The Need for Academic Programs in Tourism, Arts & Culture, Sports, and Healthcare Management in the UAE

Odekhiren Amaize
Tarek Mady
Eric Benson

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2011

Abstract

For several years, the UAE government has embarked upon diversifying its oiland gas-based economy. As a result, the service industry, particularly the tourism, healthcare, arts and culture, and sports and recreation service sectors have witnessed much growth. Unfortunately, as revealed in this study, the country lacks the professional human resources needed to keep pace with the tremendous growth. We make the case for the need for more professional and higher education training programs in tourism, arts and culture, sports, and healthcare by highlighting the paucity of such training programs and by reporting on the mostly favorable attitude of prospective and current college students toward studying these disciplines. Several constructs and variables, including awareness of the discipline as a choice of academic major, gender, educational background and interest relate to students' overall attitude and preference for any of the four disciplines. These findings, we recommend, could inform the marketing and promotion strategies of existing and future institutions considering offering these programs.

Disciplines

Education

Indexed in Scopus

no

Open Access

no

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