UNESCO-Nigeria TVET revitalisation project

This UNESCO-funded research project in Nigeria sought to introduce a new national curriculum for leisure, tourism and hospitality workforce training.

This was part of a larger project aimed at revitalising Nigeria’s Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), in collaboration with the Nigeria Board of Technical Education (NBTE).

Professor Novelli was tasked with producing a ‘Tourism and Hospitality Curriculum Review’ (2004), which was later followed by a ‘Capacity Building/Train-the-Trainers programme’ (2009).

The project produced a ‘Tourism and Hospitality Curriculum Review’ (2004), followed by a ‘Capacity Building/Train-the-Trainers programme’. This led to the adoption of new industry and employment-centred tourism teaching materials and a new national curriculum replacing the previous redundant one, which dated back to colonial times.

An evaluation of the material and curriculum undertaken by the NBTE and presented to the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) concluded that the impacts had spread beyond Nigeria and that 'the tangible outcomes of the initiative have been accepted for adoption in the ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) countries'.

Other counties outside the region, for example, Libya, Bahrain and Ethiopia have also benefited from its achievement and have used the curricula developed as part of their own national curricula.