Journal of Tourism and Services - Vysoká škola obchodní v Praze

when considered in this new paradigm that emphasizes individuals’
employability skills as a main concern for HEIs. Since 1998, the Sorbonne
Joint Declaration on Harmonization of the Architecture of the European
Higher Education System [3] has been in the origin of essential reforms
in European HEIs. A European area for higher learning is the foreseen
framework for the educational area as far as Higher Education is
concerned, and it has been the scenery for the implementation of
a common set of procedures in European HEIs since then.
Among several other aspects, internships are one of the key educational
activities which are carried out outside the classroom that have become
a fundamental element of the Bologna process as for the promotion and
development of students’ employability skills. As graduates’
unemployment rates rise all over Europe [25], new challenges are
presented to new graduates that have to work hard to enhance
competitive advantage in order to get into the labour market. Despite the
missing studies on the real contribution of internships for graduates’
employability, it is a fact that these are an important link between the
academic context and the industry [1; 7; 2].
Furthermore, if mobility and internationalization within the European
area are some other topics highlighted by the Bologna’s process when the
matter of preparing students for the new realities that the global world
offers as far as employment is concerned, the opportunities for students
regarding internships are now presented in a worldwide perspective
challenging the boarder lines of the European Community. Therefore,
more than preparing students to move along the European framework,
HEIs have to prepare them for a world of opportunities.
As for Tourism, a labour-intensive service industry, the practical
emphasis placed on courses of this area of study [7] should be thought in
order to provide skilled staff, answering the industry demands which is
characterized by a constant dynamics and upgrading of new profiles as far
as jobs are concerned [11; 21]. Pressured by political and educational
frameworks for preparing students to be employable individuals, HEIs are
expected to present strategies that reinforce students’ employability and
prepare them to cope with the shifting of skill requirements and the nonstopping
technological advances.
In the Portuguese context, the National Strategic Reference Framework
(NSRF) for the period 2007-2013 focuses this thematic when it stresses
the importance of the qualification of the Portuguese [8] as a main target
of the country’ s policy. As for Tourism, the history of Tourism recruitment
of staff reflects a general tendency to the non-recognition of the
importance of education in this field by a considerable number of
employers who tend to prefer practical experience to a university degree
[34]. This reality is not completely overcome, challenging the stakeholders
involved in this process – HEIs, Students, Enterprises and Governmental
institutions – to act accordingly and reciprocally with the purpose of
benefiting from a balanced and well-structured dynamics between them.
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