EXAMINATION OF THE GRADUATE TOURISM EDUCATION CURRICULUM IN OUR COUNTRY FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF THE BOLOGNA PROCESS: AN EXAMPLE OF UNIVERSITIES PARTICIPATING IN THE TRADITIONAL TOURISM SYMPOSIUM

Abstract

The labor factor has made the greatest contribution to the development of the tourism sector, and the need for qualified and fully equipped employees in an environment of sectoral competition has increased more and more every day. In this context, qualified employees studying tourism at undergraduate level can contribute to the decisiveness between enterprises by continuing their graduate education and contributing to business strategies and policies in a way that integrates their professional careers with academic careers. Therefore, it has become very important to ensure the alignment of the curricula of universities especially providing graduate tourism education with the sector. For this, first of all, it is necessary to review and update the existing curricula in accordance with the conditions of the day. At this point, the Bologna Process is the most considered application in making curricula suitable for sectoral needs. In this study, an examination and comparison of the graduate tourism curriculum in our country in terms of the Bologna Process was carried out. In this context, the graduate education curricula related to tourism management of the universities participating in the Traditional Tourism Symposium, which is attended by graduate students, are taken as an example. The course ECTS, course contents and course names in the curriculum of these universities have been examined and compared.