Further and Higher Education for Tourism Hospitality and Events policy direction.
Colleagues within The Association for Tourism in Higher Education (ATHE), working in partnership with The Council for Hospitality Management Education (CHME) and The Association for Event Management Education (AEME) have produced an Open Letter to government which responds to policy changes affecting Further and Higher Education (FE and HE) in the UK.
They are jointly seeking to extend the number of organisation and individuals co-signing the letter, via the mechanism of a Change.org online petition, before then presenting the letter, duly supported, to relevant departments within the Westminster Government for their consideration.
Regardless of whether as an individual or as an organisation you are able to add your signature, the matters raised in it are I think concerning. Particularly so, because what happens in FE and HE in respect of Tourism. Hospitality and Events (THE) sectors in the future, as a result of changed and changing policy now, will not be something that is necessarily centre and foremost on the minds of the majority of current practitioner. However, if nothing is done to consider revising the new policy direction and done soon, it could (will?) have potentially serious downstream consequences for us all professionally, for the “industry” as a whole and for the visitor economies that we jointly work so hard to foster.
If nothing else, the open letter represents a timely and useful briefing note on, or for some a reminder of, a looming issues in FE and HE, provision for THE, even if for whatever reason, you subsequently find you or our organisation are unable to sign it. Hopefully, having consider the content, at least some of you will be able to sign to add weight to the campaign for revision.
Meanwhile, I will take member’s advice on whether to sign on behalf of British Destinations, or failing that individual in my personal capacity as a long-serving tourism professional. If any member has any views for or against me signing on behalf of the association, then please let me know, preferably by return.
The text of the notification, including the link to the open letter, I receive reads:
The Association for Tourism in Higher Education (ATHE), working in partnership with The Council for Hospitality Management Education (CHME) and The Association for Event Management Education (AEME) have produced an Open Letter to government which responds to policy changes affecting Further and Higher Education in the UK. The letter, which highlights the importance and value of tourism, hospitality and events to the economy, sets out six points which we are asking Government to consider. We would like to ask colleagues to sign and support this letter, and to share it more widely.
The Letter can be found here – https://chng.it/5L6TN2rxhJ
This Letter forms part of a suite of activity the three Subject Associations are working on, in partnership with colleagues from across our industries (too many to mention here) which also include a research commission into the value, volume, impact and trajectory for FE and HE for Tourism, Hospitality and Events, and will culminate with a conference in October 2023, to which you will all be invited. I will also just highlight the work that Claire Steiner at The Institute of Travel and Tourism is leading on around FE qualifications specifically which will form a part of the conference in October.
If you could share this letter with your networks, we will, once we have a reasonable number of signatures, circulate this to DCMS, BEIS, DfE and our media contacts and other stakeholders. This activity will be a precursor to the October conference.
Best regards,
Peter
| Dr Peter Robinson PhD, PGCert, MA, BA (Hons), FTMI, F.Inst.TT, MTS, PFHEA Head of the Centre for Tourism and Hospitality Management School of Events, Tourism and Hospitality Management Leeds Beckett University, G04 Macaulay Hall Headingley Campus, Leeds LS6 3QW Email: peter.robinson@leedsbeckett.ac.uk Tel: 0113 81 24497 |
British Destinations 