Projects in progress

VECTOR “A Vocational and Educational Curriculum Design from a Sector Skills Alliance on Tourism”

VECTOR is the acronym of ‘A Vocational and Educational Curriculum Design from a Sector Skills Alliance on Tourism’ and is funded by the programme ERASMUS+

VECTOR has the mission to define a professional profile of “Destination Manager” that is capable of proposing strategies aiming at managing, enhancing and promoting destinations in an integrated perspective.

By using the approach of creating an OER (Open Educational Resource) implementing a complete DM training curriculum evaluated and recognized through the ECVET system, VECTOR project aims to have both a short term and a medium/long term impact.

In the short term it will impact students, VETs, SMEs and Public bodies thanks to the availability of the new DM curriculum.

In the medium and long term the whole system of actors will benefit from the competences required in a changing industry like tourism, in order to identify and fill gaps, ensuring a better match.

It is expected that VECTOR will change the former situation into a new one, where tourism employees better fit into the market needs, increasing the overall quality of the sector.

The consortium is constituted by 12 partners.

 The project started in November 2015 and will last for 3 years.

 In this sense, the project aims at defining a high skilled professional profile of “destination manager”, a profile that is capable of proposing strategies aiming at managing, enhancing and promoting tourist destinations in an integrated perspective and, secondly, develop a joint training curriculum for DM defining the minimum requirement of the course according with the ECVET standards (learning outcomes, units of learning outcomes approach, etc.) with the objective to decrease the shortage of qualified professionals in the tourism sector.

OBJECTIVES 

  • Explore the skills needs in tourism and exchange good practices, knowledge and experience among partnersregarding the destination manager ability to manage, enhance and promote tourist destinations;
  • Develop an innovative and joined training curriculum related to the Destination Manager profile using theECVET approach and EQAVET principles to be included in an online course (e-learning platform);
  • Organize a pilot phase in Spain and Italy involving 24 trainees to test some of the most crucial andinnovative modules included in the DM training curriculum. Other units/modules of the e-learning platformwill be tested at distance with the support of tutors;
  • Draft an EQF based set of educational standards for destination managers based on project findings, oncurrent European VET developments (with a strong focus on labor market needs), on the characteristics ofthis occupation and, consequently, define a qualification profile for this occupation describing Knowledge,Skills and Competencies in the tourist field achieving a 5th level in the related EQF system;
  • Validate the Destination Manager profile and related training curriculum.

More information on the project are available on Erasmus Plus website at the following link or by checking the web site dedicated to the project here

PILOT COURSE FOR DESTINATION MANAGER AND PROJECT DEVELOPMENT

From 27 to 31 March 2017 the first pilot course on Destination Managaer took place at the Chamber of Commerce of Valaldolid, in the spanish region of Castilla y León. On Friday 31 a Memorandum of Understanding was signed by Spanish authorities responsible for education and tourism field. Check out the entire program for the week here, read the news on our website, on the website of Chamber of Commerce of Valladolid and of Tribuna Valladolid, or watch the news on a tv broadcast channel in Castilla and León.

The 28th ECVET Magazine – European Credit System for Vocational Education & Training, came out in June 2017. Project Coordinator Marco Scerbo from Foundation for Research and Innovation was interviewed in January 2017 by ECVET Secretariat, Michela Vecchia. You can find the resume on our web site here or read the full interview here (it starts at page 19).

At the end of September 2017 the italian partners met at Fiera Didacta Italia, one of the biggest events related to the school universe with a specific focus on education, where professional training and educational world met. Project partners hold a seminar on the 29th of September with the title “Vector: an educational path for destination management in Tuscany. Methodologies, standards and contents of an ERASMUS+ project”. Learn more about it and about speakers and stakeholders who contributed to the debate here.

In November 2017 Professor Giovanni Liberatore from University of Florence was interviewed by Unifi Magazine because of his role as Scientific Coordinator of the project. The interview deepened the role of Destination Manager, his/her competences and opportunities on the market, but gave also an overview on the project and on its partners. Read the translation of the italian inteview on our website here.

From the 8th to the 10th of November it was time also for the 5th International Meeting related to the project. The event took place in Lisbon, Portugal, in the district of Loures. Project partners had the chance to discuss methodologies,  standards and contents of the training course to become Destination Manager. The event was attended by Mr. Vytaute Ezerskiene, Project Manager di EACEA – Education, Audiovisive and Culture Executive Agency, who came to Loures to talk about Erasmus + and Sector Skills Alliance. Last day of the meeting was dedicated to a political event in which private and public Portugues stakeholders attending signed and subscribed the Statement of Intent related to Vector project. To learn more about it please check our news here.

In April 2018 a project meeting in Florence took place: the first pilot course was concluded and the 3rd International Conference on Destination Management was held. The event gathered together international experts, regional/national policy makers and companies working within tourism sector to discuss how the new “destination managers” will be able to valorize, promote and develop tourism in both a local and global level. The conference was also the event in which tuscany public and provate stakeholders signed a collaboration document with the Vector consortium,with the aim to promote the outcomes of the project. Check conference program here or read our news here.

On 18 Ottobre 2018 italian partners went back to the Fiera Didacta Italia kermesse, once again held in Florence. The University of Florence together with the other italian partners organized an ad-hoc workshop “Destination Manager e l’esperienza del progetto Vector: un nuovo strumento di e-learning” to sum up the three years-long experience and comment the path developed. Read other news here.

On 31st of October 2018, Vector project was officially closed, after have run for three years. Nonetheless, in November we were invited in Montpellier, to the European Tourism Innovation Campus, a regional matchmaking event, where we had the chance to talk about the project, the PPP, public-private partnership, the innovations within the Destination Manager curriculum and the next steps awaiting. Read the news here.

Il 31 ottobre 2018 è stato ufficialmente chiuso il progetto. Nonostante ciò, a Novembre si è parlato di Vector e del PPP, l’accordo e la cooperazione tra settore pubblico e privato, ad un evento a Montpellier, l’European Tourism Innovation Campus, dove abbiamo raccontato le innovazioni dentro al nuovo curriculum per Destination Manager ed i prossimi passi da compiere insieme alle agenzie formative. Leggi l’articolo qui.