A new program from MasterCard and U21Global is aiming to empower working women professionals to stay ahead of industry trends and realize their full potential.

Encouraged by the robust growth of the travel and tourism industry across Asia Pacific and the rise in socioeconomic stature of women across the region, MasterCard International, in association with U21Global, has launched the U21Global Scholarship Program for Women in Travel and Tourism.

The program comprises 20 scholarships for the U21Global Executive Diploma of Business Administration that can articulate into The University of Nottingham MSc in Tourism and Travel Management. The course has been developed by Christel DeHaan Tourism and Travel Research Institute a part of Nottingham University Business School and U21Global, a leader in offering quality graduate online education to working executives and professionals. U21Global is a joint venture between Universitas 21, an international network of 18 research-intensive universities and Thomson Learning, a world leader in tailored learning solutions. As the course will be offered online, women can take advantage of learning while working.

Organizations from the travel and tourism industry across Asia Pacific are being invited to nominate female employees who they believe will most benefit from the learning and exposure offered by such a scholarship. MasterCard and U21Global will institute a distinguished panel of judges to choose the 20 worthy recipients.

“Part of U21Global’s mission has always been to bring high quality postgraduate education to underserved regions and populations. The MasterCard and U21Global Scholarship Program to Empower Women Professionals in the Travel and Tourism Industry is a natural addition to U21Global’s efforts to serve this region especially. We are particularly delighted to team up with MasterCard and hope through our association, to reach the largest possible audience of talented and eligible women to encourage them, and their organizations to nominate them. We look forward with great enthusiasm to the inaugural cohort of scholarship winners rapidly taking leadership positions in the travel and tourism industries and enhancing the region’s global competitiveness and attractiveness in the process,” said Dr. Michael A. Goldberg, Chief Academic Officer, U21Global.

The travel and tourism industry is growing rapidly in size and creates employment for millions across Asia Pacific. The industry is already a key component in global economic growth and prosperity. Intra-regional travel itself has witnessed exponential growth especially in recent years, with over 80% of the growth of tourist arrivals in Asia Pacific originating from within Asia Pacific itself. However, as the industry becomes more sophisticated, trained professionals will be required to tackle the volume of travelers and their demands for better and innovative service.  There is already a growing shortage of travel and tourism professionals in the region, especially in the booming Chinese and Indian markets.

This scholarship program is intended to add significantly over the coming decade to the supply of talented and well educated tourism professionals.  Specifically, it will help build a broad understanding of management principles and practices as they apply in the tourism and travel industries. The course will focus on diverse aspects of tourism management, including people management, financial resources management, market research, marketing and strategy,  eBusiness, tourism policy and planning, cultural and heritage tourism, consumer behavior, sustainability and service delivery.
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