QUALITY OF EDUCATION IN TOURISM: CHALLENGES AND INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS

The article deals with quality of tourism education in Russia and development of innovative ways of its improvement. The authors analyze international experience of staff training for tourism and service sectors including effective forms of interaction of universities with employers. Monitoring data assessments are provided for the quality of service in tourism. There have been offered innovative forms that help improve the quality of education in tourism: creation by universities business entities in the sphere of service and tourism; introduction into curriculum of "working semester"; involvement of experts who represent the industry into the study process; training with respect to the given characteristics of a particular enterprise; creation of training centers by joint efforts of employers and universities to re-train and certify employees; education through development and implementation of skill-driven projects by students etc.