Employability skills for hospitality students in Malaysia

Malaysia needs high skilled workforce to support growth of the industry. With dynamically changing job market and progressive technological change, employees are expected to keep abreast of global economics. In the process of achieving the status of developed nation by the year 2020, Malaysia needs to restructure its workforce to ensure that middle level workers are highly skilled. Current job environment demands multi-task and skills. Thus, university graduates must be prepared to meet the demand especially in the hospitality industry. The purpose of this study is to identify the level of employability skills in the hospitality field. This research applied quantitative methodology. The respondents consist of final year students in bakery and culinary programme. Stratified sampling was used to select students in hospitality programs from 22 vocational colleges in Malaysia. Questionnaires were distributed to 841 students in five regions which are Central, South, North, East and East Malaysia (Sarawak) in Malaysia. Descriptive analysis was used to analyse the quantitative data. The results showed that the level of hospitality employability skills among vocational students in Malaysia were at high level of competence (93.2%). The research has brought meaningful implications for hospitality vocational students, employers and policy makers

Computer assisted self and peer assessment: applications, challenges and opportunities

This paper discusses self and peer assessment (SPA) using CASPAR (Computer Assisted Self and Peer Assessment Ratings) – a software tool designed to aid the administration of SPA. CASPAR was piloted on eight units from six subject areas (Hospitality, Leisure, Sport, Tourism, Retail and Events). Data were gathered through questionnaires from 146 students. The paper compares the SPA process and the application of CASPAR in a hospitality operations management unit with other units to identify good practice

Review of the International Dictionary of Hospitality Management

The International Dictionary of Hospitality Management is the first ever dictionary entirely devoted to the area of Hospitality Management. It is a long-awaited, abridged and generally more affordable version of The International Encyclopaedia of Hospitality Management (Pizam 2005). In a relatively short space of time this dictionary will undoubtedly prove to be the ideal companion for all students and practitioners studying and working the hospitality industry, not least because of price and size but also due to the user friendly layout. This redacted version is an excellent companion volume to the Encyclopaedia and should encourage those students who wish to know more to go to the library and explore the Encyclopaedia

Towards More Inclusive Schools: An Application of Hospitality in Parental Involvement

Parental involvement is a key factor in student success, yet schools struggle with effectively engaging diverse families in the education of school-age students. This article proposes a model of hospitality as a flexible framework for parental engagement. In this model, schools build safe and trusting environments by attending to physical, spiritual, emotional, and intellectual spaces for parent involvement, integrating inclusion and embrace of differences. The author examines literature on the historical and theological concepts of Christian hospitality—primarily Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Volf’s theory of exclusion and embrace, and Pohl’s reminder of hospitality as a Christian tradition—and explains how practicing hospitality may bridge gaps in concept and understanding while addressing ideas of inclusion necessary for effective parental involvement. These frameworks challenge the employment of common perceptions and practices used to involve diverse parents and offer more effective and flexible alternatives for educators. This is a reprint of a piece originally published in Volume 11 issue 1 (2016) of the ICCTEJ

Competency Based Learning in Hospitality Education and Its Impact on Future Leadership Skills

In the past five years, hospitality educational programs have seen a distinct decline in enrollment from year to year (Oakley, 2016). Upon reflection of this decline, there could be many reasons, which caused a consecutive downward trajectory regarding enrollment. First, individuals are finding that a formal degree is not required for entry-level positions in the hospitality industry. Second, people are utilizing technology and videos to substitute for formal education and are finding success in the entry-level hiring process. Third, this generation does not see the value in formal education for entry-level employment. True as that might be, trends have shown that these individuals forego formal education completely and immediately enter into the workforce (Hersh, 2015). However, these individuals work for a short period of time and discover that promotion is not attainable since they lack the proper skill-set essential for leadership roles. Brownell and Chung (2001) argued that hospitality curriculum may not be offering the right knowledge and skills to individuals seeking future work and that a change must be made in higher education to address the issue. Perhaps the notion is that individuals need more than technical skills in order to succeed in their careers. If this statement is true, then putting forth changes to the curriculum in order to fill gaps in education is the first step to accomplishment. This paper examines whether competency based learning (CBL) in higher education is predictive of leadership outcomes in the hospitality industry. Within the higher education framework, competency based learning focuses on theory supported skill development and the application of concepts in scenario-based and problem-based assessments. More importantly, competency based learning emphasizes student advancement via demonstrated mastery of competencies that are specific, measureable and are learning objectives that empower students. In addition, the student learning outcomes stress competencies that include application and creation of knowledge along with the development of important skills and dispositions. Finally, CBL allows students to learn skills vital to leadership success in the hospitality industry

Academic Engagement of Hospitality Students

Student academic engagement has been researched over the years, drawing limited conclusions and suggestions for improvement. In this study, researchers utilized National Survey for Student Engagement data from a large Midwestern university to examine the academic engagement of hospitality management students and compared their engagement to business students. It was found that 50% of the participating hospitality students spent 11 h or more each week preparing for classes. For both groups, finances were reported as the biggest obstacle to academic progress. The research study provides an examination of hospitality students’ academic engagement. Suggestions are presented for hospitality educators

Hospitality Graduate Students’ Program Choice Decisions: Implications for Faculty and Administrators

Despite rapid growth in the quality and volume of hospitality graduate research and education in recent years, little information is available in the extant body of literature about the program choices of hospitality management graduate students, information that is crucial for program administrators and faculty in their attempts to attract the most promising students to their programs. This paper reports on a study among graduate students in U.S, hospitality management programs designed to understand why they chose to pursue their degrees at their programs of choice. Given the large numbers of international students presently enrolled, the study additionally looked into why international hospitality management students chose to leave their home countries and why they decided to pursue a graduate degree in the U.S. Based on the findings, implications for hospitality administrators and faculty in the U.S. and abroad are discussed and directions for future research are presented

Student Perceptions of Engagement in a Mandatory Programatic Service Learning

In the hospitality industry, service-learning opportunities are particularly important for students seeking work in the meeting and event planning industry. Faculty of a hospitality program at a regional university in East Texas decided to investigate the benefits in embedding service learning activities to their hospitality courses. The study investigated student perceptions of their participation in compulsory service learning assignments were created and implemented. Service learning assignment benefited the respondents personally; it benefited the sponsoring organization; it benefited the respondents’ career goals and their own individual awareness of community issues