Key competencies of tourism graduates: the employers' point of view (original) (raw)
Related papers
Job Ready Graduates: A Tourism Industry Perspective
Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 2009
Suitable skills and attributes have always been an important part of effective and successful participation in the tourism workplaces. This study aimed to explore tourism managers' perceptions of the skills and attributes required in the tourism industry in Australia. The method involved a content analysis of tourism skill sets and a survey to identify the required skill sets sought by employers. Importance-Performance Analysis revealed differences between graduate attributes and skills and manager's perceptions of their importance and level of performance. These results provided industry-based information about skills and attributes for the improvement of curriculum design. It will enhance the abilities of tourism education to provide job-ready graduates for the future global tourism industry.
Tourism Higher Education Competences for Successful Business
Discussions about the new competences and skills needs for the tourism sector have recently gained a particular significance. Employers are increasingly concerned with what employees know, understand and are able to do in practice, rather than focusing on formal qualifications, degrees and certificates. At the same time, education and training systems are moving away from input approaches – describing learning with input factors such as the time spent on learning and where the learning takes place. This shared focus on competences and skills provides an opportunity to bridge the communication gap between the worlds of education and employment. The current paper focuses and makes critical analysis of students ‗competence profiles built by 2 higher education institutions in tourism in Bulgaria, based on the evaluation by the graduates and by the business. Conclusions and recommendations are drawn.
Shaping Tourism Higher Education Curriculum-Strategy to Develop Skills for Tomorrow's Jobs
Procedia Economics and Finance, 2012
jobs and new skills are rising, as technology, demographic and global climate change generates new demands. To make a smart, property, sensible, green, sustainable, and high employment tourism sector, Europe needs to create or adapt skills -makers ought to adapt educational curriculum to the anticipated modification in skills for brand spanking new jobs initiative. medium -labour market skills forecast demand and curriculum supply. What becomes obvious is that the want for continuing modification and investment in the -
2018
Higher education institutions (HEIs) are under increasing pressure to equip graduates with the necessary knowledge, skills, and attributes that would make them employable and highly versatile in various tourism sectors. This means that the various qualifications in tourism that are awarded by HEIs should reflect the tourism industry’s needs and expectations. Consequently, it is important to identify the kind of knowledge skills that need to be developed in tourism graduates to prepare them for the working world. The purpose of this article is to identify the perceptions of tourism graduates and the tourism industry on the important knowledge and skills required in the tourism industry. The research adopted a sequential explanatory mixed method, which entailed combining quantitative and qualitative methods. However the findings, both from the quantitative and qualitative phases highlight the important knowledge and skills required. In terms of important knowledge and skill, both part...
Tourism and Hospitality Graduate Employability
—The purpose of this paper is to discuss the amount and value of diverse competencies of undergraduate tourism and hospitality students as their employability components. We also explore whether students are aware of their assets and know how to expose them. However, education and training, work experience, personal virtues and character traits as well as behaviour are thoroughly studied when recruiting personnel in the tourism and hospitality industry (THI). Results of the survey indicate that serious measures have to be taken in order to enhance students' future opportunities in the labour market. The survey reveals that the amount and quality of competencies are rather limited, besides students are rather inept at stating and describing relevant data and thus reduce their potential.
The aim of this study was to determine tourism graduates' employability, knowledge, skills, and competencies in a VUCA world by constructing a tourism employability model. The concept of employability differs depending on the context, as well as the views of the people making employment decisions and those seeking employment in a VUCA world. It has become imperative to ensure an adequate level of preparedness among tourism graduates in a world dominated by technology, by understanding what the important knowledge, skills, and competencies are to enhance graduates' chances of securing and sustaining employment in the tourism industry in South Africa. The researcher adopted a sequential explanatory mixed method, which entailed combining quantitative and qualitative methods. A significant relationship was found between professional skills, personality traits, knowledge skills, and operational skills in the tourism industry. The originality of this study is that it developed a tourism graduate employability model for a VUCA world that is abbreviated to include the concepts Volatile, Unknown, Complex, and Ambiquity.
Employability development in Higher Education institutions: a tourism student perspective
2014
Tourism is the world‟s largest and fastest-growing industry. The South African tourism industry (TI) contributes to the creation of employment (National Department of Tourism (NDT) 2011), and the development and growth of the country‟s economy. Yet, the South African TI experiences a critical skills shortage. This results from the fact that many tourism graduates do not possess the skills required by the world of work. Put another way, tourism graduates are not adequately prepared for absorption in the tourism industry. This, in turn, prevents them from participating effectively in the tourism industry. As Fallows and Steven (2000) put it, the knowledge of an academic subject is no longer enough in today‟s challenging work environment; as such, it is important for graduates to develop skills that will increase their chances of finding employment. In light of the above, it is imperative for higher educational institutions to include the development of employability skills in their to...
Expectations of Tourism Industry on Competencies and Tourism Education
Expectations of Tourism Industry on Competencies and Tourism Education, 2013
Evolvement of tourism industry dates back to 2000 years and at present it is one of the fastest growing sectors in the globe today. This has led to the growth of tourism education in the form of graduate, post graduate and certificate courses. Though many researches have been done on tourism curriculum design but to what extent this curriculum meets the industry requirements.
Tourism Education and Industry Expectations- Critical Analysis of the Skills Required
2021
Purpose: Tourism Education, a professional course, must impart knowledge and skill sets suitable for immediate employment in the tourism industry. This study aims to explore the expectations of tourism educators and industry, with respect to the important skill sets and knowledge required by the tourism students. Further, the study compares the views of tourism educators and industry representatives on the knowledge and skills imparted by tourism educational institutes in the country. Design/Methodology/Approach: This is a Descriptive study wherein both qualitative and quantitative approaches were used. For this study, data was collected from both primary and secondary data sources. In-depth interviews and questionnaires were the tools used to collect primary data while the secondary data have been collected from various university websites, journals, and tourism magazines. Findings: The major finding of the study showcases that there exists a difference of opinion between the touri...
Attributes of Tourism Graduates: Comparison between Employers’ Evaluation and Graduates’ Perceptions
Tourism Review International, 2019
The tourism industry requires that increasing attention be paid not only to the quality of products and services, but also to the quality of human resources that constitute one of its major assets, since tourism is essentially a people-centred service industry. A high-quality skilled workforce will ensure greater competitiveness and innovation, improved job prospects, repeat visits and economic growth in South Africa. The study aims to establish how tourism graduates perceived their abilities in terms of knowledge and skills and how the tourism industry evaluated tourism graduates' actual abilities in terms of knowledge and skills within the tourism industry.