Tourism chiefs, aghast at widespread ignorance of the life and works of the Bard, are offering crash courses on the national poet in a bid to stop Scots being shown up by better-informed visitors from overseas.

Recent research has proved that many Scots don't know their 'Auld Lang Syne' from their elegies when it comes to Ayrshire's most famous son. So £20,000 has been spent on creating a recognised Burns qualification.

Those who are able to demonstrate their knowledge of the ploughman poet will gain the right to call themselves a Burns Tourism Ambassador.

The scheme is the brainchild of Moira Birtwistle, a lecturer in tourism at the Scottish Agricultural College (SAC).

She said: "It is really quite sad that a number of people in Scotland don't have a great knowledge of their national bard.

"Burns is an iconic figure in Scotland and you would assume that most people know about him, but sadly that isn't the case. Most people know he was a poet and some are aware of the cottage he was born in, but that is about it.

"Some people didn't even realise there was a connection between Burns and 'Auld Lang Syne', which is one of the most famous songs in the world."

Birtwistle said many foreign visitors, particularly those from the former eastern bloc nations, are often better versed in the Bard than the natives.

"These visitors expect everybody in Scotland to have at least a basic knowledge of Burns.

"In many cases they find it is actually quite limited. In the past, many Scottish schools didn't teach much about Burns. It is absolutely shocking that youngsters in Russia know so much more about Burns than our kids. Hopefully this new venture will help towards putting this right."

With this in mind, Birtwistle, who is based at Auchincruive near Ayr, turned her attention to creating a 21st-century guide to Burns which is aimed at those in the tourism industry.

In the end she came up with the idea of compiling a computer study course on a CD-Rom.

"I wanted to make it accessible so people could do it at home in their own time and at their own pace. We then came up with the idea of having Burns himself doing the narration to the course," she said.

"Homecoming 2009 is fast approaching, and Burns will be a key part of that, so we felt this was the ideal time to launch something like this."

In the interactive course, which costs £25, an actor portraying the poet outlines his life and introduces many of his most famous pieces of work.

Candidates are also given lessons in the cultural importance of Burns and how knowledge of him can benefit their business.

They are also given hints on how to prepare Burns-themed itineraries for visitors.

During the course, candidates are quizzed on key facts such as the name of Burns' wife, what poem the line "the best-laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft agley" comes from, and what town was unsurpassed for its "honest men and bonnie lasses".

On completion of the study programme, successful candidates are sent an official SAC certificate as well as a tourism ambassador lapel badge which features a red rose entwined in the letter 'B'.

The project is a collaboration between the SAC and Scottish Enterprise. Birtwistle consulted with members of the Alloway Burns Club before naming the course Robbie Burns, Your Business. "They were insistent that Burns would have never referred to himself as Rabbie. That seems to be very much an invention of the 20th and 21st centuries," she said.

Caroline Glenn, who manages the Burns National Heritage Park at Alloway, welcomed the initiative.

"Burns is a huge asset to the tourism industry of both Ayrshire and Scotland," she said. "It is very important that people who work in that sector have a reasonable knowledge of him and his work."

Glenn said she and her staff were used to people making gaffes about the bard. "We have a fair amount of visitors who really don't have any idea of who Burns was. They are often surprised when the famous poems and songs that he wrote are pointed out to them."

Culture minister Linda Fabiani was both heartened and dismayed by the scheme.

She said: "This is a fabulous project which has my full support. But while I think it is wonderful, it is a sad indictment on the past governance of Scotland that you have people from Ayrshire and elsewhere who really don't know enough about the national bard."

'He had an eye for the lassies and would drink'

I ARRIVE in Alloway with a map and a well-thumbed guide and ask the man at the post office where Robert Burns' cottage is, writes Samantha Novik

He laughs and points through the window. It's across the street. "Really? Was he born there?" I ask. The man at the till pauses. "No... I think he was born somewhere else," he says. The elderly lady behind me in the queue intervenes: "Yes! He was born in Dumfries!"

I'm not about to let them off that easily. "Well, did he die there?"

"Did he die there?" the cashier asks the woman. "No, I think he died in Dumfries too... but I'm not sure."

I've travelled to Ayrshire posing as a tourist to learn whether or not residents are up to the mark on their Burns knowledge, just as tourism chiefs announce a new project to train "tourist ambassadors" specialising in the national bard.

I leave the post office and a man walks towards the shop. "Do you know about that house across the road?" I ask. "No, I don't know what that is," he replies without breaking stride.

All day I search for someone who can tell me about Burns, but the typical answer is: "Well, he was a very famous poet in Scotland."

I'm about to give up when I meet Roddy, an older man from Dunure. "He had an eye for the lassies," he says. "And he would go drink with his friends down the road." Roddy gestures towards Tam 'O Shanter and the Alloway Kirk. "He wrote about love."

Roddy's wife is glaring but he cannot be stopped as recites "O, my luve's like a red, red rose".

Looks like I've found my expert.