First accredited summer school (lifelong learning) in English in Montenegro entitled "Sustainable development of the yachting and cruising industry" began on Monday, July 18, 2022 at the University of Montenegro - Maritime Faculty Kotor.
This six-day interdisciplinary and international summer school, which offers 2 ECTS credits, was created as a result of the ERASMUS+ project "Encouraging internationalization at Montenegrin institutions of higher education through effective strategic planning (IESP)".
First generation of participants has a total of 20 students and employees in the maritime and tourism sector from Montenegro, Albania, Slovenia and Poland. Some of the motives for applying for the summer school were the improvement of personal knowledge and skills in the field of management and sustainable development of the yachting and cruising industry, but also connecting with colleagues from neighboring and EU countries, sharing knowledge and experiences, meeting new people and enjoying the charms of Montenegro Gore and Boka Kotorska.
The summer school was officially opened by the head of the IESP project and the school itself, Danilo Nikolić, PhD, who presented candidates with a detailed plan and expected activities during the 6-day program. Since a course on the distance learning platform (DL - Distance Learning) system engineer at the Maritime Faculty was created for the needs of the summer school, Ana Babović presented the candidates with the principle of using the platform and communicating with users and engaged lecturers.
On the first day of summer school, lecturers from the Faculty of Tourism and Hotel Management, dean Đurđica Perović and Assoc. Dr. Ilija Moritz. The first thematic area is related to modern coastal tourism, the potential for the development of tourist offers in seaports, and the contemporary challenges faced by the global tourism community when it comes to applying the concept of sustainable development. The story of sustainable development of cruise destinations would not be complete without presenting practical example of the management of a cruise port of international importance like the Port of Kotor. Dr. Tena Božović, from the Port of Kotor, briefly presented the position of the Port of Kotor and the importance that the Port has in the development of cruise tourism at the local and national level. After the lecture at the Faculty, the participants of the summer school had the opportunity to tour the Old Town of Kotor accompanied by the lecturer and attend a presentation of the key aspects of agency business in the tourism sector. Already at the end of the first day, it could be concluded that the candidates were satisfied with the program and enjoyed spending time together and visiting cultural and historical sites in the Old Town.