13 February 2025, Vientiane, National University of Laos (NUOL) officially launched the INNO4Tourism Career Support Office, at the Department of Tourism and Hotel Management, Faculty of Social Sciences, National University of Laos. The ceremony was chaired by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dexanourath Seneduangdeth, Acting President of National University of Laos and Attaché of the Delegation of the European Union to the Lao PDR. About 60 participants including faculty members, students, representatives from government agencies, tourism business associations, international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), and the private sector attended the event.
Following the welcoming remarks of NUOL’s Acting President and Mrs. Cecile Leroy’s congratulatory remarks of Attaché, Green Deal: Environment, Forestry, Biodiversity, of the Delegation of the European Union to the Lao PDR, the participants have a chance to learn about the INNO4Tourism Career Support Office and the INNO4Trousim Project as a whole through presentations by project team members followed by discussion and a tour in the Office.
The INNO4Tourism Career Support Office was established as a part of the Innovative Curricula on Lifelong Learning for Sustainable Tourism Workforce (INNO4Tourism) Project, which is a co-funding project for 2023-2026, with support from the European Commission through the Erasmus+ Programme on Capacity Building in Higher Education with the total budget of €748,054 for nine higher education institutions (HEIs) and organizations in Asia and Europe, namely National University of Laos and Savannakhet University in Lao PDR; and Prince of Sonkla University, Chiang Mai University and Phouket Tourist Business Association in Thailand; University of Palermo and CESIE in Italy; University of Macedonia and SYMPLEXIS in Greece.
The INNO4Tourism Career Support Office is an ideal setting to provide career advices, facilitate job search and application, and functions as a place for finding internship and career related-information hub for faculty members and students. The services will foster university-business partnerships, collaboration between students and prospect employers through face-to-face and online platforms. In addition, the Office is staffed with academics and professionals who are able to provide career mentoring and advice to enhance employability of the graduates.