Malta University Consulting, and the Malta Business Bureau, local leaders of the INCOME Tourism Project together with the University of Malta’s Institute of Tourism, Travel & Culture (ITTC), the associate partner, as well as Westin Dragonara Resort, and a number of tourism students, have recently participated in a Zoom meeting about the Project.
Other local entities involved in the project are: Grand Hotel Excelsior, MHCS, and Robert Arrigo and Sons.
The INCOME Tourism Project aims to foster a new learning approach linked to the development of soft skills in the tourism industry and based on a cooperative learning process that brings together tertiary education and business entities. The project comprises of a consortium of 13 partners based in Portugal, Spain, Italy, Malta, Germany, Croatia and the Netherlands. The consortium is currently compiling an analysis of the current situation of the tourism industry as impacted by COVID-19 in participating countries.
Students participating in the project will also be given the opportunity to share and discuss their findings with their counterparts in the Project.
Participants shared their experience of the outcome of the pilot project, launched in December 2019, which familiarised participants with the dual learning model, namely the acquisition of soft skills through both theoretical and hand-on learning – saying that the experience was very positive.
Other matters discussed were the fact that the acquisition of soft skills through actual on-the-job placement made students more aware of employment opportunities, the fact that businesses found it important to employ students who were motivated to apply in practice what they had learned academically, and that universities were glad to receive feedback and tweak courses they offer to cater for the needs of the industry.
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