Master and Doctoral studies in Cultural Tourism. Problems and perspectives in Western Balkans.

The paper analyses and discusses the problems and perspectives in preparing and managing didactical programs, methodologies and syllabi of Cultural Tourism in Higher Education courses. The Cultural Tourism is an interdisciplinary topic for Higher Education courses and, although the interest connected to the priorities in Balkans governmental policies and international projects, it could be a challenge for Master and PhD programs. The paper considers some projects managed by Bologna University in Western Balkans with the aim of creating Master and Doctoral studies in the Cultural Tourism sector underlining the structure and process aspects linked to the teaching. The analysis will point out the relevance of this sector in the University system and in the international programmes by considering the didactical offer (Master and PhD) realized on this topic in Western Balkans countries and particularly in Albania, Macedonia and Kosovo. Moreover the results are connected to the description of detailed programs, methodologies and syllabi of teaching at University level in the Cultural Tourism field. Another topic refers to the involvement of local systems and small businesses for implementing the Cultural Tourism offer in the international market. To this purpose a particular focus is set on the distance learning, and particularly on the Simulimpresa methodology, that could be considered as a relevant tool of teaching to be adopted in Universities for the development of entrepreneurial and managerial competencies, mainly those linked to small business.