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The field of event management has expanded rapidly in recent years. The growth of the industry has lead to an increase in demand for professionals and in turn a massive increase in the opportunities for education and training. A multitude of institutions across the UK now offer hundreds of event-related courses to aspiring practitioners including postgraduate diplomas, degrees, and master's degrees. What is the awareness of the scope, range, and nature of these courses? How useful are they in gaining entry level employment? What are their strengths and what are their shortcomings? In order to answer these questions in depth, a cross-sectional study collected data through semistructured interviews with a largely purposeful sample of six industry practitioners. The findings indicate a general lack of awareness for the scope, range, and nature of event management education among the sample. In addition, the research implied that holding an event management qualification was unlikely to secure job interviews and that recruiters for the events industry place little value on candidates having industry qualifications. However, courses can help secure employment through the contacts and work placements they provide students. This research also found that the greatest strength an event management graduate was perceived to have was an overall knowledge of the industry and that practitioners felt that courses should strive to be more vocational in nature. Finally, the study indicated overwhelmingly that when recruiting, employers placed the greatest emphasis on experience and that the single most important step an individual with no experience could take to increase their chances of employment was to gain experience through volunteering and work placements.
