VECTOR – ERASMUS + project: kick-off meeting in Florence

December 2 and 3, in Florence, was held the kick-off meeting of VECTOR project - ‘A Vocational and Educational Curriculum Design from a Sector Skills Alliance on Tourism’.
This European project, involving Italian, Spanish and Portuguese partners, aims at defining a level 5 professional profile of "Destination Managers" that is capable of proposing strategies aiming at managing, enhancing and promoting destinations in an integrated perspective.
The profile must possess multidisciplinary skills belonging to the economic, marketing, entrepreneurship and technology spheres. In addition, DMs must acquire communication and relational skills to interact with a plurality of stakeholders both locally and internationally and, at the same time,having a vision of the international market and of social/touristic trends.
The main outcome of the project will be an OER (Open Educational Resource)implementing a complete DM training curriculum evaluated and recognized through the ECVET system. The OER implemented will follow international standards to facilitate the distribution and re-utilization of all learning materials produced.
The project will impact students, VETs, SMEs and Public bodies thanks to the availability of the new DM curriculum. On the other hand, the whole system of actors will benefit from the competences required in a changing industry like tourism.
Due to the high level of transferability and applicability of the model proposed in this project in other European regions, it is expected that VECTOR will change the former situation into a new one, where tourism employees better fit into the market needs, increasing the overall quality of the sector.
After a general presentation of the project by the Project Leader – Fondazione per la ricerca e l'innovazione – each partner presented itself and the Work Packages responsibles did a presentation concerning their work.
The partners are:
Italy
Fondazione per la ricerca e l'innovazione (Project Leader)
Università degli Studi di Firenze - Dipartimento di Scienze per l’Economia e l'Impresa
Regione Toscana
TÜV Thüringen Italia
Spain
Cámara Oficial de Comercio, Industria y Servicios de Valladolid
Servicio Público de Empleo de Castilla y León
Agencia de Innovación, Financiación e Internacionalización Empresarial de Castilla y León
Enclave Formación
Portugal
CRIA - Divisão de Empreendedorismo e Transferência de Tecnologia da Universidade do Algarve
AEPTL/IPTrans - Escola Profissional de Loures
Sindicato dos Trabalhadores da Marinha Mercante, Agências de Viagens, Transitários e Pesca
Instituto do Emprego e Formação Profissional
Next meeting will be held in Algarve University in June.