The Institute of Travel Management says it is close to announcing which university will host the UK’s first degree in travel management.

ITM has been in talks with a number educational institutions and is set to make a decision next month.

Caroline Strachan, ITM chair, believes the degree course will transform the future of the industry.

“The course will produce talented young business people who will be capable of stepping straight from university in a travel management job,” she said.

The course curriculum and level of degree have yet to be decided, though an MA in travel management has been previously suggested. The development of the degree course will be spearheaded by ITM’s new general manager, Anne Deamer.

Strachan says emphasis on basic management skills with be an important element of study.

“In my job about 15% of my time is taken up with purely travel related issues, the rest is to do with marketing, human resources, administration and so on. Learning these basic skills will be fundamental.”

Worms University in Germany had started to receive applications for an MBA in business travel management earlier this year, the first course of its kind in Europe. But the insitution has since announced the course has been postponed until next year. 

Elsewhere, ITM has announced it its to expand its online resources for both members and non-members.

Case studies and white papers collated by members of the international business travel consortium the Paragon Group will be available to members on the ITM website in the coming quarter.

A separate website integrating research and tools from all Paragon’s international member groups could be ready as early as next March.

ITM’s Project Icarus – a scheme to promote carbon reduction in travel management programmes – will soon be available on a stand alone website. Non-members can pay £150 to access the Icarus tool kit.