Hospitality management education in Greece An exploratory study

Abstract

The importance of hospitality management education has been recognized all over the world for many years. Formal education plays a crucial role in the provision of skilled and competent human resources. Traditional tourism destination countries like Greece have developed tertiary hospitality education systems aiming at satisfying the needs of the tourism and hospitality industry. This paper examines the hospitality management education system in Greece and reports the initial findings of a qualitative research project undertaken for an assessment of the Greek system. The concept and the need of hospitality management education are explored and their struggle for identity is described. Furthermore, the graduates' views on the hospitality education that they had received are examined through a large number of in-depth interviews. Finally, based on the research findings, a number of conclusions are drawn and specific suggestions for the future of the hospitality education in Greece are proposed. These proposals are reflected in the numerous current developments taking place in Greece as well as in the suggestions for further research. © 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd.

Keywords

Author Keywords

Curricula Qualitative research Greece Graduates' views Tertiary hospitality management education

Index Keywords

Author Affiliations

Department of Tourism Business, Alexander Technological Educational Institute of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece

Funding & Acknowledgements

European Commission, EC

The future of the tertiary hospitality and tourism education in Greece seems to be promising. Apart from this study, other published works ( Christou, 1997 ) have indicated a widespread concern for the evaluation and the redesign of the educational system. Currently, a major research project is under development aiming at redesigning the program of study offered by the Department of Tourism Business of the Technological Educational Institution of Thessaloniki ( Karamanidis & Christou, 1998 ) with financial assistance from the European Union. In addition, the Aegean University (1998) has just offered a new postgraduate course in Tourism Business Administration and Planning. Finally, the Greek Open University will be offering a Masters degree in Tourism Enterprises Management by distance learning from October of 1999 ( Mastoras, 1988 ). Such developments may have a positive impact on the development and improvement of tertiary hospitality management education in Greece in the future.

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Hospitality management education in Greece An exploratory study

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