TravelDailyNews: Recently you have launched a new faculty for tourism studies. What was the reason of taking this decision?

Bob Skene: Tourism is the number two industry in our home province of British Columbia. The tourism education community here is well organized and highly collaborative, however it has one significant gap – graduate education in tourism. Graduate education is the forte of Royal Roads University. This, coupled with the fact we operate a heritage attraction on a campus that is a national historic site, meant that creating a Faculty for Tourism and Hotel Management was a natural evolution for us.

As a university that specializes in applied and professional education, we knew that Royal Roads University could meet the needs of industry professionals, and those aspiring to careers in tourism, by adding to the program offerings in British Columbia with degree programs that have been designed to focus on international tourism and hospitality operations. Our programs are delivered via models that best support people who want to remain in the workplace while pursuing their education. For example, programs can be scheduled to ensure courses stop and start at times of the year that respond to the tourism industry’s business cycle (as opposed to a traditional university semester system).

Our first degree, a Bachelor of Arts in International Hotel Management, will cover the third and fourth year of the degree program in an intensive, 12 calendar months, allowing learners to get back into the workplace as quickly as possible. We will also be offering this program online in 2007, allowing people already in the workplace to keep “earning while they are learning.” The second new degree, a Master of Arts in International Hotel Management, will be delivered in a model of short face-to-face residencies of one to three weeks’ duration, with the rest of the program delivered online through the Internet. We felt these delivery models and the focus on international hotel management filled a gap that had previously existed in the tourism sector’s educational programming. We are already building relationships with many other educational institutions that allow learners to follow clear educational paths towards attaining tourism degrees. Once launched, we will begin our market research into an MA in Tourism Management.

TDN: How would you characterize the level of the tourism studies in Canada? Do you feel that there is a lack of significant educational programs?

B. S.: Tourism educational programming has grown steadily in Canada and is constantly being enhanced and updated by the institutions offering such programming. Tourism is a very important industry in Canada, and the growing number of educational programs acknowledges the need to support the industry by providing trained workers. In our own province of British Columbia, there have been a number of new programs launched in recent years, supporting the growth of this important industry within our province and also particularly in preparation of our upcoming 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.

TDN: What qualifications must today’s graduate have to cope with a more demanding and international clientele in the hospitality industry? What kind of requirements are in the top list of the hotel industry in Canada?

B. S.: The travel and tourism industry is becoming ever more complex. The success and proliferation of Internet wholesalers such as Expedia, Travelocity, etc. have created an industry where every tourism business sells to a worldwide audience. As global travel increases, both for business and pleasure purposes, the clientele mix has become ever more international in scope. This demands new skills from service provider staff.

Not only are the clients more sophisticated and consistently demanding quality experiences, they are also coming from a variety of cultures and backgrounds, making it crucial for hospitality operators to have staff that are sensitive to international standards and cultures. The hospitality industry now demands staff that are trained in multicultural norms, and ideally have had the opportunity themselves to experience cultures other than their own. Both of RRU’s new International Hotel Management programs require every learner to spend part of their program in an international setting.

To keep up with service standards which continue to reach higher and higher levels, the industry also needs employees that are trained in teamwork and leadership. These areas are strength of RRU’s programs. Each program begins with comprehensive leadership training, and team programs run for the duration of each program, which allows learners to hone their skills in successfully working with others to meet mutual goals, both in face-to-face and virtual environments. By focusing on cross-cultural sensitivity, teamwork, and leadership skills, the RRU programs have been designed to meet the critical needs of today’s hospitality industry.

TDN: Your institution is in one of Canada’s largest historical sites. How will this benefit your scholars and your university?

B. S.: The curriculum for our tourism programs will benefit from the educational opportunities associated with operating this 565-acre heritage site, complete with 10 recognized heritage buildings and the icon of the property, Hatley Castle, built in 1908.

The new faculty, in keeping with our applied, professional mandate, will be responsible for both academic programming and the heritage tourism operations at Hatley Park. This creates a dynamic synergy of learning potential which will expand as the university finalizes its agreements to build a 150-room accommodation and conference centre on the site, as well as the Robert Bateman Art and Environmental Centre that will celebrate the life’s work of the internationally renowned artist and naturalist. At every juncture of our educational programming, we are exploring opportunities for applied research and student projects related to our heritage site operations.

TDN: The 2010 Winter Olympics in Canada is a great opportunity for real practice. How will this affect your academic program?

B. S.: In preparation for all of the opportunities that the 2010 Olympics will bring to Canada, and especially British Columbia, our provincial premier has challenged the tourism industry to double revenues by 2015! This requires the industry to focus seriously on new product and infrastructure development tourism now. In tandem with the growth of products and services, we will contribute to supporting the growing demand for tourism professionals required to support the industry. Current projections confirm the province of B.C. will require 84,000 new workers by 2015, and 33,000 of those will be in management or supervisory positions.

Royal Roads University is very much looking forward to the chance to contribute highly trained, effective staff and managers to the Canadian tourism sector, ensuring that we are more than ready to deliver a spectacular Olympics experience to the world!

TDN: What are the differences between public and private institutes in the tourism academic programs in Canada? According to your opinion, must authorities take action and offer a new orientation of the academic programs?

B. S.: Public institutions are overseen by our provincial governments, and there is a high level of cooperation and consultation amongst educators at both the provincial and national levels. A number of associations and organizations exist through which educators are able to share ideas for consistently developing tourism educational programming. For example, there is a “core curriculum” for tourism and hospitality diploma programs in the province of British Columbia that the majority of colleges have embraced. Through collaborative opportunities at the national level, some colleges even outside of B.C. have also adopted this curriculum. Most of this kind of sharing and cohesion takes place at the public institution level; however, there are also some excellent private institutions which are fully involved in these activities and are offering high quality programming.

Here in B.C., there is an accreditation body in place for private institutions, called the Private Career Training Institutions Agency (PCTIA), which has responsibility under a provincial government act to provide consumer protection to the students and prospective students of registered institutions by establishing standards of quality that must be met by accredited institutions. Unfortunately, there have been some instances where private institutions have provided lower levels of educational experiences, and even, in the worst cases, have cheated learners and their families. Provinces across Canada are taking steps to ensure that private institutions meet certain standards and are legitimate businesses providing quality education. We believe that there are many high quality private institutes offering tourism education; the majority of these are active in our tourism educator collaborative activities and work in partnership with public institutions.

TDN: What is the role of internet and especially the e-learning system for your university?

B. S.: Royal Roads University was a true pioneer in the field of internet-based learning, offering programs through distributed learning methods since 1996 – the earliest days of the internet revolution. We take great pride in our mandate to provide educational opportunities to people in the workplace, by offering program delivery models that allow people to either work while they learn, or complete their on-campus programming as quickly as possible so as to reenter the workforce with minimal disruption.

In our graduate programs, thousands of learners have embraced our delivery model, which combines the best of face-to-face learning with Internet-based learning. The face-to-face residency sessions allow for the creation of true learning “communities” and relationship development with other learners and the instructors, while the distance-based component allows learners to undertake their studies when they are able to fit in their computer time to their particular life circumstances. This design has also allowed learners from all across the globe to participate in our programs. As long as they are able to attend the residencies, they are able to complete the full programs through the asynchronous Internet model.