Partners

Erasmus University Rotterdam. Make it happen.

Founded in 1913, it is currently one the biggest universities of the Netherlands with a student population of 29,000 and a research community of circa 1,400. Scholars and students in seven faculties and two institutions work on global social challenges in the areas of health, wealth, governance and culture.

As part of a large global network of academic partnerships, in strategic alliance with Leiden University and Delft University of Technology and in a unique collaboration with city and port, the dynamic city of Rotterdam serves as our laboratory.

The quality of research at Erasmus University, named after Rotterdam-born humanist and theologian Erasmus, is reflected in its consistent top-100 position in most major universities rankings. On the lively, modern campus, students and scholars of more than 100 nationalities are constantly encouraged to develop their talents and meet their ambition.

In today’s rapidly changing world, society expects engagement with universities to tackle complex societal challenges together. Erasmus University Rotterdam is committed to being fully engaged with society, taking responsibility and proposing solutions for the society of the future. Our mission is: to create positive societal impact. We do it ‘the Erasmian way’. (www.eur.nl)

The Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication (ESHCC) hosts the Departments of History, Arts and Culture Studies, and Media & Communication at Erasmus University. Accordingly, the Faculty conducts research in the fields of history, arts and culture, tourism, and media and communication.

The ESHCC has 226 staff, of which 22 Professors, 95 researchers and lecturers, 58 PhD candidates and 40 supporting staff. There are a total of 1868 registered students of which 281 were awarded with a BA diploma and 264 received an MA diploma in the summer of 2018. ESHCC has experience in the participation of international projects of various types such as Erasmus+, ERC and H2020).

The work at the Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication is mainly interdisciplinary, with focus on Cultural Economics and Entrepreneurship, Cultural Sociology and more recently Tourism. The team for CULTSENSE includes experts in cultural and creative tourism, creative cities, heritage, cultural consumption and cultural economics. (https://www.eur.nl/en/eshcc/)

EUR Team:

Dr Lénia Marques marques@eshcc.eur.nl

Dr Amanda Brandellero

Dr Janna Michael

Prof Koen Van Eijk

Fernanda Rodriguez, MSc

The Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo (IPVC)

The Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo (IPVC) founded in 1980, is a public higher education institution (HEI), located in the northwest of Portugal, aiming at providing qualified human, cultural, scientific, technical and professional training, to carry out necessary research to accomplish its mission and to cooperate with the regional community of Alto-Minho, particularly with its productive and entrepreneurial sectors.

The IPVC is a community of students and qualified professionals aware that the progress of society ensures the harmonious development of persons and their performance. Joined together in the same mission: to create, manage and disseminate knowledge and culture, through processes of education/learning, research, transfer of technology and knowledge.

The IPVC is made up of six Schools offering several undergraduate and postgraduate degrees courses, with Tourism playing a relevant. Also promotes Master courses and specialization courses. Tourism bachelor degree is member of the Association for Tourism and Leisure Education (ATLAS), has been awarded the Tedqual Certification by the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) since 2005 and is certified by A3ES (Agency for Assessment and Accreditation of Higher Education – A3ES).

IPVC Team

Dr Goretti Silva: goretti@estg.ipvc.pt https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6661-0555

Prof Carlos Fernandes: cfernandes@estg.ipvc.pt https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7656-8765

Dr Alexandra Correia: acorreia@estg.ipvc.pt https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2965-4425

Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu

The Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu is a comprehensive university that was established in 1969, which, after continuous developments is currently recognized as one of the top universities in Romania. LBUS comprises of 9 faculties, where about 14000 students develop their knowledge and experience under the guidance of 1000 academic and non-academic staff. Having a centralized research department and a PhD school comprising of 17 PhD research field, LBUS keeps the academic research as one of the main contributors to the development of the education system.

LBUS has established academic links and partnership agreements with 476 universities in 5 continents, hosts the first Confucius Institute in Romania, which now has 6 other centres in cities around Romania. LBUS is an active member of the UMultirank project aimed to design and test the feasibility of multi-dimensional global ranking of universities worldwide. Under the umbrella of Erasmus+, LBUS started the collaboration with Chinese, Japanese, Cambodian, Filipinos, Egyptian, Russian, Serbian, American, Indonesian, Argentinian universities, in terms of Student, Teaching and Staff Training mobilities. Every academic year, LBUS applies for funding of mobilities with universities from North America, Cambodia, China, Japan, Philippines, Egypt, Russia, Indonesia, Kosovo, Malaysia, Pakistan and Ukraine, Morocco, Republic of Moldavia, Armenia etc.

Erasmus Mundus External Cooperation Windows is another programme of great importance and impact for our university, LBUS being the first Romanian University to have this programme. LBUS implemented from 2009 to present, 6 EMMA programmes in large consortium with approx. 15 universities. For LBUS it represented a program designed to encourage incoming mobilities for students, teachers and staff from Asian countries.

LBUS has a strong collaboration with private sector (BRD, Continental, General Motors, Visma, Keep Calling, NGOs) and public (Sibiu Municipality, Sibiu’s Court etc.)

Dr Cosmin Tileagă, cosmin.tileaga@ulbsibiu.ro 

Novia University of Applied Sciences

Novia University of Applied Sciences (Novia UAS) is formally part of Åbo Akademi University and is the largest Swedish-speaking University of Applied Sciences in Finland with 4000 students and about 300 employees. Novia UAS was founded in 2008 and today comprises of four Schools; Business, Health and Welfare, Natural Resources and Technology and Seafaring. All schools aim at providing first-class education on bachelor’s and master’s level, mainly in Swedish but some degrees are also offered in English. Studies at Novia UAS are a practical-oriented alternative to traditional university education and provides the students with an excellent combination of different hands-on skills as well as a strong theoretical knowledge base. The curriculum of the degree programme in Business Administration provides students with an opportunity to specialize in tourism.

Thanks to its cultural and linguistic competence Novia UAS has extensive co-operation in the Nordic countries and is involved in numerous networks funded by Nordplus Higher Education. The School of Business also has experience of EU-funded research projects of a developmental character that aim at supporting regional development. Between 2016-2019 the Bachelor’s Degree Programme in Business Administration was the lead part in an Interreg Central Baltic project called Archipelago Business Development (ABD), which aimed at developing new business models in the archipelago by forming partnerships between entrepreneurs and start-up companies in Finland and Sweden. Between 2017-2020 the School of Business participated in another Interreg Central Baltic project named Pilgrimage by the Sea – St Olav Waterway. The main aim with the project was to guarantee that the route from Turku in Finland to Söderhamn in Sweden was marked and mapped.

Maria Engberg, Maria.Engberg@novia.fi

University of Girona

The University of Girona is a public higher education institution and an experienced player in the field of developing and implementing European tourism projects and a distinguished training provider of tourism high education. The University of Girona, deeply rooted in Catalonia and Catalan culture, is one of the primary economic and cultural engines of the region. It is pioneer in Higher Education in Tourism Studies in Spain, with around 1.000 students at both undergraduate and post-graduate level. It is also a pioneer in tourism PhD programs since 2005.

The Faculty of Tourism has an important network of close relationships with foreign tourism faculties, schools and universities, with which it shares teaching experiences and research. The faculty offers undergraduate studies in tourism and advertising and public relations (more than 700 students in total), as well as 3 master programs: Cultural Tourism, Tourism Management and Planning and Erasmus Mundus European Master’s in Tourism Management.

The Multidisciplinary Tourism Research Laboratory (LMRT) is a research group in the Faculty of Tourism including researchers from different disciplines: geography, cultural management, economics, humanities, history of art, marketing, communication, librarianship and tourism, among others. Transversality is one of the main features, so that research lines cover a vast field: tourism education and training, tourism economy, sustainable development, cooperation, heritage tourism, spiritual tourism, religious tourism and pilgrimage, memory tourism, food tourism…

Some of the projects in which the LMRT has been involved are the ongoing Erasmus + INCOME based on the introduction of soft skills into the curriculum of tourism studies (European Union) and the POCTEFA NATUR based the development of sustainable active tourism products; both led by researchers from the group. Other projects already completed are the MINECO project on the management of the tourist experience in urban or monumental spaces (Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness) and the COSME SPIRIT-Youth project for the developing of spiritual tourism activities for youngsters.

This group was a pioneer in the realization of industrial PhD dissertations at the UdG and also in the humanities and social field of the AQU (Catalan Agency for University Quality).

The close connection with the local society leads the group to organise different activities with local stakeholders. For example, the organization of the 3rd Catalan Cuisine Congress, the religious tourism Conferences in Montserrat or the active participation in the Year of Cultural Tourism (together with the Catalan Tourism Agency).

The LMRT is linked to two chairs: the Chair of Gastronomy, Culture and Tourism Calonge – Sant Antoni (directed by the Dr Dolors Vidal), and the UNESCO Chair in Cultural Policies (directed by Dr Núria Galí). Members of the group also participate in international thematic networks such as the UNITWIN-UNESCO Chair in Culture, Tourism and Development, the Future for Religious Heritage association, the NECSTouR network and the ATLAS association.

UdG Team:

Silvia Aulet, PhD silvia.aulet@udg.edu

Dolors Vidal-Casellas, PhD

Joaquim Majo, PhD

Associate Partners

ATLAS – http://www.atlas-euro.org/ The Association for Tourism and Leisure Education and Research (ATLAS) was established in 1991 to develop transnational educational and research initiatives in tourism and leisure. ATLAS provides a forum to promote staff and student exchange, transnational research and to facilitate curriculum and professional development. ATLAS currently has members in 60 countries, who collaborate on tourism, leisure and cultural education, staff and student exchange and transnational research.

WYSE – http://www.wysetc.org/ World Youth Students and Education (WYSE) Travel Confederation is a global not-for-profit membership organisation representing the entire youth, student and educational travel industry. WYSE currently represents more than 600 members from 70 countries who are involved in providing experiences and services for youth, student and educational travellers. Considering how important travel is as a tool for widening the horizons of young people and enabling them to experience local cultures, they also recognise the need for youth travel to be sustainable, and to respect and support the cultures visited. This mission is in line with CULTSENSE and they totally support the project, endorsing it, but also actively opening their channels to get to a broader audience, taking the project and the European experience beyond the European continent. Their global community is the world’s most powerful and extensive network of youth and student travel professionals, consisting of more than 600 members from 70 countries. Members of WYSE Travel Confederation collectively serve over 40 million young travellers a year.