In 2012 there were some 600 different tourism courses offered across the country by 100 different higher education institutions (UCAS, 2012).Most undergraduate courses are three year full time but some take four years and include a year’s paid work placement. This can be compared with 1993, 20 years ago when there were only 36 institutions of higher education offering undergraduate Tourism degrees. There is also a wide range of postgraduate courses in Tourism Management and more specialised fields; they last for 12 months for full-time students.
There is a huge variation in the name of undergraduate courses which focus on Tourism and titles range from the straightforward Tourism Management and Tourism and Leisure Studies, to the more specialist Adventure Tourism Management and Food Tourism Management as examples. Additionally many universities offer Tourism as part of a combined honours degree, where students can study Tourism alongside a range of other subjects as varied as Dance, Digital Media and Psychology.
Tourism as a distinct subject has been taught in British Universities since the 1980s at the undergraduate level. The majority of undergraduate programmes developed out of existing Business based degree courses which then became more specialised in the context of the tourism industry. In terms of the overall aim of Tourism degrees, ultimately graduates in Tourism should be prepared to meet the challenges of the growing and increasingly competitive tourism industry. This implies that well qualified tourism graduates should be able to offer employers in the sector immediate and highly developed skills and knowledge that will allow their organisations to prosper. To this end most Tourism degree courses include both theoretical and vocational perspectives, combining courses on the patterns and problems of tourism with those providing the necessary skills of business and management. Tourism graduates take up posts in a range of careers in both the public and private sectors, including the accommodation and travel sectors, and with local authorities. Tourism graduates also can consider moving on to complete a postgraduate qualification in tourism or a related field at the same University, or elsewhere, and opportunities exist to study for a research MPhil or PhD.
Indeed the acceleration of supply of postgraduate level Tourism programmes should not be overlooked, first provided in the 1960s and then followed by many more in the attempt to produce high calibre graduates with specialist planning, development and management skills in the context of Tourism.
So why would a student not resident in the UK decide that this was the place to study a degree in Tourism? Clearly the huge range of course and institutions available has to be a major benefit, so whether you prefer to study in a big city environment, or in a town based University with a smaller campus feel, there are Universities to suit all tastes in all locations from the north of Scotland to Southern England and Wales. As an international student in the UK, you would benefit from improving your written and oral English skills as well as perhaps taking up the opportunity to study a further foreign language as part of your Tourism degree course. Additionally the opportunity to study alongside students from around the world makes for a culturally rich study experience. It should also be noted that Tourism degree courses focus additionally of transferable skills such as marketing, business management and IT, skills that are much sought after by other sectors of the economy, highlighting the wider benefits of the Tourism degree.
Improving the employability of students through their degree studies is a huge priority for all British Universities and as studying tourism will focus on many of the key employability skills that are critical to student success, studying Tourism in the UK really has to be the only choice to make.