The Tourist Destinations Development Multimedia Laboratory was opened within the EU Erasmus + program.  

Tourist Destinations Development Multimedia Laboratory opening was financed using the funds of the European Dimension in Qualifications for the Tourist Sector/EurDiQ/ Erasmus + program and the Financial University funds.

The opening ceremony was attended by Marina Gunare, Project Coordinator (Baltic International Academy (Riga, Latvia)) and Elena Vasilieva (Saint-Petersburg State University of Economics (St. Petersburg, Russia)). The Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation is one of the project Consortium leading partners. The Consortium incorporates 17 universities of Europe, Russia and Kyrgyzstan that offer programs in tourism.  The list includes the following universities:    

•          London Metropolitan University (UK)

•          University of Nicosia (Nicosia, Cyprus)

•          Baltic College Schwerin - University of Applied Sciences (Schwerin, Germany)

•          Baltic International Academy (Riga, Latvia)

•          Tynystanov Issyk-Kul State University (Karakol, Kyrgyzstan)

•          Bishkek Academy of Finance and Economy (Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan) 

•          Saint-Petersburg State University of Economics (St. Petersburg, Russia)

•          Don State Technical University (Rostov-on-Don, Russia)  

•          Sochi University (Sochi, Russia)

•          Russian State University of Tourism and Service (Pushkin, Moscow Region, Russia) 

The project starting point has been the understanding of the fact that modern trends in the economy modernization and the rapidly changing technologies lead to a significant change in the employers' requirements set to the employees' qualifications. Therefore, first of all, occupational and educational standards were examined and gaps in the European, Russian, and Kyrgyz educational standards and approaches to training were identified by the project participants.  

The project Consortium decided to develop new learning modules for the master program on leadership and tourism development strategies based on the best European teaching practices.       Russian and Kyrgyz instructors in partnership with their British and other European colleagues have developed 10 modules aimed at developing the tourism industry future leaders' competencies.

 In addition to the mandatory disciplines required by the national standards, the master program curriculum includes such modules as Destinations Development, Sustainable Tourism, Event Management, Laws and Security in the Tourism Sector, Innovation and Service, Strategic Management and Marketing in the Tourism Sector.

The open laboratory will become a center where the digital destinations development materials will be developed. The equipment available allows the students to shoot and edit educational films about tourist sites. The key project beneficiaries will be the Financial University students. They will have an opportunity to launch competitive start-ups after studying targeted regional tourism sector development programs. They will also have an opportunity to take a course offered by a network of universities. They will be able to attend lectures delivered on-line within other modules by the Consortium members. 

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