EU remains the number one tourism destination in the world. Forecasts suggest that the number of international arrivals will have almost doubled in Europe between the years 2000 – 2020. In order for Europe to remain in a strong position as top tourism destination it is crucial for it to have well trained and educated tourism workforce. As the tourist experiences a whole range of tourism services, from the receptionist welcoming him to his accommodation to the country’s advertisement created by its tourism developers, the quality of tourism education in all its breadth is crucial. Cooperation among the different levels of tourism education as well as with the industry’s different sectors, however, is still in its infancy. Multidimensional Tourism Institute (MTI) combines the different education levels, and is therefore very relevant combination from this context's point of view. Objectives: The project aims at strengthening the partnerships between education and working life by involving actors from the tourism industry in research and teaching activities; improving both teaching staff’s and students’ proficiency in ICT technologies, in turn using these technologies for better and easier cooperation with the employment sector; and the acquisition of practical entrepreneurial experience through internship placements – both of HEI as well as VET students.Number and profile of participants: The project’s partner consortium consists of 7 partners from Finland, Germany and the Netherlands. • Finland: The Multidimensional Tourism Institute (MTI): consisting of the University of Lapland, the Lapland University of Applied Sciences and the Lapland Tourism College• The Netherlands: NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences• Germany: University of Applied Science Kempten, Chamber of Commerce Schwaben and Allgäu Marketing, GermanyDescription of undertaken main activities:• Instigating a joint student research programme on working life case development to enhance students’ knowledge of international tourism, increase intercultural competence and boost their entrepreneurial viewpoint while at the same time broadening their academic expertise• launching interactive, mutually beneficial co-operation among the participating organisations facilitated through mobility initiatives and joint eLearning • investigate and benefit from the participating educational organizations’ and the working life partnership’s structure, stakeholder cooperation practices and the utilisation of their operational model;Results and impact attained:1 joint study programme resulting in three working life –based case studies1 internet platform “Knowledge Network” providing support to students, staff and enterprises before, during and after the internship1 Internship Mentoring Scheme1 structure for international internships for VET learners between Lapland and the Allgäu2 analyses of the partner consortium’s organisational structures, stakeholder cooperation practices, utilisation of their operational model and how this benefits future curricula and international activities1 article collection on the project’s results and best practices implemented in cooperation among all partners of the projectConsice description of the project impact:Students were provided with a more international learning environment, the opportunity to improve their language skills as well as the opportunity to increase their employability through added intercultural skills and entrepreneurial viewpoint gained through mobility measures or training placements. Teaching staff’s working life as well as ICT skills were be improved, interaction with other professionals from the same area from different countries was fostered and input for curriculum creation and the involvement of working life in teaching activities was given. The project allowed educational organizations to engage with other organizations from the same field with similar opportunities and challenges, engage with working life to add their viewpoint to the educational organizations' curricula, increase their attractiveness for future students and working life partnership creation. Also, the project increased the participating working life organizations ’cooperation with the educational sector, giving them the possibility to influence curriculum composition suiting their needs better as well as obtaining international work force.