Relevance and Quality in Australian Tourism Higher Education

Abstract

Partnerships between educators and industry professionals can facilitate students' tourism career opportunities. Considering this, a mail-out questionnaire was undertaken to assess the attitudes and perceptions of tourism educators (n = 56) and tourism professionals (n = 100) on tourism education issues. Results indicated that one-quarter of professionals believe university tourism majors provide graduates with a competitive advantage and both groups consider tourism/hospitality, marketing and management as important business majors. Competencies in logical thinking, social interaction, tourism knowledge and concepts, and generic skills are also considered important by both groups with specific workplace competencies and professional experience considered relatively less important by educators (p < .05). In conclusion, communication networks jointly facilitatedby academicsand industry are recommended.     

Practicing What We Preach in Tourism Education and Research

Abstract

As teachers of both strategic and operational management in tourism/hospitality programs, we constantly stress the importance of research as a means of providing critical information for destination planning and development. At the same time, in our capacity as managers of academic programs, it is not uncommon for many of us to overlook the use of research in the management of these programs. While we normally undertake market assessments before establishing new programs, and regularly gather operational data on teaching performance, this paper argues that based on the existing literature, tourism education program managers generally fail to take sufficient advantage of several strategic research approaches that are heavily used in other management contexts.

Having recognized their own shortcoming in this regard, the present authors have attempted to rectify it by formally integrating a selected number of widely used research approaches into the overall management of their programs. The results, we believe, demonstrate just how valuable the use of formal program research can be in setting innovative directions for program design and development, for enhancing student satisfaction with specific courses, and for evaluating the overall efficiency and effectiveness of well established programs.

Part I of the present discussion examines the use and usefulness of one major research technique for tourism education program design and management. The technique in question is Strategic Visioning.     

Australian Tourism Education

SUMMARY

An appraisal of Australian tourism education is undertaken by pursuing its historical development and the key issues of teaching locations, generic skills and graduate attributes, educator competence, human resource planning and how to assess performance. It is argued that Australia, when considered as a case study in the global context of higher tourism education, occupies a distinctive and relatively successful niche. The distinctiveness derives from both its late entry into the field and the status-oriented context in which it has grown. The success is characterised by a strong research-education nexus and the consolidation rather than loss of the degree offerings over time.     

Technology and Tertiary Tourism Students

Abstract

This paper presents a students' perspective about the use of technology in tourism education. Expectations and the reality of university study in our technological age are discussed, and recommendations made.     

Technology by Degrees

Abstract

This paper examines the implications of teaching a “stand alone” information technology unit to undergraduate students in a Bachelor of Business in Tourism degree program. The subject (unit) is an elective unit and is offered in the students' second and third years of study. While the debate rages as to the perspicacity of teaching technology as an independent unit, rather than incorporating technology theory and practice into other subjects as necessary, we have made the decision to run such a unit in the independent form. The subject has only recently been adopted and 2000 was its second year of offering. Curriculum was created through liaison and discussion between several staff at the School of Tourism and Hospitality Management in an attempt to link topics and themes to other subjects across the degree program. The case study explores issues relating to curriculum, extent to which the Internet is used within the subject, as well as staff and student perceptions of the course. Outcomes from evaluation and feedback suggest that Internet-as-resource rather than Internet-as-core provides the most flexible and student-centered learning approach. Students found the unit useful in terms of prospective employment and in broadening their general knowledge of technology in tourism and hospitality.     

奥中烹饪高等职业教育模式之比较——以奥地利TFBS学院和浙江旅游职业学院为例

该文以奥中两所高职院校为对象,从国家职业教育背景、专业设置、学生学习与实习就业、实验室建设和师资队伍建设等五方面对烹饪教育模式进行了比较分析,提出对浙江旅游职业学院烹饪教育发展的建议。     

Examination of tourism undergraduates’ industry commitment,in the context of China

Grounded in the Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT), this study developed a comprehensive research framework that encapsulated both personal and contextual factors in terms of tourism undergraduates’ commitment to career choice in the context of China’s social and vocational contexts. Applying structural equation modeling (SEM) to the data collected from 446 undergraduate students studying tourism in China, this study shows that “self-interest,” “others’ support,” “social status,” “outcome expectation” and “nature of work” exert significant effects on students’ commitment to career choice. Implications of the findings include suggested interventions in attracting tourism students to persist in their career path.     

Tourism Higher Education in China

SUMMARY

This paper first reviews the origins and development of tourism higher education in China, then elaborates on its present hierarchy of programs, regional distribution and mechanisms for operating schools. Based on an investigation, the paper also discusses the educational objectives, program setup, curriculum design, textbooks and reference materials. It summarizes the problems and challenges China's higher education studies in tourism are facing, and in conclusion, it explores development trends and offers suggestions for its future.     

An Educational Game for Tourism and Hospitality Education

ABSTRACT

This paper presents an educational game where players act as travel agents to learn how a travel agency functions. They are provided with an uncertain environment in which they make strategic decisions aimed at maximizing their agency's wealth. Players are expected to make managerial decisions while experiencing how market structures and strategic decision-making can affect commerce within a simulated tourism and hospitality industry. The auction game offers students hands-on experience that assists them in understanding the functioning of markets in all aspects of business. Students are also given an opportunity to interact with team-players, to compete against other students, and to develop an appreciation of the pressures facing travel agencies.     

Curriculum Planning for Tourism Education

ABSTRACT

Tourism education has grown rapidly in the last quarter of the twentieth century. However, the relative youth of the subject area renders the educator's task of developing a curriculum difficult in comparison to more established fields. Educational theory provides a range of approaches to assist in this task, not only in terms of models of the curriculum, but also in terms of the relationship between the curriculum and its social and economic context. This paper draws together the main threads of educational theory and applies them to tourism with additional insights from the development of a university-level curriculum for Jordan.