With 53 years of successful presence in tourism education, BCA College offers its students a holistic education, adapted to the needs of the market, as well as to the rapidly changing tourism developments.
The Director General of the Foundation, Christina Konstantinidou, spoke in the special feature on Tourism Education of MONEY & TOURISM, stressing the importance of Education, especially in the current context with the very significant shortages of qualified and trained staff worldwide.
In fact, Ms.Konstantinidou underlines the very important distinctions that BCA has won in recent years, as well as the cooperation with well-known hotel companies, which ensure the career of the graduates.
-Given the major problem of finding staff in tourism, what is your opinion and how can tourism education contribute to its solution? How necessary is a qualification to work in tourism?
As you rightly mentioned, the tourism sector, both in our country and in the wider Europe, is facing a very serious problem, which lies in the inability of tourism businesses to find sufficient and properly trained human resources to staff them.
Indicative of this fact is the statistics of recent years, as for the summer of 2023, according to a survey by INSETE (2023), a shortage of 60,225 jobs in tourism was recorded, while the summer season of 2024 started with 80,000 vacancies in the tourism sector.
The reasons leading to staff shortages are numerous, multifactorial, and complex and need attention and proper treatment. As their analysis is beyond the purpose of this interview, all I would like to point out is that this issue ought to be of concern to decision-makers, as well as businessmen in the sector, and should be immediately included in the agenda of discussions of all tourism stakeholders.
However, this sharp and steadily growing problem also represents an excellent opportunity for young people in our country who wish to become active in the wonderful and multidimensional field of tourism. An opportunity that, in order to seize it, they must focus on a high level of tourism education.
Therefore, Tourism Education can contribute significantly to addressing this problem by offering correct, timely and directly interwoven with the needs of the tourism market, education to the young people of our country.
But not only to them. Those already working in the tourism sector also have an important need to upgrade their knowledge level, as the tourism product is changing continuously and rapidly, making the re-training of tourism executives a necessary condition for their professional survival.
At the same time, significant opportunities for professional absorption also seem to exist for people who have retired at a relatively young age, as tourism opens up opportunities for a new career for them.
Therefore, tourism education can make a significant contribution to boosting employment in tourism, as well as to upgrading tourism services, which will allow for a more sustainable tourism development.
-Tourism is our heavy industry. Recently there has been a strong development activity in many areas. What qualifications does an industry executive need to have for a viable career in tourism?
For a successful and long-term career in tourism, industry executives need a number of qualifications including:
Education and Knowledge
- Academic Education: undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Tourism and Hotel Management in academic institutions specialised in the tourism sector with high quality academic staff, with modern and innovative curricula and with strong extroversion and interconnection with the labour market.
- Language skills: Knowledge of foreign languages offers a comparative competitive advantage to workers in the sector, as tourism is an international sector and professionals are required to interact with guests from a variety of countries and cultures.
- Knowledge of specialised tourism programmes
- Advanced knowledge
Skills and Competences
- Management and Coordination Skills
- Communication skills and high degree of empathy
Professional development
Continuous training and retraining are important prerequisites for adapting to the developments in the tourism industry and maintaining competitiveness. Up-to-date and expanded knowledge, skills and competences are the foundation for a successful and sustainable career in tourism.
-What undergraduate and postgraduate programmes does your programme include?
The BCA College, having had 53 years of proven educational success, has gained a considerable accumulated experience, and an excellent interface with the labour market. While, it never stops being at the forefront of academic developments, technology and educational innovation.
BCA College has a significant specialization in Tourism and Hospitality Management and offers its students a holistic education, tailored to the needs of the market, as well as the rapidly changing tourism developments.
Key elements of the BCA College’s tourism education and diversification programme are:
The wide range of university-prestigious tourism specializations and certifications available in the College’s Tourism and Hospitality Department:
1.BA (Hons) Hospitality and Tourism Management
2.BA (Hons) Hospitality and Tourism Management (Cruise & Mega Yacht Management)
3.BA (Hons) Hospitality and Tourism Management (MICE, Travel Agencies and Tour Operators Management)
4.BA (Hons) Hospitality and Tourism Management (Food and Beverages)
5.BA (Hons) Hospitality and Tourism Management (Wellness and Sustainability
6.MA International Hospitality & Tourism Management
7.MA in Mediterranean Archaeology and Cultural Tourism MaMACT
8.MBA for Executives of Hospitality and Tourism
9.PhD in Hospitality and Tourism
At this point it should be noted that all our students receive their Undergraduate or Postgraduate degree (Bachelor or Master) from the University of West London, a very good British University, which offers them the same professional equivalence as the Greek Universities.
Our students also have the additional opportunity to study their final year of study (if they wish) abroad at the two best Tourism Management Educational Institutions in the world, Glion and Les Roches (No 3 and No 4 in the World Ranking List). An incredible opportunity, which offers excellent professional prospects to our students and also constitutes a significant vote of confidence in the quality of BCA College’s tourism education.
The remarkable and particularly useful Executive Education programmes that we offer, in cooperation with the most important tourism operators, as well as with the largest tourism companies, addressed to executives or potential executives of tourism:
- Diploma in Resort and Hotel Operation Management implemented in collaboration with Brown Hotels
- Yacht Chef Certificate, implemented under the auspices of the Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou Philanthropic Foundation
- Mega Yachts Certificate in collaboration with Golden Yachts
- Front Office Operation – Project Future powered by Regeneration and supported by Piraeus Bank
- Galileo Certification – Travel Agent Specialist
- Sabre Certification – Travel Agent Specialist
- Amadeus Certification – Travel Agent Specialist
- Barista Workshops in collaboration with JDE Jacobs Douwe Egberts
- Revenue and Pricing Workshops
10.Soft Skills Workshops
11.Negotiation and Complaint Handling Workshops
12.Sustainable Development Goals in Tourism
13.Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace
The variety and focus of the courses included in the Hospitality & Tourism Management programme, as they include courses covering all aspects of the tourism industry, from hotel, restaurant and agency management to tourism planning and sustainability. But alongside this is the ultimate specialisation provided by each of our courses.
The offer of many complementary seminars that broaden the knowledge and skills of our students. Such as the workshops in Artificial Intelligence, Soft Skills, Negotiation, Foreign Languages (such as Chinese), which are offered completely free of charge to all our students and constitute an essential part of their personal development.
The innovative way of teaching our courses, as each course involves at least two professors, one from the academic community with a PhD and research work on the subject of teaching, as well as an experienced professional who, in addition to his significant academic education, is a high-ranking executive in a Greek or multinational company, in the subject of teaching.
The connection of all courses with their practical application, through educational visits to business premises, speeches by executives, case studies, competitions, mentoring, etc.
The successful linking of our students with the labour market and their immediate absorption and professional recognition in the wider tourism sector.
The cooperation of BCA College with the leading Greek and multinational companies in the sector and the provision of opportunities for international experience and professional absorption.
At this point I would like to point out that it is no coincidence that the Department of Tourism and Hotel Management has won the most important awards in the field of Tourism and Education over the last four years, being named “College of the Year” in the Education Leaders Awards, and in 2021, 2022 and 2023 it was awarded the Gold Award as the “Best Educational Institution for Tourism and Hotel Education” by the Greek Hospitality Awards, while in 2023 and 2024 it was honoured by the Education Leaders Awards for the “Innovative Educational Programmes” it offers.
-What opportunities are there for your students to continue their studies abroad?
BCA College undergraduate students have the opportunity to complete their undergraduate degree in Greece and be awarded a Bachelor Degree by the University of West London, a very good British University, which offers them professional equivalence with Greek Universities.
At the same time, however, they have the choice and the important opportunity to choose to study their final year abroad, at the two best Educational Institutions of Tourism Management in the world, in Glion and Les Roches (No 3 and No 4 in the world Ranking List).
This is an incredible opportunity that offers excellent career prospects for our students and is also an important vote of confidence in the quality of BCA College’s tourism education.
-How do you ensure access for internships and work in Greek hotels? Is there cooperation and what kind of cooperation with the labour market?
The excellent tourism studies we offer at BCA College give our students a comparative competitive advantage, leading them to an enviable professional career.
At BCA College we have a very well structured Career Office whose sole objective is the professional advancement of the students and graduates of the College.
Therefore, we offer significant opportunities, secured and well-paid internships or regular employment in the most important 5-star hotels in our country and abroad, agencies, etc., from the first year of our students’ studies, offering them the opportunity to gain valuable work experience and also important connections. Contacts that will help them in their professional future!
At the same time, however, we have created predefined professional pathways for our students in the most important tourism and hotel businesses in our country, offering them a safe and secure career path and development.
In this way, the professional engagement of our students is not insignificant, but constitutes the first step of a path that leads them to professional success and recognition.
It is therefore no coincidence that in the Department of Tourism and Hotel Management at BCA College, the professional absorption of our students is almost guaranteed, as we have labour market absorption rates approaching 100%.
This is due to the comprehensive, up-to-date, complete and directly related to the needs of the tourism market, education that we offer, as well as the practical skills that our students acquire during their studies at BCA College.
Thorough, useful and immediately usable knowledge, skills and abilities that differentiate our students from the competition and place them among the elite of our country’s tourism executives.
