Business Tourism Partnership Mission

7. EDUCATION, TRAINING AND QUALIFICATIONS
The relative immaturity of the business tourism and business events
industry means that education and training courses are still being
developed, although considerable provision already exists. The
industry is yet to achieve a comprehensive, structured educational
framework but recent years have seen a growth in full-time and
part-time educational programmes, combined with a somewhat
random, piecemeal provision of training courses, mostly short
courses of one or two days' duration. Demand for distance learning
and online availability of educational courses has not yet been
matched by appropriate supply. Accreditation for education and CPD
programmes is now beginning to be offered.
There is no doubt that there has been a considerable increase in the
number of universities offering event management courses and this
is to be welcomed. However, there is still concern within the events
community about the need for greater dialogue between academia
and the industry in order that courses can achieve greater relevance
to organising events in today’s highly regulated and dynamic
business environment.
While it is not essential for those looking to make a career in the
business tourism industry to have pursued a particular educational
course, certain courses can provide skills and knowledge which are
readily applicable to the industry. Details of the main current
provision are given below.
College and University Courses
For those wishing to study a course which is directly relevant to a
future career, the best options are probably business studies, sales
and marketing, hotel and catering courses and, particularly, courses
involving tourism and event management. Several hundred colleges
and universities across the UK now offer full-time courses in travel,
tourism and leisure, at a variety of levels.
Until recently, business tourism did not feature strongly on any of
these courses. This is now changing as an increasing number of
educational institutions offer dedicated ‘conference management’
and ‘event management’ degree level courses. Many other
institutions offer modules in these topics as part of tourism and
hotel and catering courses, for example.
Comprehensive details of the current provision of courses at higher
education level (i.e. full-time and sandwich first degree courses) can
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