Abstract:

The topic of this presentation pulls together two partnerships that so far used to be considered separately – that of teaching and research and that of higher school and industry. The author considers the case of an applied higher school and believes that, unlike ‘classic universities,’ applied institutes training specialists for particular industries should not separate these two partnerships as only together they allow applied higher schools to create an integrative basis for preparing highly qualified bachelors and masters for such demanding industries as tourism industry.

On the one hand, teaching and research combined produce a synergetic effect, which multiplies the qualities of both. As is known, research cannot be implemented without teaching young researchers and teaching in applied spheres can only be based on researching, as applied spheres (tourism industry included) develop and change too fast to ‘rest on the laurels’ of the previously acquired knowledge. Most targets, vital for contemporary higher schools’ development cannot be achieved without comprehensive research – including assessment of competence formation and teaching and learning results and principles and actual procedures of curricula harmonization, etc.

On the other hand, the tandem ‘higher-school – industry’ contributes both to universities and institutes functioning and development and to widened industry’s perspectives.
These two streamlines are important for higher schools at large, yet they are particularly significant for higher schools specializing in tourism industry.

Tourism industry, being in today’s world one of the most economically significant and highly labour-demanding industries, can no longer be satisfied with ‘whatever-quality’ personnel. So, it commissions both researches and high-quality personnel training and requires specialists’ lifelong self-improvement.

Moscow Institute for Tourism Industry n.a. Yu.A. Senkevich as a forerunner of European Higher Education Reform for Russia sets benchmarks for other Russian higher schools training specialists for tourism industry providing good practice both in mutual benefits of teaching and research development and those of tourism industry and its deepening partnership. The presenter substantiates the need for a new learning environment for comprehensive development of applied higher schools and proves that Moscow Institute for Tourism Industry n.a. Yu.A. Senkevich is a developer of such an environment in tourism industry and a promoter of lifelong learning principles.

Keywords:

Teaching and research synergy, 'higher school - industry' tandem, Bologna reforms, lifelong learning.