Abstract
On the basis of a scoping review of the literature about educational tourism—a type of tourism in which the traveller’s primary or secondary objective is learning—this study summarizes views on how Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) can foster local development through educational tourism. The results show that international students can be considered as educational tourists, and their stay can benefit them and the destination. In this context, the university can actively facilitate relationships between tourists and local stakeholders to foster learning at the destination and improve the sustainability of the local economy; some reports about specific cases are described. We argue that the tourism component should be considered by any institution organising or managing educational programmes, in order to exploit the opportunities offered by the destination for the achievement of learning goals. More specifically, the paper focuses on educational tourism related to HEI students in international mobility programs, who are educational tourists inasmuch as their overall experience at the destination includes leisure and tourism activities. Further research is needed to formulate models of intervention.
Highlights
In the last few decades, the number of students studying abroad has increased throughout the world, with important outcomes for the host universities and countries, as well as the students themselves
Our research question for this literature review was “What is the role of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in fostering local development through educational tourism?” The first phase of desk research focused on collecting academic contributions about educational tourism using the Google Scholar search engine, Scopus, EBSCO and the Web of Science databases, and the Academia.edu and Research Gate academic social networks, for the following keywords: “educational tourism”; “educational tourism”; “educational travel”; “study abroad”; “learning experience”; “learning destination”; “experiential learning”; “learning backpackers”; “international students” combined with “tourism”; “rural tourism” combined with “education”; “civic university”
This work explored the role of HEIs in fostering local development through educational tourism
Summary
In the last few decades, the number of students studying abroad has increased throughout the world, with important outcomes for the host universities and countries, as well as the students themselves. In a parallel development to the growth in the number of students who study abroad, universities in recent decades have become progressively more committed to their third mission—to boost the local economy through the promotion of technology transfer to businesses [15]. Through their engagement in place-based, multi-stakeholder partnerships, they have sought to bring innovation to bear in addressing local and world challenges [16]. In 2014, the Erasmus+ program was launched to expand beyond Europe’s borders and to offer an opportunity to study, train or volunteer abroad to university students and to vocational students, apprentices, teachers, youth workers and volunteers; as of 2017, up to 2 million Europeans had participated in its mobility programmes
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
