A contemporary review of tourism degrees in the United Kingdom

Abstract

This study examines the provision of United Kingdom undergraduate degree courses in tourism. A review of the literature revealed a number of issues impacting upon the content and structure of undergraduate degree courses. In order to investigate the vocational focus of such courses, content analysis of the undergraduate prospectuses of the degree courses with tourism in their title was undertaken in order to reveal the subject orientation and to identify the validity of Silver and Brennan's typology of course–employment relationships. The findings show that there are many issues of concern with regard to the content and delivery of programmes, as well as the development of tourism as an area of study. Moreover, the content analysis results reveal that, indeed, the vast majority of courses have a pronounced vocational focus.