Seminar “Best Practice in Promoting and Extending Education/Industry Links in Hospitality and Tourism: Response from the Industry”
In order to improve the cooperation between tourism and hospitality sector and educational institutions, on the 25-26th of September, 2018, the Faculty of Business Management of Vilniaus kolegija/UAS, together with La Fondation pour la formation Hotelière (Switzerland) organized a seminar “BEST PRACTICE IN PROMOTING AND EXTENDING EDUCATION/INDUSTRY LINKS IN HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM: Response from the industry”. The two-day seminar focused on the hospitality and tourism sectors. Participants discussed the training of the hospitality and tourism sector employees, the internships, the challenges of the new generation of employees, and labor market trends.
First day of the seminar focused on the hospitality sector. The seminar was opened by the Dean of the Faculty of Business Management Nida Mačerauskienė, who congratulated the participants. In her presentation Dr. Elizabeth Ineson talked about the reflective practice and tacit knowledge, former students – Agnius Savičiūnas and Simonas Laukaitis shared their thoughts about the knowledge acquired while studying at VIKO and its application in the current work, Alona Šumila, graduate of the Latvian Turiba University, and representative of the Estonian Business School shared their insights. In the second part of the seminar, business representatives: Head of the Kempinski Cathedral Square Hotel Vilnius Kai Schukowski, director of the Baltic countries and manager of Holiday Inn Vilnius Geert Snaet, lecturer from the Latvian Turiba University Sundars Vaidesvarans, executive director of the Estonian Hotels and Restaurants Association Maarika Liivamägi, shared their opinions.
Second day of the seminar was dedicated to the tourism sector. Dr. Elizabeth Ineson has extended her lecture on tacit knowledge and skills management. Kestutis Vadeika, the Head of Business Customer Sales at West Express, highlighted the essential requirements for the students coming to work for their company. The experience of creating joint projects with students and graduates was shared by Kristaina Adamsson, Head of the Hungry for Finland / Food & Tourism project. Ain Hinsberg from Estonia told about the joint students’ of the Estonian Hospitality and Tourism Management school and hotel project, implemented in Solo Estonia hotel and cabaret restaurant in Tallinn.
Intensive discussions took place during the seminar, in which guests, hospitality and tourism business representatives and lecturers of the Faculty of Business Management discussed the training of the employees of the hospitality and tourism sector, internships, the challenges of the next generation of employees, and labor market trends.
