|
" Making hospitality management programmes relevant to industry : "
Luke, David William
| Document Type
|
:
|
Latin Dissertation
|
| Record Number
|
:
|
1093762
|
| Doc. No
|
:
|
TLets299538
|
| Main Entry
|
:
|
Luke, David William
|
| Title & Author
|
:
|
Making hospitality management programmes relevant to industry :\ Luke, David William
|
| College
|
:
|
University of Bristol
|
| Date
|
:
|
1999
|
| student score
|
:
|
1999
|
| Degree
|
:
|
Ph.D.
|
| Abstract
|
:
|
There has been a considerable debate in recent years about the 'fit' betweenhospitality management education and the needs of the hospitality and tourismindustries, with allegations of disproportionate 'wastage' of vocationally labourmarket entrants to other sectors of the economy.This study began by outlining the evolution of hospitality education in the UK. Thestudy then reviewed models of vocational education and discussed their relevance tohospitality management education. A discussion of the effects of political, industrialand educational debate has been included.A case study has provided an historical review of the evolution of the BA HonoursDegree in Hospitality Business Management in an important FHE college, which isthe largest single provider of hospitality education in the UK. The study goes on tohighlight the transition of graduates into the workplace from 1992 to the present time.The first sections of the study were completed using exhaustive secondary researchcarried out using all of the library resources at my disposal. The case study wasachieved using primary research techniques of questionnaire and follow-up interviewswith the graduates and with senior programme administrators from the college. Useof the Dillman (1977) method ensured an exceptionally high response rate to thequestionnaire, although it is probably true that my power-distance relationship withthe respondents also had a positive effect on the response rate. The researcher alsobelieves that the responses received from the graduates truthfully reflected their viewson the questions asked.The final section of this dissertation discusses and analyses the results of the primaryresearch and this is the major innovative part of the work. During the course of theresearch, a number of themes emerged, and the discussion is aligned with thesethemes, providing a framework for the analysis.The content of the courses, comprising the four-year programme were generally seenas appropriate by the respondents. However, a number of possible changes wereidentified which might improve the programme. One surprising result was that itemerged that no change would be needed to fit graduates for the industry for the nextdecade. A second surprise was the low ranking given to information technology andnumeracy by the respondents. This must surely be a misconception by the graduatesand this finding is in need of further research.The term 'graduateness' was generally little understood by the respondents.However, once they were familiarised by the meaning underpinning the term, they didcomprehend that graduate skills were of considerable importance. Indeed theirunderstanding of graduate skills related very closely to those defined NAB (1986).However, the discussion of their evaluation of numeracy has already been outlined.Not surprisingly, there was considerable overlap between discussion of course contentand teaching methods. However, it is important to mention that one of the mainissues arising was that of the use of information technology and multimedia in coursedelivery. This research has found that these methods are seen to be of growing importance for communication and dissemination of information between students.industrialists and educationalists in the hospitality industry, being a truly world-wideindustry.One major area of discussion which has arisen in my research is the industrialplacement experience. An important finding has been that despite whether thestudents had received a successful industrial placement experience or not, almost allagreed that industrial placement experience was an essential component of theprogramme. In fact the research identified that industrial placement is so important,that the government should consider funding research to investigate the value addedto students on vocational programmes, with a view to extending the benefits to othersubject areas before they undertake primary cost reduction by cutting funding forindustrial placement in hospitality management programmes.With regard to employment issues, there were three issues that arose. First, thechanging character of the hotel industry, which is likely to provide less opportunityfor management development for graduates. Nevertheless, the research identifieddespite this trend that a very large percentage of graduates were still findingemployment in hotels at the present time. Second, the limited language skills of UKgraduates, which the research considers as an important negative factor for UKgraduates in a time of globalisation and EU aggregation. Finally, UK educationalinstitutions depend to some extent upon recruitment of students from overseas (fullfee paying). The recessionary developments in the global economy, especially in theFar East, should give cause for some alarm by UK universities and colleges in thisrespect.
|
| Subject
|
:
|
Hospitality education
|
|
|
:
|
Hotels
|
|
|
:
|
Tourism education
|
| Added Entry
|
:
|
University of Bristol
|
| |