A New Era for a Qualified Workforce in Tourism...
Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy: “If we as Türkiye are truly ambitious in high-quality tourism, we have to create our own human-resources stars. The general managers of the future, the managers of the future, will graduate from these college-status tourism vocational high schools.”
Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy: “A student graduating from a tourism vocational high school will have learned at least two languages very well and one language to a sufficient degree.”
Minister Ersoy: “As of 24 November Teachers' Day, we will fix the necessary infrastructure software, and from that date onward our teachers will be able to enter museums affiliated with our Ministry free of charge.”
Stating that vocational high schools would be restructured to meet the needs of the sectors, Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said, “If we as Türkiye are truly ambitious in high-quality tourism, we have to create our own human-resources stars. The general managers of the future, the managers of the future, will graduate from these college-status tourism vocational high schools.”
A “Vocational Education Cooperation Protocol” was signed between the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Ministry of National Education to develop vocational and technical education, pass traditional Turkish arts on to future generations, and instill museum awareness in children.
The protocol, signed by Ministers Mehmet Nuri Ersoy and Ziya Selçuk at a ceremony held at the Ministry of National Education, enables comprehensive cooperation ranging from scholarship opportunities for tourism students to applied training at museums and archaeological sites, from the establishment of Traditional Turkish Arts Vocational High Schools to free admission for teachers at museums and archaeological sites.
A System That Will Kill Two Birds with One Stone
Noting that one of the most important problems of tourism is seasonal tourism, Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said in his speech at the ceremony that they had prepared many projects to spread it across 12 months, and that this work carried out with the Ministry of National Education meant developing a system that would kill two birds with one stone.
Noting that tourism vocational high school students participating in the program would carry out their training at contracted partner hotels between 20 April and 22 October, Minister Ersoy said, “We are matching every institution participating in the tourism vocational high school program with a partner hotel, a large chain hotel. We are changing the applied period of the curriculum, and they will take their summer holidays in winter.”
Emphasizing that becoming a partner hotel within this system is also not easy, Ersoy said there would be a number of conditions, that they had arranged the students' accommodation as proper lodgings with up to three people per room, and that the partner hotels would bear full responsibility, from teachers' accommodation to the halls where training would be provided.
3 Foreign Languages in Education
Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, also providing information about the content of the protocol they signed with the Ministry of National Education, said, “There will be a preparatory year plus 3 years of regular study curriculum. In the preparatory year, English and Russian will be compulsory languages. In subsequent years, German, French, Arabic and Chinese will be electives. A student graduating from a tourism vocational high school will have learned at least two languages very well and one language to a sufficient degree.”
Adding that preparatory-class students would receive an intern's salary, Minister Ersoy continued as follows:
“A first-year high school student receives an intern's salary times 1.25, a second-year high school student receives an intern's salary times 1.50, and a final-year high school student receives an intern's salary times 1.75. The managers of this partner hotel join the classes in winter in line with the curriculum to provide support. They take part in the education in winter. While the hotels are closed, the senior managers are freed up, and they too continue their education as part of vocational training.”
We Will Export Managers to the World
Stating that they had started education at the high school level in order to get young people to accept tourism as a sector, Minister Ersoy said that children would begin earning money from high school age, that they would receive the reward for their labor as early as high school, and that the partner hotels would undertake this.
Noting that it would be better for graduates to receive a university education, Ersoy said the following:
“They won't even need it. We want quality tourists, but the important thing required for quality tourists starts with human resources. At present, in our expensive hotels, especially in the field of gastronomy and in many fields, we unfortunately import managers. If we as Türkiye are truly ambitious in high-quality tourism, we have to create our own human-resources stars, our own stars. The general managers of the future, the managers of the future, will graduate from these college-status tourism vocational high schools, and they will be very valuable people. Once we have produced graduates, we will now reach the position of a country that exports people. We will then achieve our goals much more easily as well.”
Good News of Free Museum Access for Teachers
At the protocol signing ceremony, where he also gave good news to teachers, Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said that as of 24 November Teachers' Day, admission for all teachers to museums and archaeological sites affiliated with the Ministry would be made free of charge.
Noting that the Ministry of National Education provides support in making children fond of museums, Ersoy stated that within this scope the number of elective museum classes had been increased and made more widespread, adding, “We, too, will prepare the necessary environment at our major museums, including classrooms where they can take lessons.”