In spite of the tertiary institutions' continuous efforts to upgrade their programmes in the area of hospitality and tourism, their relationship with the industry needs to be systematized, modernized and reinforced, considering the specific needs of the industry and its high potential for growth and employment of qualified professionals.This project aims to facilitate a functional relationship satisfying the needs of all parties concerned (ie educational institutions, hospitality and tourism enterprises, students of higher education) through the development of an Employer Programme specifically designed for hospitality and tourism. Therefore, the objectives of the project are:1. Design a systematic methodology for the development, installation and monitoring of a successful employer programme. 2. Design and Develop an electronic platform as a tool to facilitate the above mentioned methodology3. Develop a best practices guide with best practices identified in Europe and the rest of the world as well as best practices developed through the current project. Project participants include educational institutions in the field of hospitality and tourism in the consortium (together with their students and faculties) and representatives of the hospitality and tourism industry (employers). The project will target not only educational institutions and employers in the consortium but also in Europe and internationally through several multiplier events an other dissemination activities.The project will be initiated by research on the needs of all stakeholders (through focus groups, interviews and questionnaires) which will result in a needs analysis report. Additionally, a research on existing practices in Europe and internationally (both from the sector as well as from other sectors where practices can be transferred) will be undertaken through (desktop research and interviews). Taking into consideration the results of the needs analysis as well as the existing practices a recommendations report will be composed. Based on this recommendations report an operational manual will be composed. This operational manual will be developed which will describe the system which will link the employers with the academia within the hospitality and tourism sector. This operational manual will describe the system description (ie the organisation and structure to be set up in order to manage this system, the way different stakeholders will participate in the system etc). Additionally a list of possible activities will be presented (eg surveys for the improvement of the quality of different curricula and materials, engagement and collaboration for the successful execution of internships etc)One very important intellectual output of this project is the platform Xenios Zeus. The platform is in fact the tool that will facilitate the implementation of the methodology developed under intellectual output 4. It is the place where higher education institutions, students , teachers and employers come together to implement a methodology that will link the education provided to the employers market and thus improve the quality of education and its responsiveness to the needs of the labour market. Benefits that can be derived from this project will include the upgrading of educational institutions’ programmes resulting in highly employable students/graduates; the ability for enterprises to recruit the best possible candidates for full time and part time employment needs and to apply academic knowledge and innovation to their everyday practice; students/graduates will enhance their knowledge and skills whilst building on their professional network and employability. The joint programme includes 7 organizations, from 5 European countries: Higher Hotel Institute of Cyprus; Technical Educational Institute of Crete; Tampere University of Applied Sciences (Finland); M.M.C. Management Center Limited(Cyprus); Cyprus Hotel Association (Cyprus) , Confederation Espanola De Hoteles Yalojamientes Turisticos (Spain) and GRUPPO 4 SRL (Italy).