1. The document summarizes research on industry perceptions of introducing short-cycle higher education programs in tourism in Bulgaria. A survey was sent to hotels and travel agencies regarding their views. 2. The results found that 85% of respondents would hire someone with an associate degree in tourism. Companies valued soft skills like communication, motivation, and teamwork over work experience. Additional training was still needed for new employee skills and knowledge. 3. The introduction of short-cycle higher education may help diversify educational backgrounds but likely won't significantly reduce company training times. Programs should focus on developing desired student qualities and basic professional skills.

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Industry perceptions towards the introduction of short cycle higher education in tourism in Bulgaria
Stanislav Ivanov. Ph. D.
Academic Director
International University College. Dobrich. Bulgaria
http://www.vumk.eu
Editor-in-chief
European Journal of Tourism Research

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Stanislav Ivanov International University College
Industry perceptions towards the introduction of short cycle higher education in tourism in Bulgaria
Problem statement
Methodology
Results
Discussion and conclusion
Acknowledgements

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Stanislav Ivanov
International University College
Problem statement
Goal of (short cycle) higher education – creating thinking and employable people
A person is employable if the industry (the customer of labour) considers him/her as employable. not the government (legislation) or education institutions
Do Bulgarian tourist companies consider graduates with an Associate degree as employable?
Would Bulgarian tourist companies employ a graduate with an Associate degree?

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Stanislav Ivanov International University College
Methodology Overview
Questionnaire sent to 319 hotels and 432 travel agencies (tour operators and travel agents) in Bulgaria
Combination of email based and paper-and- pencil survey
Personalised and general emails
Reminder sent 2 weeks after the initial contact
Response rate – 32 hotels (10.02%) and 13 travel agencies (3.01%)
Response rate in line with Illum, Ivanov and Liang (2009)

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Stanislav Ivanov
International University College
Methodology Sample description
Number of employees
Number of respondents
1-4
11
5-9
7
10-24
7
25-49
7
50-99
3
100-249
9
≥250
1

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Stanislav Ivanov International University College
Methodology Sample description
Percentage of full time employees
Number of respondents
<50 %
9
50-75 %
3
> 75 %
29
n.a.
4

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Stanislav Ivanov International University College
Methodology Sample description
Percentage of seasonally employed personnel in 2009
Number of respondents
< 25 %
18
25-50 %
4
50-75 %
3
> 75 %
7
n.a.
13

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Stanislav Ivanov International University College
Results Structure of employees by educational level
Educational level
Average share among respondents
No education / Primary
3.9 %
Secondary
51.3 %
Professional Bachelor
16.9 %
Bachelor
14.0 %
Master
13.5 %
Doctor
0.4 %

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Stanislav Ivanov International University College
Results Corporate expenses on training
48% 36% 9% 7% < 1% 1-5 % 5-10 % > 10%

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Stanislav Ivanov
International University College
Results Duration of introductory training
44% 11% 18%18% 7% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50% < one week2-3 weeksone month2-3 months> 3 months

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Stanislav Ivanov International University College
Results Do higher educational degrees give better qualification of people to work in your company?
Answer
Number of respondents
Definitely yes
26.7%
Yes
31.1 %
Not sure
26.7 %
No
8.9 %
Definitely no
4.4 %
n.a.
1

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Stanislav Ivanov International University College
Results Is there a need for additional professional training of your employees?
Answer
Number of respondents
Definitely yes
66.7%
Yes
26.7 %
Not sure
4.4 %
No
2.2 %
Definitely no
0

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Stanislav Ivanov
International University College
Results What change do you observe in employees after additional training?
Answer
Number of respondents *
Higher motivation
37.8 %
Working more efficiently and effectively
64.4 %
No change
2.2 %
Cannot answer
8.9 %
Other
0
* Percentages greater than 100 because respondents could give more than 1 answer

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Stanislav Ivanov International University College
Results What will be the effect of the introduction of short cycle higher education in tourism in Bulgaria?
Answer
Number of respondents
Higher competitiveness of graduates
31.1 %
Diversification of the educational structure
37.8 %
Shortening of corporate trainings
6.7 %
No change
8.9 %
Cannot answer
11.1 %
Other (negative)
2.2 %

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Stanislav Ivanov
International University College
Results Would you hire in your company a person with an Associate degree in tourism?
Definitely yes38% Yes47% Not sure11% No4% Definitely no0%

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Stanislav Ivanov International University College
Results Identify the key knowledge and skills of employable young people in your company?
Answer
Number of respondents
Languages
31 %
Professional training
22 %
Computer skills
13 %
Communication skills
13 %
Knowledge about the business environment
9 %

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Stanislav Ivanov International University College
Results Identify the key qualities of employable young people in your company?
Answer
Number of respondents
Communicative
18 %
Motivated
18 %
Responsible
18 %
Team player
18 %
Willingness to work
11 %
Initiative
11 %
Creative
11 %

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Stanislav Ivanov
International University College
Discussion and conclusion
85 % of respondents would higher a person with an Associate degree in tourism (compare with 55 % of respondents’ employees are without higher education and 17 % have college degree – Professional Bachelor)
SHE should develop the student qualities, desired by the industry – communication, responsibility, team work, initiative, creativity
Companies prefer that new employees have basic professional knowledge and skills (computers, communication, languages) rather than rich work experience

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Stanislav Ivanov International University College
Discussion and conclusion
University education is not enough and companies need to additionally train new employees
Tourist companies are not interested in the problems of higher education in tourism or suspicious towards surveys (low response rates)
They probably do not believe that their opinion will have an impact
Introduction of SHE in tourism might not have a significant impact of corporate trainings

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Stanislav Ivanov
International University College
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank Denitsa Yordanova and Gergana Dimitrova, Ph. D., from International Projects Department at International University College, Bulgaria, for their support during the research

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Stanislav Ivanov International University College
References
Illum. S. F., S. Ivanov, Y. Liang (2009) Using virtual communities in tourism research. Tourism Management (forthcoming)