KUCHING, 27 September 2022: E-learning was the focus of a recent MOU signed by Seda Caylak, CEO of LVG Learning and Dr Scott Michael Smith from the Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management, MSME Business School, Assumption University, Thailand with a destination course featuring Sarawak in Malaysia.
Assumption University partnered with London-based LVG Learning to provide tourism students access to destination courses, business skill courses, soft skill courses and webinars from the leaders in the tourism industry as part of a recently signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) aimed at addressing, through e-learning, the practical knowledge and skill gaps existing in the tourism industry today.
This partnership began with an introduction from Andrew J Wood, President, SKAL International Asian Area. Skål International is a professional organisation of tourism leaders worldwide, promoting global tourism and friendship.
Wood saw an opportunity for tourism students to use the LVG Learning platform to increase their knowledge and skill set.
“Modern learners, especially millennial and generation Z learners, tend to prefer learning customised to their needs, informal in style, and available on demand. E-learning affords tourism students and young professionals the freedom to fit education into their busy lives.”
The MOU will provide online courses to Assumption University undergraduate students and faculty related to hospitality and tourism studies.
It will also establish collaborative efforts with destination management organisations (DMO) and national tourism organisations (NTO) on projects to support students’ practical knowledge of destinations, destination marketing and destination management.
Expected outcomes
Students will meet companies and leaders in the tourism industry to explore various career options and gain practical on-the-job experience and potential job opportunities for their careers.
It will supply digital destination content with the sponsorship of regional promotion offices and support students in transforming destination marketing into digital tourism management.
It will support AU students through educational journeys to digital change in tourism.
Dr Smith found his students appreciated the learning experience this semester as the campus cautiously returned to on-site classes. He noted: “Students completed destination learning courses and business/soft skills courses outside class time, at their convenience and on their preferred devices.
Sarawak features as one of the destination learning journey courses, alongside Budapest, Dubrovnik and Florence. Senior product professionals develop the Destination Learning Journeys in cooperation with national tourism organisations (NTO), destination management organisations (DMO) and convention and visitor bureaus (CVB) using the latest ed-tech instructional design strategies.
