The Future of Education
Better Together: Paving the Way for Interdisciplinary Projects in Tourism Higher Education
Sandra Vasconcelos, IPP Polytechnic Institute of Porto - CIDTFF (Portugal)
Carla Melo, IPP Polytechnic Institute of Porto - Valoriza - CiTUR (Portugal)
António Melo, IPP Polytechnic Institute of Porto - CIDTFF (Portugal)
Abstract
Having a deeply rooted affinity and interdependence with a wide range of sectors and industries, tourism is, by nature, an interdisciplinary field. However, despite this realization, in regard to tourism higher education there are often barriers to the development of interdisciplinary research and active collaborative projects involving different disciplines. Regardless of the nature of these barriers (faculty members, students or institutional barriers), it is extremely important to understand and overcome such challenges in order to provide more efficient programmes. The highly competitive context in which the tourist activity takes place reinforces the need for multifaceted professionals and therefore, the pressing for more flexible and collaborative approaches. Aiming to set the ground for an interdisciplinary project involving tourism, management and language courses within a tourism programme, this paper sets out to provide a comprehensive outline on the current state of the art of interdisciplinarity in tourism higher education. Based on a literature review covering peer-reviewed research that have taken place within the last five years, the authors start out by clarifying key concepts and asserting the importance of interdisciplinary approaches in tourism higher education. Content analysis is used to categorize the different approaches, making it possible to highlight good practices and provide examples from the field, making provisions for future work.
Keywords: tourism higher education; interdisciplinary; project-based learning.
References:
[1] Darbellay, F., & Stock, M. (2012). Tourism as complex interdisciplinary research object. Annals of Tourism Research, 39(1), 441-458.
[2] Mrnjavac, E., Pavia, N., & Vujić, V. (2012). Interdisciplinarity in higher education courses for tourism: The case of Croatia. Journal of teaching in travel & tourism, 12(1), 21-43
[3] Pechlaner H., Volgger M. (2015) Can Tourism Qualify for Interdisciplinary Research? A European View. In: Pechlaner H., Smeral E. (eds) Tourism and Leisure. Springer Gabler, Wiesbaden
[4] Okumus, F., van Niekerk, M., Koseoglu, M. A., & Bilgihan, A. (2018). Interdisciplinary research in tourism. Tourism Management, 69, 540-549.
