Between 15 and 16 October, Voronezh State University held an international scientific conference “New Innovative Technologies in Tourism” focusing on the latest tendencies in studying the current state and challenges of the tourist market, as well as its development prospects. The conference was dedicated to the opening of a unique double degree MBA programme “Tourism Management” run jointly by VSU and the Higher School of Tourism of Troyes (France). The programme includes three specialisations: “Hotel and Restaurant Management”, “Business Tourism and Event Tourism”, and “Medical Tourism”. The Higher School of Tourism of Troyes was specifically chosen as VSU’s partner for this project, as it was the first university in France to train specialists in tourism and tourism management. The university closely collaborates with the leading experts in tourism and representatives of the tourism business.
Apart from the academic staff from the Higher School of Tourism of Troyes, lecturers from three faculties of VSU are involved in the educational process: the Faculty of Economics, the Faculty of Geography, Geoecology, and Tourism, and the Faculty of International Relations. The programme will also involve Russian and French experts specialising in hotel and restaurant business and event tourism. Students enrolled on the programme will learn modern methods of managing tourism businesses, as well as the latest business models in tourism that will allow them to understand the demands and develop the skills for effective decision making in this sphere. They will also acquire new skills and knowledge that are required today to be a successful tourism manager. Due to the high level of education at VSU, the Higher School of Tourism has granted the right of teaching most of the programme’s courses to the academic staff of our university. Thus, the programme will be implemented at VSU and the taught primarily in Russian. Some courses will be taught by teachers from the Higher School of Tourism in French and translated into Russian. Upon completing the programme, the students will obtain two MBA degrees: a diploma from VSU and a diploma from the Higher School of Tourism of Troyes.
The idea of the programme is based on the successful record of double degree programmes run jointly with leading French universities. Four years ago, VSU, together with ISC Paris Business School, opened the EMBA double degree programme aimed at the training of managerial personnel.
“Partnership with the Higher School of Tourism is the result of effective collaboration with our French colleagues. It demonstrates that we are able to provide high-quality business management education programmes in our region. The programme should meet the growing demand for highly qualified specialists in tourism. There are already a number of world-class hotels in Voronezh, but no other education programme in the city, even in the whole Black Earth Region, covers the best global practices in the sphere. This MBA programme is crucial for the economic development of our region,” said the VSU rector, Dmitry Endovitsky.
The discussion of the key elements of the joint programme became the central point of the international scientific conference “New Innovative Technologies in Tourism” held at VSU. Among the participants were the university’s researchers, as well as the director of the Higher School of Tourism, Véronique Béclié, representatives of the tourism business community in Voronezh, the Voronezh Health Department, and the Tourism Committee of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Voronezh Region.
“The kind of tourism we are all used to will not remain for long. With new information technologies the sphere of tourism is undergoing dramatic changes. It is vital for us now to keep pace with progress so that we can continue training highly qualified specialists. Having completed our new programmes, students will come to the labour market bringing a new type of knowledge and skills that will enable them to reveal the potential of our region. We are ready to take on any challenge. And we will start introducing new technologies in the tourism business straight away,” said the dean of the Faculty of Economics, Pavel Kanapukhin.
The conference included talks by the director of the Higher School of Tourism, Véronique Béclié, as well as representatives of the Voronezh government, members of the hotel and restaurant business community, and representatives of healthcare institutions of the Voronezh Region (deputy head of the Voronezh Visitor Centre, Natalia Panova, the director general of Degas 4* Group, Olga Kalabina, HR director of Voronezh Marriott hotel, Elena Polenova, director of OOO “Voronezhsky puteshestvennik”, Gennady Malysh, and the board chairman of GK “Olymp Zdoroviya”, Natalia Solovieva).
“We are now trying to determine current education trends in the sphere of tourism and the most effective ways of implementation of new education programmes. Recently, a new tourism development strategy has been chosen in our country, which calls for stronger collaboration with our European partners. Our city has a well-developed hotel and restaurant infrastructure, as well as quite well-known sights of global significance. I think this sphere will soon be developing very rapidly. The academic staff and the facilities at VSU will enable us to open new education programmes in the sphere and strengthen our partnership with other countries,” said the dean of the Faculty of Geography, Geoecology, and Tourism, Semion Kurolap.
During the conference, the coordinators of the joint MBA programme “Tourism Management, Elena Alexeeva, head of the Department of French Philology, Svetlana Klimova, head of VSU business school, and Véronique Béclié, director of the Higher School of Tourism, discussed the details of the programme.
After the conference Dmitry Endovitsky and Véronique Béclié signed a partnership agreement, which will serve as the basis for successful development of new education programmes and further strengthening of cooperation between Russia and France.
