The Urbain Claeys Fund and the Master of Tourism

The Urbain Claeys Fund was established so as to promote the (Flemish) Master of Tourism. This master offers an educational programme that emerges from the collaboration between ten educational institutions: Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (K.U.Leuven) that signs for the overall co-ordination, organisation and final responsibility, Universiteit Gent (UGent), Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Universiteit Hassel (UHasselt), Katholieke Hogeschool Brugge-Oostende, Lessius Hogeschool Mechelen, Erasmushogeschool Brussel, Hogeschool West-Vlaanderen, Plantijnhogeschool Antwerpen and Xios Hogeschool Limburg.

The programme aims at offering specialised courses in tourism from an economic angle on the one hand and from a place and society perspective on the other hand. A multidisciplinary approach is predominantly present within the programme as well as among staff and guest lecturers.

The international dimension and the involvement of the tourism industry are of utmost importance in a study and a professional field such as tourism. Therefore the Urbain Claeys Fund aims especially at supporting the internationalisation of the programme and at linking academic and professional approaches. This is crystallised in a series of presentations, colloquia, debates and/or conferences that combine the academic and the professional angle and that stress the contribution of foreign expertise. Both, students of the Master of Tourism and professionals from the sector, will benefit from this initiative under the patronage of the Urbain Claeys Fund to which several companies and organisations contributed as mentioned..