An Analysis of British Postgraduate Courses in Tourism: What Role does Sustainability Play within Higher Education?

Abstract

Sustainability has offered a new dimension to policy making, managing and planning in tourism. Government bodies, councils and tourist boards are engaged in the discussion evolving around tourism and sustainability. Yet little research has been conducted to investigate whether the sustainability debate has also altered the dimensions in training postgraduate students. This research sheds light upon the supply structure of postgraduate tourism education in the UK. Using course and unit titles as signifiers, 81 courses and 504 unit titles were scanned for sustainable elements, and are discussed in the context of the various providing schools and faculties. Unit titles are categorised according to their core and optional character. A first comprehensive nation-wide inventory of postgraduate courses in tourism has been generated, which identifies and critically discusses sustainable elements across the range of courses and units on offer.