As a part of the Erasmus+ academic mobility programme, in the period 1-5 May 2023, associate professors Darko Dimitrovski and Andrej Mićović visited the School of Business and Law, Edith Cowan University (ECU), Perth, Australia, the higher education institution ranked among the top thirty in the field of Tourism and Hospitality Management on the prestigious Shanghai list. Two guest lectures were delivered during the course of the visit. Namely, Prof. Darko Dimitrovski gave a lecture Branding and Marketing Strategies in H&T- La Boqueria food market, Barcelona, as a part of the Hospitality and Tourism Management course instructed by Dr Julie Nyanjom, whereas Prof. Andrej Mićović talked on Sustainable Tourism Law within the course Sustainability in Hospitality and Tourism held by Dr Eerang Park. During the visit, our professors also engaged in the work of the ECU Centre for Tourism Research led by Prof. Sam Huang, a distinguished scientist who is among the two percent of the most cited scholars in the world according to the prestigious list published by Stanford University, USA. On that occasion, prof. Dimitrovski presented topic From Sustainable Tourism to Tourism-Induced Quality of Life: Refraiming the SUS-TAS Scale, whereas Prof. Mićović gave presentation on Travel and Tourism Law in the Digital Age.
Furthermore, our professors had numerous meetings with the representatives of the international cooperation department, where options for improving the existing cooperation within the Erasmus+ academic mobility programme were discussed. The primary focus was the inclusion of student mobility, as well as the development of further inter-institutional activities leading to strenghtening future cooperation, i.e. creating a joint master academic study programme in English, creating short training programmes and co-organisation of scientific gatherings. Colleagues from ECU provided full support for the implementation of the aforementioned activities and the pronounced willingness for both institutions to work together on accomplishing the set goals.
In addition to the academic part of the mobility, the visit to Swan Valley was organised by Professor Sam Huang. Thus, the most important wineries within one of the most popular wine regions in Australia were visited where our professors used the opportunity to communicate with the owners, who are mostly from the Balkans, and get a better insight into the way the tourist activities are organised at this wine region and consider the possibility of implementing the existing experience at the wine regions in Serbia.
