Sector Skills Alliances Tourism and Catering 2nd Partnership Meeting in Croatia

Sector Skills Alliances for Tourism and Catering (SSA – TC), as a pilot project for the development of sector skills alliances, started in January 2013 and it is anticipated to finish in two-year period. Ten partners from various European organizations such as: Grŵp Llandrillo-Menai (United Kingdom), Eurhodip, Association Internationale Sans But Llucratif (Belgium), Hotelijersko-turistička škola u Zagrebu (Croatia), Pohjois-Karjalan Ammattiopisto Joensuu Palvelut (Finland), Arbeit und Leben Hamburg e. V. (Germany), Turisztikai és Vendéglátó Munkaadók Országos Szövetsége (Hungary), Scuola Alberghiera e di Ristorazione di Serramazzoni (Italy), Sociedade Portuguesa de Inovação - Consultadoria Empresarial e Fomento da Inovação, S.A (Portugal), Mersin Universitesi, Turizm Uygulama ve Araştırma Merkezi (Turkey) and British Institute of Innkeepers Awarding Body (United Kingdom) participate in the project.

Sector Skills Alliance for Tourism and Catering 2nd Partnership Meeting took place from October 6th till October 9th 2013 in Zagreb, Croatia. Zagreb Hotel and Tourism School, as a host of this meeting, made all the preparation necessary for this meeting to run smoothly.

Meeting took place in the hotel Westin where partners from across Europe came together to work on achieving aim of this project which is “…to develop and design an innovative, mutually recognizable and transparent curriculum/qualification based on ECVET principles at EQF level 4 which will meet the specific needs of tourism and catering industry in Europe, at present and in the future.”

The opening words were made by the principal of Zagreb Hotel and Tourism School, Marija Rašan-Križanac, M.Sc. who greeted all the partners and wished them a successful meeting. 

Dr. Shyam Patiar, international consultant, who is in charge of the Sector Skills Alliance for Tourism and Catering project facilitated the entire meeting.

On this meeting all the partners have been working together with enthusiasm on evaluating the skill needs, gaps and mismatches in the tourism sector. In order for this objective to be successfully achieved Empirical and Field Research has been used by partners with special attention on main stakeholders, hotels and various agencies.

Partners worked in groups on comparing the results of skill gaps and needs and conducted curriculum analysis in order to identify the similarities and any major gaps in curriculum observed during the study.

After the meeting finished partners went sightseeing with Ana Eterović, Sandra Zonjić, Hano Uzeirbegović and Diana Bokunić, colleagues from the Zagreb Hotel and Tourism School. Couple of pupils from the school joined the sightseeing and acted as local tourist guides which was nicely recognized by the partners. This was an opportunity to turn the project and walk through the city into the joy of being together.