Departmental engagement with the tourism industry has provided valuable opportunities to include industry professionals within specific modules.  This consistent emphasis on exposure to real world situations and professionals is essential to embed the necessary experience and knowledge that many employers are looking for.   Most significantly, this approach addresses the widespread scepticism that university tourism degree programmes fail to deliver programmes that are relevant to the tourism industry and are seen to be provided by individuals with little experience of the ‘real world’.

Frequent contact with industry also ensures that academic staff are up-to-date with the latest industry developments, and are able to incorporate this into their teaching almost immediately.  The effective embedding of consultancy work allows students to look beyond the academic text, and place key themes such as strategic management, sustainability and dealing with small businesses in the context of an operational destination environment.

In addition to guest speakers, the programme also draws on local industry support in a variety of different ways.  First, industry representatives are invited to attend student presentations, as guest markers, so students become accustomed to presenting to industry employers.  For example, as part of the assessment regime in BAM331 Sustainable Destination Management, students have to apply for a destination management post, and attend a short interview, where they are expected to demonstrate an operational awareness of the basic elements of destination management. To add a degree of realism to this assessment, the destination management posts are based on the actual job descriptions for the tourism officers based at New Forest District Council.  In addition, tourism officers from Chichester and Arun District Councils are invited to sit on the interview panel.  Therefore, while contributing to the final part of their assessment, it is also intended to provide valuable interview experience. 

Consultancy links within the region have also facilitated the development of work placement opportunities, and whenever possible, students are now encouraged to undertake final year dissertations as consultancy projects for local tourism businesses.  More fundamentally, the overall structure of the Tourism Management degree at Chichester, and the specific content and design of new modules has also been influenced by the nature of our scholarly activity. This is particularly evident in relation to the Level 3 Module 'Training, Education and Interpretation for Tourism' which has been developed as a result of our training and development work undertaken for the Tourism South East. The aim of this specific module is to introduce students to a range of tools and approaches central to developing appropriate and effective education, training and interpretation strategies. The learning outcomes have been developed in conjunction with the RTBs to ensure that industry expectations of training materials and the necessary graduate skills have been met.

In addition, BAM331 Sustainable Destination Management is based around the Destination Management Handbook (DMH), produced by the English Tourism Council and the Tourism Management Institute in 2003.  The DMH is currently being promoted by central government as a framework for effective destination management.  Such links again reinforce the emphasis on 'real world' examples, and ensures that students are equipped with an operational competence linked to the 'VICE' (Visitor, Industry, Community, Environment) model.