The TUI Care Foundation launched its e-Academy to provide digital education opportunities in the tourism industry. The new platform is powered by atingi and offers free learning content in the form of self-paced learning courses with two focus areas: Career building and sustainable tourism.
The new TUI e-Academy is the next step in the GIZ Sustainable Tourism and Hospitality initiative which was developed in collaboration between atingi and the Sector Project Cooperation with the Private Sector Component on Sustainable Development through Tourism.
The COVID-19 crisis has left millions of people in the tourism and hospitality industry without work, with many workers leaving the industry altogether. As a result, the industry faces major challenges, including a shortage of skilled workers in the post-pandemic era. Furthermore, many workers do not have formal education certifications and cannot prove their competencies and skills to potential employers.
The GIZ eAcademy Tourism and Hospitality initiative provides a solution to this problem by offering sector-specific courses that are accessible, inclusive, and relevant to the success of MSMEs in tourism and hospitality. Unlike larger, well-funded organizations, MSMEs in this sector must deal with fewer dedicated training opportunities or poor work-based training provisions and limited budgets.
Targeted at industry staff and management, including young adults attending TVET schools and universities, learners can choose their path to enhance their professional skills and gain a digital certificate, which they can share with employers as proof of their achievement. Currently, the initiative consists of 45 web-based learning courses in tourism and hospitality in English, French, and Spanish. Many of these courses are deliberately granular in focus to guarantee low entry requirements and quick results for learners. Through eAcademy, approximately 55,000 learners enrolled and 47,000 have completed courses.
The initiative has already assisted thousands of tourism and hospitality professionals in re-entering the job market and improving their competencies and skills for potential and current employers. Learners have also expanded their knowledge and skills beyond their sector through access to other courses on atingi.
The initiative is now being scaled through the launch of the TUI Care Foundation e-Academy. It consists of learning content based on the existing atingi courses. By offering the course content on an additional platform and through leveraging the network of TUI, the initiative can reach even more learners and support them in succeeding on the job-market.
‘’We are proud to work in partnership with the TUI Care Foundation and provide digital education opportunities in the tourism industry. GIZ’s goal with the digital learning platform atingi is to provide inclusive, accessible, relevant, safe, and secure digital learning for all, and it’s encouraging to see organisations leveraging our solution and working together with us to achieve this. With a focus on partner countries in the Global South, the impact of this initiative is particularly significant in promoting equitable access to education and enhancing opportunities for learners in these regions.’’
-Jan-G. Groeneveld, Project lead atingi
The e-Academy is part of the TUI Care Foundation’s TUI Academy programme, which offers training for disadvantaged young people to access high quality education, work experience, life skills coaching and a brighter future.
The platform can be accessed here.
