Reassessing employer expectations of graduates in UK travel services

This article sets out to ascertain travel and tourism industries employers' views on degrees. Research of this kind and on this scale has not previously been carried out and a large scale survey of industry views was conducted with key issues identified and discussed. These cover topics such as the employment of graduates within the UK travel services industry, views on their contribution and appropriateness, the types of skills that such degrees provide, salary scales and graduate training schemes. Current government policy on widening participation in higher education (HE) and its impact on industry skills is also evaluated. The issue of the provision of tourism curricula and their content has at the beginning of 2007 once again been pushed centre stage. This is as a result of the increasing scrutiny of the Sector Skills organisation People 1st and the launch of the government's new vocational diplomas in 2008. The findings in this article are pertinent for government bodies and educators alike and have previously been shared with the Sector Skills organisation and Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) in addressing HE in tourism

Profil, pengaruh dan pandangan pelajar terhadap PJJ, UUM

Kertas ini membincangkan profil pelajar, faktor-faktor mempengaruhi pemilihan dan menganalisa pandangan mereka terhadap Pendidikan Jarak Jauh (PJJ). Kajian berbentuk deskriptif ini dikendalikan setelah pelbagai reaksi diperhatikan, termasuk antaranya pertambahan bilangan Institusi Pendidikan Tinggi (IPT) yang menawarkan program pengajian secara jarak jauh dan pertambahan permohonan dan pengambilan pelajar dari tahun ke tahun

English Speaking Difficulties Encountered by Tourism Department Students’ in EFL Public Interactions: A qualitative study

Mastering English facilitates students’ preparation for professional job applications. In the context of tourism school, learning the language, therefore, is a must. The study reported in this article explores the difficulties in speaking English encountered by a group of Indonesian learners of English and how they anticipated their perceived difficulties. A qualitative research approach was employed for data collection and analysis. Participants were from a Tourism Department of a university in the Province of Gorontalo, Indonesia, who voluntarily agreed to join in the interview sessions. Findings showed that most participants struggled to communicate in English, particularly when interacting with foreigners. The difficulties include a lack of vocabulary and comprehension of certain accents. In addition, it was found that in anticipating those difficulties, students employed regular English use practices, gestures, and information technology assistance. The study suggests that frequent meaningful English practices in and outside the English classroom should be facilitated, and the use of relevant technological tools for fostering English language practices be promoted

Students’ reflections on industry placement: comparing four undergraduate work integrated learning streams

This paper compares four work-integrated learning (WIL) streams embedded in a professional Development course for tourism, hospitality and event management students. Leximancer was used to analyze key themes emerging from reflective portfolios completed by the 137 students in the course. Results highlight that student learning outcomes and experiences differed depending on the WIL stream chosen. Aristotle's notions of episteme, techne and phronesis are used as a broad framework for situating the key themes that emerge from students' reflections

Tourism education and curriculum design: a practitioner perspective

Academic and practitioner courses in travel and tourism have developed substantially in the past thirty years. The force behind this change can be attributed to the growth of tourism as an activity and the organisations involved in meeting the needs of tourists expanding to cater for this demand. This growth,combined with the increasing professionalism of tourism suppliers, played its part in prompting educational institutions to meet the demands and opportunities created by tourism employers. It also contributed to the strong vocational orientation of many of these programmes. In the early years of the development of the subject, the curriculum was informed by extra disciplinary knowledge – knowledge from industry, government, think tanks, interest groups, research institutes and consultancies. Curriculum planners have also supplemented the curriculum with multidisciplinary knowledge, drawing various ideas, skills and methodologies from other subject disciplines. The subsequent maturity of the subject has come to be reflected in the creation of interdisciplinary knowledge whereby scholars have been able to draw upon more than one discipline to explain a solution to specific industry-related problems and issues

Serving an internship: Experiences from Family and

Abstract. The University of Ghana's Family and Consumer Sciences Department's internship reports were examined using 449 intern reports and 209 reports by supervisors presented to the Department over a period of 8 years. The interns' challenges, contributions, strength and weaknesses of the programme during their period of internship were assessed. Content analysis, a technique which allowed researchers to analyze non-statistical material in a systematic way, was used to draw out themes from the data for discussion. Inferential and descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data to address the objectives of the study. The results indicated that the majority of interns worked in hospitals and hotels on assignments related to food and nutrition. They often encountered financial constraints and some had difficulty adapting or adjusting to the environment of work. Administrative duties such as report and memo writing, data collection, photocopying, making and receiving of calls, drawing up budget amongst others were the most contributions interns made. Suggestions made by supervisors and interns included extension of the internship period and the need for the department to seek placement for interns to serve. It was recommended that the monitoring scheme should include visits from lecturers of the department apart from the industry staff

The effects of industrial training on students’ generic skills development

This conceptual paper reviews the underpinning theories and past literatures on generic skills in relation to industrial training attended by students in higher learning institutions. Subsequently, a number of hypotheses and a framework of generic skills development are proposed. Four generic skills discussed are communication skill, teamwork skill, critical thinking and problem solving and moral and professional ethics. The paper proposes that the development of these generic skills is influenced by or have some relationships with students’ demographic and motivation, as well as organizational characteristics and culture. The methodology of conducting this study is also illustrated

Bridging the Gap: An Exploratory Study on Classroom-Workplace Collaborations

“Bridging the gap” between theory and practice has historically been challenging. There is a definite lag between textbook knowledge and “real-world” application. For decades colleges have been adopting different Executive-In-Residence (EIR) models to help with this concern. Various EIR models include bringing industry professionals into the classes as guest speakers, hosting a series of one-on-one meetings, and conducting seminars and workshops. There is little to no research on EIRs in the Hospitality and Tourism field. In today’s modern time, the hospitality industry is a forerunner in the service industry, thus making this research extremely beneficial to the body of knowledge regarding hospitality education. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of a new EIR Classroom Teaching Model that can be utilized in hospitality programs globally. A non-experimental descriptive survey research design was utilized in this study for the purpose of determining if knowledge increased in the subject area, determining appropriate course workloads, and determining students’ preferences on the traditional textbook. Two descriptive survey questionnaires (one for EIR students, another for non-EIR students) were designed and distributed via email to the participants of the study. The study found that EIR students felt they learned more than Non EIR students. The study also found that EIR students found the EIR course more challenging and it enhanced their creativity. The data also concluded that both EIR and Non EIR students feel that textbooks are not necessary in upper-level courses. Results from this study can be used as a catalyst for conducting follow-up research on knowledge management in hospitality programs, allowing new instructional methods and classroom collaborations with industry leaders

Planning internship programs: Tourism students\u27 perceptions

Internship programs bridge the gap between formal education and practical work experience. Designing internship programs and involving student interns are significant themes in tourism research whose inter-relationship has been largely neglected. This paper seeks to explore how tourism students\u27 perceptions can be used to develop successful industry-based internship (IBI) programs. This is a subject that has received relatively scant attention since the publication of a number of seminal papers produced in the mid to late 1970s and early 21th century. A number of key themes or issues will be highlighted, all central to the thinking of the internship program planners. These include an analysis of internship cycles and components and the need to add value and increase students\u27 ability to move theory into practice. Using a quantitative paper-based questionnaire survey of 47 items, the findings revealed that respondents had significantly different perceptions regarding their inclusion role and importance in designing internship programs. The paper presents a valuable conceptual and planning model called PPAF Cycle to achieve effective internship programs, which strengthen the interns\u27 input. The study concludes that innovative planning ways should be found to ensure the interns\u27 full involvement in building training program plans in an increasingly mature Egyptian educational tourism system