Hybrid Programs in Tourism

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Hybrid Programs inTourism Hospitality

• A Review of Strengths, Weaknesses and
  Implementation Issues

Keynote Address to the International Scientific
Conference onRethinking of Education and
Training for TourismApril 18-20, 2002 Zagreb,
Croatia J.R. Brent Ritchie / Simon Hudson /
Lorn SheehanUniversity of Calgary, CANADA
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Introduction

• Tourism Hospitality industry requires technical
  skills to service growing number of visitors
• Now there is a desirability to hire employees who
  possess industry skills, basic business
  training, liberal arts education
• How to meet this demand?

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Some Examples of Hybrid Programs

• Bachelor of Hotel Restaurant Management
  (BHRM) University of Calgary, CANADA
• Bachelor of Business (Tourism Hospitality)
  Latrobe University, AUSTRALIA
• Tourism Management Program Brighton University,
  UNITED KINGDOM

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Growth of Tourism Education

• Tourism education has expanded rapidly over the
  last few decades
• This reflects growing recognition of tourism as
  one of the worlds most significant economic,
  social environmental forces
• Also reflects one of the major challenges in this
  industryrecruit, develop retain employees

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Previous Research

• Tourism is multi-faceted inherently
  multi-disciplinary
• Difficult to classify and designsyllabi that are
  academicallyrigorous and relevant to
  thechanging needs of the employment market

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The Response

• Australia partnership with Technical and
  Further Education (TAFE) Colleges
• UK Credit Accumulation Transfer Schemes (CATS)
  Accreditation for Prior Learning (APEL) and
  International School of Tourism and Hotel
  Management (ISTHM)
• Canada the 22 model Hybrid BHRM Program

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The Calgary Hybrid Program

• BHRM has been in place since 1995
• Now includes 19 partner institutions across
  Canada
• This program is a leading innovation of its type
• Graduates attract job offers from all over the
  world
• They possess operational skills the capability
  of adapting to evolution of the workplace
  global markets

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Calgary BHRM Program
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Calgary BHRM Program
Selection of Top two graduatesfrom 19 Diploma
Granting Technical Institutions
?
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Calgary BHRM Program details
Year 1
60 Core Business 20 Hotel Management 20 Food
Beverage
 
Year 2
 
?
 
?
 
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Calgary BHRM Program details
Year 3
 
Year 4
 
 
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LaTrobe University
B.Bus (Tourism and Hospitality)
NOTE TAFE is the acronym for Technical and
Further Education
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LaTrobe University
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Brighton University
BA (Honours) Tourism Management or Hospitality
Management
Overseas Partner Institutions  Treider, Oslo,
Norway  Freibourg, Germany  Deventer College,
Holland  Bad Honneff, Bonn, Germany
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Brighton University
BA (Honours) Tourism Management or Hospitality
Management
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The Calgary Hybrid Program
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The Calgary Hybrid Program

• Up Next
• Special strengths of the Calgary Program
• Implementation issues and challenges
• The changing world of the past decade impacts
  on Tourism Education
• Looking to the future

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Special Strengths of the CalgaryHybrid BHRM
Program

• Graduates possess a high level of technical
  skills in hospitality management that make them
  immediately functional on job entry
• Graduates have been exposed to a significant
  number of courses from a wide range of academic
  disciplines, thus enhancing their understanding
  of society as a whole
• Graduates have undertaken an in-depth study of
  the tourism and hospitality sector, its
  components, how it functions, and how the sector
  contributes to the well being of society

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Special Strengths of the CalgaryHybrid BHRM
Program

• Graduates have learned how business works in
  general, as well as the roles of each of the
  functional areas of business, and the skills
  required in each area
• Graduates have learned the fundamentals of
  tourism and hospitality management at both the
  firm and destination level. This provides a
  unique understanding of a Destination Management
  Organization provides leadership and coordination
  to tourism and hospitality firms, so as to make
  the total destination competitive on a
  sustainable basis

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Special Strengths of the CalgaryHybrid BHRM
Program

• Graduates have had the opportunity to interact
  with, and share ideas with the leading students
  in their field from all across Canada
• Graduates have had the opportunity to form
  life-long friendships and relationships that will
  serve them well in their careers, and be of
  immense value to the Canadian tourism industry

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Special Strengths of the CalgaryHybrid BHRM
Program

• Graduates have been exposed to some of the
  leading teachers and researchers in the field of
  tourism and hospitality studies. In addition to
  acquiring practical skills, they have been
  intellectually challenged in a way that goes far
  beyond that of many programs.
• Graduates have access to employment opportunities
  and management training programs in some of the
  worlds leading hotel, resort, and tourism
  attractions. Indeed, most have several offers
  from which to choose.

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Issues Challenges for Implementing and Managing
the Calgary Hybrid BHRM Program

• Tourism is still regarded with skepticism by many
  in the academic community. Much like women,
  tourism researchers must continually demonstrate
  they are better than colleagues in many
  disciplines in order to merit scholarly
  recognition.
• Basic funding for tourism education in Canada
  still lags far behind competitors, such as
  Australia in particular

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Issues Challenges for Implementing and Managing
the Calgary Hybrid BHRM Program

• With notable exceptions (e.g. Canadian Pacific,
  now Fairmount Hotels Resorts) the tourism
  sector in Canada is reluctant to provide the
  enrichment funding that permits good programs to
  become great ones
• Despite scholarship support, the fact that Canada
  is a vast country still makes the total cost of
  studying in Calgary much higher than studying at
  a local university

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Issues Challenges for Implementing and Managing
the Calgary Hybrid BHRM Program

• The graduates of the leading partner technical
  institutes are typically flooded with job offers
  after completing their technical programs. As
  such, it requires these individuals to take a
  long term career perspective to enter the BHRM
  program. This is not always easy for a young
  person who has lived their life to date on a very
  basic income.

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Issues Challenges for Implementing and Managing
the Calgary Hybrid BHRM Program

• A true appreciation of what the BHRM program will
  do to enhance their personal and career
  satisfaction must be explained in detail by our
  recruiting team. This team must be sent every
  year to each of the 19 partner institutions if we
  are to successfully convey our message to future
  graduates. And since we can accept only 2-3
  individuals from each Institute, this is a high
  cost process. Again, without the enrichment
  support from Canadian Pacific, this essential
  promotional effort would not be possible in
  todays world of restrained university budgets.

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Issues Challenges for Implementing and Managing
the Calgary Hybrid BHRM Program

• The accreditation standards of the American
  Association of College and Schools of Business
  (AACSB) are aimed towards the traditional
  business school program. As such, they have
  little tolerance for the idiosyncrasies of the
  content and structure of the Hybrid BHRM. This
  requires that we constantly must seek to modify
  not only the program itself, but also the
  articulation agreements that make it possible for
  the program to exist.

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Issues Challenges for Implementing and Managing
the Calgary Hybrid BHRM Program

• The recent World Tourism Organization (WTO)
  TedQual accreditation standards, while optimal,
  create yet another costly and diversionary
  accreditation standard and data collection
  process for those programs that which to support
  WTO in its efforts to maintain and raise the
  quality of tourism education.

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Issues Challenges for Implementing and Managing
the Calgary Hybrid BHRM Program

• The drafting of articulation agreements with each
  of the 19 cooperating partners was a long and
  laborious process since each of the institutions
  had slightly varying program requirements.

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The Changing World Impactson Tourism Education

• An ongoing reduction in public funding for
  university level education, and a resultant
  pressure for privatization
• A growing demand for computer based distance
  education
• Increasing consolidation of key sectors of the
  tourism industry (most notably airlines and
  hotels)
• A growing lack of personnel willing to fill many
  of the frontline service functions required by
  the traditional tourism industry in developed
  countries, and resulting pressures to
  automate/mechanize such tasks where possible

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The Changing World Impactson Tourism Education

• Cutbacks in commission levels paid to travel
  agencies, with resulting lower levels of service,
  direct charges to customers, and transfer of
  certain tasks to consumers
• Increased terrorism, with a resultant fear of
  travel, in general, and to specific destinations
  in particular. As a consequence, the study of
  tourism must be re-conceptualized
• The need for increased airport security has
  increased both the cost and the hassle factor
  of travel by air

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The Changing World Impactson Tourism Education

• Growing globalization has increased the need for
  an international perspective on tourism education
  and training
• The changing nature of the Travel Destination
  has placed an increased emphasis on the need for
  a destination approach to educational programming
  and supporting teaching materials
• The growing sophistication of many tourism
  positions is slowly increasing the demand for
  certain highly trained specialists and for
  graduate level programs

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The Changing World Impactson Tourism Education

• The growing sophistication of travellers is
  changing their expectations with respect to the
  kinds of experiences, products, and service
  quality levels that they are expectingindeed,
  demanding
• The qualification requirements of tourism
  educators are being steadily raised, with an
  accompanying growth in the demand for educating
  the educators programs
• The introduction of accreditation standards (e.g.
  WTO TedQual) is forcing education institutions to
  increase the teaching and research skills of
  educators

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The Changing World Impactson Tourism Education

• Increasing pressure to balance economic
  performance with environmental stewardship is
  creating pressure for adjustments in the emphasis
  placed on these areas within tourism education
  programming
• Certain leaders in the tourism industry are
  starting to realize that unless they step forward
  to support and enrich tourism education and
  training in a significant way, that such programs
  risk being dropped by education/training
  institutions.

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Looking to the Future