May 2: Pragjyotish College is introducing a four-semester MTM (master of tourism management) course from the next academic session under Gauhati University.
The department of geography of the college will execute the new project. Sponsored by the University Grant Commission (UGC), the MTM course has been introduced for the first time in the Northeast in the college.
Though the course was cleared by the UGC on April 1, the admission process will start from the first week of September.
The department plans to enrol 30 students initially.
The minimum eligibility criteria for the course will be graduation from any recognised university.
However, the college will conduct its own entrance examination and interview for enrolling students.
Jagannath Patgiri, the head of the geography department of the college, said, “Tourism has an important link with subjects like geography and hence the UGC recommended our department to run the course. The MTM course is an exclusive degree programme designed to provide high-quality, practical, relevant and up-to-date education and training to managers, executives and professionals in the tourism industry of the region.”
Two full-fledged lecturers along with “expert” guest lecturers will be employed initially to conduct the classes.
“Tourism is one of the fastest growing sectors of the global economy and the Northeast would not lag behind in this. Attracting and serving the needs of international tourists require professionalism and competence of a very high standard. As demand increases, so does the need for trained and competent professionals at all levels. In a shifting environment, all executives and managers in the tourism field must keep themselves up-to-date in existing skills. Those professionals, whose job it is to train the next generation of tourism staff, need to be fully up-to-date, both in actual knowledge and in changing pedagogic techniques,” Patgiri said.
The new course has a strong focus on the strategic aspects of tourism — planning, development, marketing and education. The curriculum will include field study, project work, northeastern cultural study, historical movement study, transport tourism, details study on tourist spots of the region.
“Professionals with appropriate qualifications and working experience in tourism will develop the students’ academic skills and knowledge in the sphere,” he said.
The serving professionals will be able to use the practical training imparted in the course to improve their career prospects in many sectors of tourism and tourism-related fields. The course will also generate employment in various organisations like travel agencies, tourist information centres etc.,” Patgiri added.
