THE UNIVERSITY of the West Indies (UWI) is spearheading efforts to establish an Institute of Tourism to facilitate specialist study in areas such as sports and eco-tourism.
Clive Edwards, project manager of the Caribbean University Level Programme (CULP) and the Caribbean Regional Tourism Sector Programme (CRTSP), who gave details of this initiative during a 'Think Tank' session at the Jamaica Information Service, said the institute would offer more focused study on a menu of specialities than a department with a mix of programmes.
The CTRSP, which is financed by the European Union, comprises a Master's degree in Hospitality Management taught at the Mona Campus and an on-line programme for supervisory management personnel out of the Centre for Hospitality and Tourism Management (CHTM) in The Bahamas.
It marked UWI's first postgraduate intervention in tourism, which was significant, Mr. Edwards said, given the industry's importance to the region.
The Master's programme was instituted in 1999.
SUPERVISORY PERSONNEL
The on-line pilot programme, which ended in June, targeted supervisory personnel in the industry, who did not have a university degree. The diploma course offered tourism employees access to the programme while on the job.
The pilot had 62 students enrolled for the UWI component, with PUCMM University in the Dominican Republic, attracting some 17 students.
While the sustainability of this programme has not yet been addressed, Mr. Edwards said he was hopeful that it would continue, pointing out that quite a high level of excitement had surrounded it.
Another spin-off, Mr. Edwards explained, was a request by the Suriname Tourism Foundation to CHTM for the development of a training programme for their personnel there. Apparently, a Suriname student, who was so impressed with the experience she had as a part of the on-line learning programme, went back to her tourism department and influenced the request.
A just-completed evaluation by Deloitte and Touche gave the two components of the CRTSP highly satisfactory grading in four of the five components of evaluation sustainability, project relevance, project effectiveness, and project design.
The high grade was credited to the fact that a large number of the students were already working in the industry and had brought to it a knowledge base, which gave a very good blend to the academic effort.
"Out of the whole experience has come a thrust to create an institute of hospitality in tourism at the graduate level, which will benefit the industry," Mr. Edwards said.
He said the structure of the institution would evolve out of the dialogue between the industry and the institution, and the feedback from graduates.
