industry perceptions towards the introduction of short cycle higher education in tourism in bulgaria

1

Industry perceptions

towards the introduction

of short cycle higher

education in tourism in

Bulgaria Stanislav Ivanov. Ph. D.

Academic Director

International University College. Dobrich. Bulgaria

http://www.vumk.eu

Editor-in-chief

European Journal of Tourism Research

2 Stanislav Ivanov

International University College

Industry perceptions towards the

introduction of short cycle higher

education in tourism in Bulgaria

Problem statement

Methodology

Results

Discussion and conclusion

Acknowledgements

3 Stanislav Ivanov


Problem statement

Goal of (short cycle) higher education – creating thinking and employable people

A person is employable if the industry (the customer of labour) considers him/her as employable. not the government (legislation) or education institutions

Do Bulgarian tourist companies consider graduates with an Associate degree as employable?

Would Bulgarian tourist companies employ a graduate with an Associate degree?

4 Stanislav Ivanov


Methodology

Overview

Questionnaire sent to 319 hotels and 432 travel agencies (tour operators and travel agents) in Bulgaria

Combination of email based and paper-and-pencil survey

Personalised and general emails

Reminder sent 2 weeks after the initial contact

Response rate – 32 hotels (10.02%) and 13 travel agencies (3.01%)

Response rate in line with Illum, Ivanov and Liang (2009)

5 Stanislav Ivanov


Methodology

Sample description

Number of employees Number of respondents

1-4 11

5-9 7

10-24 7

25-49 7

50-99 3

100-249 9

≥250 1

6 Stanislav Ivanov


Methodology

Sample description

Percentage of full time

employees

Number of respondents

<50 % 9

50-75 % 3

> 75 % 29

n.a. 4

7 Stanislav Ivanov


Methodology

Sample description

Percentage of

seasonally employed

personnel in 2009

Number of respondents

< 25 % 18

25-50 % 4

50-75 % 3

> 75 % 7

n.a. 13

8 Stanislav Ivanov


Results

Structure of employees by

educational level

Educational level Average share

among respondents

No education / Primary 3.9 %

Secondary 51.3 %

Professional Bachelor 16.9 %

Bachelor 14.0 %

Master 13.5 %

Doctor 0.4 %

9 Stanislav Ivanov


Results

Corporate expenses on training

48%

36%

9%

7%

< 1%

1-5 %

5-10 %

> 10%

10 Stanislav Ivanov


Results

Duration of introductory training

44%

11%

18% 18%

7%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

< one week 2-3 weeks one month 2-3 months > 3 months

11 Stanislav Ivanov


Results Do higher educational degrees give better

qualification of people to work in your company?

Answer Number of

respondents

Definitely yes 26.7%

Yes 31.1 %

Not sure 26.7 %

No 8.9 %

Definitely no 4.4 %

n.a. 1

12 Stanislav Ivanov


Results Is there a need for additional professional

training of your employees?

Answer Number of

respondents

Definitely yes 66.7%

Yes 26.7 %

Not sure 4.4 %

No 2.2 %

Definitely no 0

13 Stanislav Ivanov


Results

What change do you observe in

employees after additional training?

Answer Number of respondents *

Higher motivation 37.8 %

Working more efficiently

and effectively

64.4 %

No change 2.2 %

Cannot answer 8.9 %

Other 0

* Percentages greater than 100 because respondents could

give more than 1 answer

14 Stanislav Ivanov


Results What will be the effect of the introduction of short

cycle higher education in tourism in Bulgaria?

Answer Number of

respondents

Higher competitiveness of graduates 31.1 %

Diversification of the educational

structure

37.8 %

Shortening of corporate trainings 6.7 %

No change 8.9 %

Cannot answer 11.1 %

Other (negative) 2.2 %

15 Stanislav Ivanov


Results Would you hire in your company a person

with an Associate degree in tourism?

Definitely yes

38%

Yes

47%

Not sure

11%

No

4%Definitely no

0%

16 Stanislav Ivanov


Results Identify the key knowledge and skills of

employable young people in your company?

Answer Number of

respondents

Languages 31 %

Professional training 22 %

Computer skills 13 %

Communication skills 13 %

Knowledge about the

business environment

9 %

17 Stanislav Ivanov


Results Identify the key qualities of employable young

people in your company?

Answer Number of respondents

Communicative 18 %

Motivated 18 %

Responsible 18 %

Team player 18 %

Willingness to work 11 %

Initiative 11 %

Creative 11 %

18 Stanislav Ivanov



85 % of respondents would higher a person with an Associate degree in tourism (compare with 55 % of respondents’ employees are without higher education and 17 % have college degree – Professional Bachelor)

SHE should develop the student qualities, desired by the industry – communication, responsibility, team work, initiative, creativity

Companies prefer that new employees have basic professional knowledge and skills (computers, communication, languages) rather than rich work experience

19 Stanislav Ivanov



University education is not enough and companies need to additionally train new employees

Tourist companies are not interested in the problems of higher education in tourism or suspicious towards surveys (low response rates)

They probably do not believe that their opinion will have an impact

Introduction of SHE in tourism might not have a significant impact of corporate trainings

20 Stanislav Ivanov


Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Denitsa

Yordanova and Gergana Dimitrova, Ph.

D., from International Projects

Department at International University

College, Bulgaria, for their support

during the research

21 Stanislav Ivanov


References

Illum. S. F., S. Ivanov, Y. Liang (2009)

Using virtual communities in tourism

research. Tourism Management

(forthcoming)