TEHIC-Handbook_of_best_practices

5. Heritage interpretation and university education 81 One size does not fit all T he Planet where we live in is extremely diverse, not only by its nature, but also from a cultural (i.e., human made) point of view. This includes geographical, economic, and political situations as well as perspectives. Some countries, such as the Russian Federation or Canada have huge territories, whereas others are tiny (like Monaco or Tuvalu); some countries have over one billion inhabitants (India, China) and other just have several thousands (Palau, San Marino). Population density per square km varies extremely too: Monaco has an average of 17,285 inhabitants per square kilometres, while Mongolia has only two. Economic parity is sometimes even more extreme. Statis - tically 9 , the richest countries in the World are Monaco, Liechtenstein, and Luxembourg, while among the poorest are Burundi or Sierra Leone. If we take a closer look at the European Union countries, Germany is the most populated country of the E U , fol- lowed by France and Italy, while the least populated countries are Malta and Luxemburg. The richest countries (according to their GDP per capita 10 ) are Luxemburg and Ireland, whereas on the opposite side we find Bulgaria and Romania . The economy of some countries of the World and the European Union is highly dependent on tourism (we might say here “visitors”), while the economies of other countries, which according to data, have more tourists and visitors (and are significantly larger) are less dependent on tourism, including heritage related tourism. We could go on with statistic data over and over again but presenting those above has just one, but particularly, important purpose: starting positions and existing multi-relevant conditions (geographical, cultural, social, economic etc.) diverge greatly: what might be the best choice for a certain situation is not necessarily the perfect option for another. If we transfer that conclusion into heritage interpretation, by questioning on what level and how intense future heritage interpreters must be educated within formal (or sometimes informal) systems we might recommend one critical precondition. Any plan - ning and implementation of such education must seriously follow some simple, but important, criteria: it must always reflect local needs and demands, where the word local, if looked from a global perspective, could be understood as the European Union or the national perspective. Within the EU it is a national or regional level and so on. In other words, if there is a high demand for more heritage interpreters at a regional, national or (recognised) European level there are no obstacles to push for it, and this is particularly 9 By GDP (nominal) per capita. 10 GDP (Gross domestic product) per capita is the sum of gross value added by all resident producers in the economy plus any product taxes (less subsidies) not included in the valuation of output, divided by mid- year population. Sustained economic growth increases average incomes and is strongly linked to poverty reduction. GDP per capita provides a basic measure of the value of output per person, which is an indirect indicator of per capita income. Growth in GDP and GDP per capita are considered broad measures of eco- nomic growth. (10.07.2023)