Interactive Seminar “Future Paths of Tourism Education” was held at Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences

Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences, a consortium member of the SIPAS project, hosted an interactive seminar titled “Future Paths of Tourism Education” on 3 April 2025. The event aimed to enhance collaboration between academia and industry by engaging 17 organizations from across Latvia in discussions on the future of tourism education.

The seminar began with an overview of the tourism-related study programs at Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences, highlighting the university’s ongoing projects and applied research initiatives. Participants were introduced to several notable projects, including CirToS, Change(K)now!, Life LatViaNature, Interactive Gardens, and SIPAS. Students also shared their experiences on how real-world industry collaboration is embedded in their learning journey through activities like hackathons and joint development tasks.

The second part of the event featured a workshop titled “Towards Tourism Education in Collaboration,” organized as part of the SIPAS  project (Promoting Sustainability and Technology in Tourism, Hospitality, and Service Studies through Strategic Industry Partnerships) framework. This session reflected SIPAS’s core mission—to foster stronger strategic partnerships between universities and the tourism industry across partner countries (Latvia, Portugal, and India). Similar events are being conducted across all partner institutions to review current collaboration practices and co-create new approaches to modern, practice-oriented tourism education. The workshop focused on identifying shared challenges and opportunities, with discussions centered on course development, joint initiatives, and shared resources.

Key outcomes from the workshop included actionable recommendations from industry stakeholders on improving collaboration mechanisms. Participants discussed ways to better communicate research outputs, enhance internship experiences, update study content to align with industry needs, and strengthen feedback loops. A major takeaway emphasized during the event was the importance of ensuring that university-industry collaboration results in tangible mutual benefits for both sides.