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This paper aims to present the findings from a European study on the digital skills gaps in tourism and hospitality companies.

Mixed methods research was adopted. The sample includes 1,668 respondents (1,404 survey respondents and 264 interviewees) in 5 tourism sectors (accommodation establishments, tour operators and travel agents, food and beverage, visitor attractions and destination management organisations) in 8 European countries (UK, Italy, Ireland, Spain, Hungary, Germany, the Netherlands and Bulgaria).

The most important future digital skills include online marketing and communication skills, social media skills, MS Office skills, operating systems use skills and skills to monitor online reviews. The largest gaps between the current and the future skill levels were identified for artificial intelligence and robotics skills and augmented reality and virtual reality skills, but these skills, together with computer programming skills, were considered also as the least important digital skills. Three clusters were identified on the basis of their reported gaps between the current level and the future needs of digital skills. The country of registration, sector and size shape respondents’ answers regarding the current and future skills levels and the skills gap between them.

The paper discusses the digital skills gap of tourism and hospitality employees and identifies the most important digital skills they would need in the future.

The authors explore the ways work-based learning (WBL) can help degree apprentices cross the gaps between the workplace and the classroom, arguing that problem-based learning allows them to become aware of the overlaps in skills required to succeed between the two sites of learning.

This case study of a self-managed learning module uses a workshop methodology to understand the ways 61 undergraduate business management apprentices in the UK navigate the boundaries between work and learning and develop skills across both domains.

The authors' findings suggest that degree apprentices do not always perceive the two sites as overlapping in terms of what skills are required and how learning takes place. However, WBL modules have the potential to make them aware of how one informs and reinforces the other. Students identified teamwork, communication and reflection as necessary at the workplace and in their studies. They also viewed learning agility at critical, especially in the time of coronavirus disease 2019.

The paper adds to the existing literature exploring how WBL learning can help minimise the gap between the classroom and the workplace by adding the analysis of the case study. Those interested in developing modules which embed theory and practice can benefit from the discussion on how such modules enable students to reflect on the crossover between the two sites, not only on degree apprenticeships but higher education degrees broadly.

The harmonisation of university degrees at the European level leads us to believe that training needs are addressed in the same way in different countries. However, the inevitable adaptation to the changing environment faced by companies requires a continuous adjustment between training and future needs, according to the sector. The aim of this paper is to compare two leading and culturally similar countries in the tourism sector in order to determine whether training is being provided homogeneously in tourism higher education and whether more specific training is desired to meet the needs of the sector in each country.

This study is part of the European Next Tourism Generation (NTG) Project, the first European partnership to foster a collaborative and productive relationship between the education system and the tourism industry. A mixed research study was conducted with the purpose of development, i.e. with the intention that the results of one method (qualitative) are used to assist the development of the other method (quantitative) and an exploratory sequential design. Both qualitative (29 interviews) and quantitative (509 tourism organisations) methods are used.

For a sector that has undergone significant changes in recent years, the results show the differences between countries around the current level of soft skills of employees, the level they will need to develop in the future and the gaps that those responsible for training future employees in the sector need to focus on for the 2030 horizon.

Several recommendations have emerged from this paper: to complement higher education, to achieve a better link between the business world and future workers; to provide much more incentives for international student mobility, which will allow students to develop intercultural soft skills before they enter the world of work, and to propose the creation of a social network to share, communicate and learn about resources specific to the tourism industry.

Since the Bologna Plan, higher education institutions have been tasked with preparing students for the world of work and developing the employability of graduates. The link between the professional world (companies) and the educational world (training centres) is a crucial factor in determining students' future skills and needs. When educational programmes respond to the needs of industry, the university can gain a competitive advantage. Therefore, some authors suggest the need for coordination and regular communication between business and training centres, thus improving the competitiveness of companies and reducing the gap that currently exists. In this paper, comparing two culturally similar countries with a recognised trajectory in the tourism sector, we will try to observe this gap and propose interesting options for the future of the sector.

This paper introduces a new approach to extracting the employability value of school/further education (FE) curriculums, using textual analysis to surface the transferable skills from UK curriculum documentation. The higher education extracted employability concept already established by the author is applied to help learners articulate the skills value of their knowledge-focused qualifications, closing the gap between the academic learning and the workplace. Proposals for additions to existing curriculum documentation would enable delivery of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD's) aspiration to embed skill development in school education.

Manual textual analysis of United Kingdom A Level, General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) and Scottish academic qualifications surfaced a database of transferable skills, which are categorised, and their interrelationships were analysed.

Relatively few skills are explicitly articulated in curriculum documentation, revealing issues for learners recognising and articulating transferable skills. Extracted employability surfaces significant value from curriculum by identifying over 200 transferable skills, framed in the language employers recognise, thus closing the perceived “skills gap”. Comparisons reveal significantly greater diversity of skills innate to subjects perceived as “less academic”.

Learners will find it easier to recognise a comprehensive language of transferable skills, aligned with what employers need, and fundamental to career decision-making through understanding the relationships between academic qualifications and work.

Learners who understand the wider value of their qualifications beyond knowledge focus, particularly in relation to transferable skills, are better able to be join, navigate and be agile in a challenging employment market.

Higher education (HE) concepts of employability are not well-established or understood in schools. This new approach articulates it through transferable skills within existing academic curriculum.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate employers’ attitudes towards qualities and skills for the twenty-first century of Hanoi Open University (HOU) postgraduates. More specifically, it is to find out employers’ assessment and satisfaction on five sets of skills: foundation skills, professional competencies, personal attributes, organizational skills and technical knowledge and skills.

The study used a survey questionnaire as a tool to collect data. The survey was conducted on employers of HOU postgraduates who graduated during the academic years 2015–2016 from five faculties at HOU.

The findings of the study show that employers highly appreciated HOU postgraduates in numeracy skills, ICT literacy skills and information literacy within foundation skills; critical thinking and problem solving skills, collaboration skills and conceptual skills within professional competencies; responsible, integrity and interpersonal skills within organization skills; productivity, organization and planning and time management within organizational skills; knowledge-related regulations and policies at workplace, capacity to use knowledge and skills at workplace and lifelong learning within technical knowledge and skills.

The values of the study are that the employer attitudes identified can be used to evaluate educational programs and can be used as a quality assurance measure. The study helps to indicate the gap between the expectation and the satisfaction of employers on HOU postgraduates. Thereby, suggestions can be given to HOU’s management to improve the services at the university in general and the services to postgraduate students in particular to upgrade their qualities and skills to meet social demands.

Reflection on performance and progress prepares students for workplace environments where self-management is expected, and yet this is something students are not often required to do formally in higher education (HE). This paper explores this gap in students' ability and seeks to address it through a reconsideration of summative assessment practices which, particularly in light of COVID-19, must align with the needs of graduates and their employers.

The paper draws from data collected from the summative reflective assessment reports that degree apprentices (DAs) submitted during the final year of their Business Management degree while undertaking a problem-based module. We undertook a document analysis of these reports and used thematic analysis where we systematically looked for repeated themes in students' reflections.

Students problematise the skills needed during COVID-19, and beyond, both in their academic studies and the workplace. Authentic assessment provides opportunities for students to work on skills and projects which are relevant to them. Through reflective accounts of skills they developed, students were able to bridge academic and professional practice and identify areas of convergence. Students engaged with academic theories in a constructive and meaningful way which suggests that authentic reflective accounts as part of assessment have the potential to maintain academic rigour.

Skills development can bring the workplace into HE in a meaningful and systematic way and this article provides guidance for those looking to introduce reflection on skills to other courses. We suggest how this model can be utilised across modules which do not have work-integrated learning in their delivery.