How do we give students the opportunity to shape the future of tourism?

ETFI has been part of NHL Stenden’s Leisure & Tourism Academy for ten years. This means that we are inextricably linked to education. At the end of the year, it is time to look back and see what we have done. In this case: what is the current state of affairs when we look at our (structural) contribution to education? In this blog, we will briefly discuss how we introduce students to the world of tourism research.

Our contribution to tourism education

We involve many students from NHL Stenden’s Leisure & Tourism Academy in the projects we carry out. We regularly set out research assignments in Tourism Management’s third study year. This concerns both subprojects that are part of large projects and small projects that students are allowed to carry out independently under the supervision of one of our tourism experts and/or a teacher from the study program.

Advantages of students undertaking research

Every year about 50 students work on various projects for us. Students find this, among other things:

a valuable addition to their study;
special, because they are given the opportunity to carry out a “real” assignment for a “real” client;
informative, because they work on an assignment that suits their interests;
useful, because they can expand their network through research.

How does scenario planning work in education?

Applying strategic foresight and scenario planning in tourism research is our specialty. But we also bring this method to the attention of students in various curricula. In this way, we teach them to learn to think strategically and to show them that this method can be used to prepare for an uncertain future. Our tourism experts provide these lectures and workshops. They also teach this method at various colleges and universities in Europe. About 550 students in the Netherlands and abroad are taught the basic principles of strategic foresight and scenario planning every year.

Interaction between research and practice in education

A large part of our tourism experts also work as teachers in education. They are associated in various forms with the Leisure & Events Management, Tourism Management and/or Master International Leisure, Tourism & Events Management studies at NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences. They give lectures, workshops and other lessons in regular educational programs and/or guest lectures on a specific topic. In this way, the knowledge that we acquire in our research projects is transferred to education.

These are just a few examples of ETFI’s involvement in education. Would you also like to focus your education program on the future of leisure, recreation, tourism and scenario planning and have students work on practice-oriented studies? Then contact us.