Holmesglen, Case Study

Holmesglen Didn’t Ask for Foresight. But That’s What They Got.

In 1995, Holmesglen was building a brand-new final-year tourism and events degree and they hired Morris as their first lead lecturer. But he didn’t just teach. He rewrote the script.

Morris created the curriculum, designed the course structure, and taught 80% of the non-financial final-year subjects across management, marketing, HR, and innovation while still running his own consultancy. Then he proposed something radical: an Industry Partner (IP) model where students wouldn’t just study theory they’d be embedded with real tourism and hospitality organisations, building marketing strategies and business plans for live client briefs.

He pitched it. Designed it. Sold it to both Holmesglen and the industry. And it worked.

Student engagement soared. Industry lined up to participate. And 90% of students were offered jobs by their IP hosts.

But foresight isn’t always easy. In that same first year, Morris warned the students that commissions the backbone of travel agent income would collapse. That online bookings would rise. That fee-for-service and experience curation would replace repetitive, back-end sales work. This was 1995. The internet barely existed. The comment caused waves. But it was right. And it gave a generation of students a head start on a future no one else saw coming.

Shift: From education as content delivery to education as co-created, real-time future readiness.

The result?: A nationally recognised program, a generation of future-fit professionals, and a lasting model of education–industry integration.