Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (UC): The Catholic University and Duoc UC promote digital training in tourism management
With the aim of promoting training in the tourism sector in the face of the main challenges that arise in this field, the Catholic University and Duoc UC announced that they will jointly teach the course “Challenges of the Tourism Industry” in online format . This MOOC (massive open online course) will be offered through the Tourism Online Academy , an online education platform promoted by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and IE University .
Created in 2020 with the purpose of promoting a responsible, sustainable and accessible tourism industry for all, the Tourism Online Academy (TOA) has seven courses developed and promoted jointly with IE University, UNWTO’s strategic partner in this project. IE University is an institution recognized as one of the 25 best universities in the world in the Times Higher Education world employability ranking and has more than eight thousand students from 140 countries.
As part of the collaboration agreement, IE University invited Universidad Católica and Duoc UC to participate as academic partners for the development of a MOOC with access to free content on the TOA platform.
UC’s Director of Continuing Education, Luz Montero, explains that “we were invited to participate at the end of 2019 and we immediately realized that it was an excellent opportunity to develop a joint project with DUOC UC. We had vast experience in online education and MOOC design and a fledgling capacity in tourism issues. And the Villarrica Campus with the UC Center for Local Development, and DUOC with the School of Tourism have a lot of experience in these matters”.
“We were invited to participate at the end of 2019 and we immediately realized that it was an excellent opportunity to develop a joint project with DUOC UC” – Luz Montero, Director of Continuing Education UC.
Along the same lines, Andrés Ried, Associate Professor at the UC Center for Local Development at the Villarrica Campus, highlights the importance of this alliance. “We understand this project as part of a strategic alliance. The Villarrica Campus has approached tourism as a way that favors sustainable development and that, in particular, considers local manifestations in this process. The MOOC allows access to new and diverse approaches to tourism to a significant number of users from different regions, and also presents some trends in the industry in an entertaining and rigorous way, ”he says.
“The Villarrica Campus has approached tourism as a way that favors sustainable development and that in particular considers local manifestations in this process. The MOOC allows access to new and diverse approaches to tourism to a significant number of users from different regions” – Andrés Ried, UC academic
Juan López, deputy director of the Duoc UC School of Tourism and Hospitality, highlights the joint collaboration and adds that “the alliance between UC and Duoc further strengthens the close relationship that exists between the institutions, both contributing to the training of technicians and professionals with a vocation to serve society, within a Christian framework of values”.
For his part, Juan José Güemes, president of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at IE University, maintains that “we welcome UC and DUOC UC as part of the Tourism Online Academy. The incorporation of this new partner will allow us to develop the mission of this platform, whose objective is to make high quality online education available to professionals in the sector to promote talent and strengthen the contribution of the tourism industry to sustainability”.
“The alliance between the UC and the Duoc further strengthens the close relationship that exists between the institutions, both contributing to the training of technicians and professionals with a vocation to serve society, within a Christian framework of values” – Juan López, deputy director of the School of Tourism and Hospitality of Duoc UC
Registration for the MOOC “Challenges of the tourism industry” is currently open. The program is aimed at people who wish to deepen their knowledge of trends in the tourism industry. Five topics have been selected that will allow learning and improving the performance of the local and global tourism industry, such as tourism sustainability, hospitality and customer service, product design and memorable experiences, main trends in tourism.