(Perspectives On Asian Tourism) Claire Liu, Heike Schänzel - Tourism Education and Asia-Springer Singapore (2019)

Perspectives on Asian Tourism
Series Editors: Catheryn Khoo-Lattimore · Paolo Mura
Claire Liu
Heike Schänzel Editors
Tourism
Education
and Asia
Series editors
Catheryn Khoo-Lattimore
Griffith University
Nathan, Queensland, Australia
Paolo Mura
Taylor’s University
Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
While a conspicuous body of knowledge about tourism in Asia is emerging, Western
academic ontologies and epistemologies still represent the dominant voice within
tourism circles. This series provides a platform to support Asian scholarly production
and reveals the different aspects of Asian tourism and its intricate economic and
socio-cultural trends.
The books in this series are aimed to pave the way for a more integrated and
multifaceted body of knowledge about Asian tourism. By doing so, they contribute
to the idea that tourism, as both phenomenon and field of studies, should be more
inclusive and disentangled from dominant (mainly Western) ways of knowing.
More specifically, the series will fill gaps in knowledge with regard to:
• the ontological, epistemological, and methodological assumptions behind Asian
tourism research;
• specific segments of the Asian tourist population, such as Asian women, Asian
backpackers, Asian young tourists, Asian gay tourists, etc;
• specific types of tourism in Asia, such as film-induced tourism, adventure tour-
ism, beauty tourism, religious tourism, etc;
• Asian tourists’ experiences, patterns of behaviour, and constraints to travel;
• Asian values that underpin operational, management, and marketing decisions in
and/or on Asia (travel);
• external factors that add to the complexities of Asian tourism studies.
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/15382

Claire Liu • Heike Schänzel
Editors
Tourism Education and Asia

Editors
Claire Liu Heike Schänzel
School of Hospitality & Tourism School of Hospitality & Tourism
Auckland University of Technology Auckland University of Technology
Auckland, New Zealand Auckland, New Zealand
ISSN 2509-4203 ISSN 2509-4211 (electronic)

ISBN 978-981-13-2612-7 ISBN 978-981-13-2613-4 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2613-4
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018961392
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2019

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Foreword
Tourism education as a subject of scholarly work has been a niche area in the gen-
eral domain of tourism research. Although most tourism scholars teach, not many
allocate their precious time to scholarship of teaching and learning. Some even
question the value and quality of such efforts as most tourism scholars do not have
academic background in education. However, to be responsible educators, we have
to be vigilant of the fast-changing environment and understand the dynamics of its
various constituencies. Serving as the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Teaching in
Travel and Tourism for 15 years and the editor of several tourism education-related
books, I am a firm believer of being a reflective educator. Under the leadership of
the editors, authors of this compilation collectively reflected upon tourism educa-
tion in the context of Asia. It is such a great pleasure to see colleagues devoting their
time and thought on this important, yet under-explored area.
Hospitality Management Education (1999) edited by Barrows and Bosselman
was the first book published related to tourism education, mostly from a North
American perspective. Global Tourism Higher Education: Past, Present, and Future
(2005), edited by Hsu, and An International Handbook of Tourism Education
(2005), edited by Airey and Tribe, offered an international perspective. After a
decade of vacuum in terms of book publication on tourism education, several edited
books on teaching and learning surfaced in the past few years, which signalled the
recognition of the need for more extensive treatments of tourism education as a
phenomenon and research topic. These books provided valuable discussion on vari-
ous topics central to tourism education from a global perspective.
Recognising the unprecedented growth of tourism activities and tourism educa-
tion in Asia, the current book uses an Asian lens to investigate critical issues facing
Asian students, scholars and higher educational institutions. All authors are either of
Asian origin or with extensive experience and understanding of the Asian cultures
and perspectives. Their observations are astute and their analyses are insightful,
many taking an emic view.
This book is extremely valuable as it contains information rarely available in the
English language literature, for example, the historical path and current state of
tourism education in Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Iran, Nepal and Vietnam. While
v
vi Foreword
book chapters or journal articles are available about tourism education in China and
Thailand, this collection provides an update and additional insights on particular
concerns in these countries. The book also addresses the important issues of Asian
students studying abroad and transnational education, which are both intraregional
and interregional phenomena worthy of in-depth exploration.
A focus on Asia does not limit its readership. In fact, the discussion should be of
particular interest to educators in the West as a window to the Asian tourism educa-
tion landscape. As Western universities try to recruit more Asian students and col-
laborate with Asian universities in a variety of formats, an understanding of the
history, current status, pertinent issues and challenges, as well as opportunities, is
certainly beneficial in guiding their way forward.
In an academic world of matrices and citation indices, the editors and authors
should be applauded for their commitment in putting this book together. These
underappreciated efforts facilitate the documentation of tacit knowledge and our
learning about each other. This book will serve as an important reference for future
relevant scholarly work as well as practical development activities. My congratula-
tions go to the editors and authors of this volume!
Finally, I would like to challenge the readers to treat this book as a stimulus to
embark on more dialogue and scholarly work in tourism education.
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Cathy H. C. Hsu

Hong Kong, China
July 2018
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank all the chapter contributors for their passion, commitment
and patience in completing the manuscripts. We have been inspired by the insights
of these global tourism educators and researchers while working on the book.
Special acknowledgement to our copy editor, Trish Brothers from the Auckland
University of Technology, for her hard work and dedication to the editing of the
chapter manuscripts.
We also thank the Perspectives on Asian Tourism Series editors, Catheryn Khoo-
Lattimore from Griffith University, Australia, and Paolo Mura from Taylor’s
University, Malaysia, for their support and encouragement during the creation of
this edited collection.
Auckland University of Technology Claire Liu

Auckland, New Zealand Heike Schänzel
vii
Contents
Part I Introduction to the Book

1 Introduction to Tourism Education and Asia........................................ 3
Claire Liu and Heike Schänzel
Part II Tourism Education in Asia

2 Differentiating Academic and Vocational Hospitality
and Tourism Education: The Milieu of Indonesia................................ 15
Hera Oktadiana and Kaye Chon
3 Vocational Education and Training for Hospitality
and Tourism Industry in India................................................................ 35
Saurabh Kumar Dixit and Hakamelamphylla Mawroh
4 Situation Analysis of Tourism and Hospitality Management
Education in Nepal................................................................................... 49
Brijesh Thapa and Smrittee Kala Panta
5 Tourism Higher Education in Iran: Past, Present
and Future Directions.............................................................................. 63
Siamak Seyfi, Adel Nikjoo, and Masoud A. Samimi
6 Review and Assessment of Academic Tourism
and Hospitality Programmes in China.................................................. 81
Andreas H. Zins and Se You Jang
7 Hotel and Tourism Management Education in Bhutan:
The Creation of the Royal Institute of Tourism
and Hospitality......................................................................................... 107
Paul Strickland
8 Tourism Education in Vietnam............................................................... 125
Erwin Losekoot, Earney Lasten, and Tran Phu Cuong
ix
x Contents
9 The Institutional Context for Experiential Learning

Investment in Hospitality Education: A Case Study
from Thailand........................................................................................... 143
Karl Basil Dicen, Chachaya Yodsuwan, Ken Butcher,
and Nantaporn Mingkwan
Part III Tourism Education of Asian Students Abroad

10 Outcomes and Challenges of a Cooperative
and Intercultural Learning Project: A Critical Analysis..................... 163
Anya Diekmann, Martin Vincent, and Jyotsna Patwardhan
11 Career Goals of Chinese International Tourism
and Hospitality Students in Australia.................................................... 177
Katrine Sonnenschein
12 The Push-Pull Model of Motivation: An Analysis
of Chinese Polytechnic Students’ Motivation to Pursue
Degree Completion in Canada................................................................ 193
Eugene Thomlinson and Rebecca Wilson-Mah
Part IV Transnational Tourism Education in Asia

13 Research Performance of Tourism Education Quality
Accredited Programmes in Greater China............................................ 211
Libo Yan
14 Patterns of Tourism and Hospitality Education in India
and Malaysia: A Critical Reflection....................................................... 227
Sudipta Kiran Sarkar and Babu George
15 Hospitality, Tourism and Global Education in Asia:
A Transnational Conundrum? Current Thoughts
and Anecdotes........................................................................................... 243
Andrew Jones
Glossary............................................................................................................ 259
Contributors
Ken Butcher Department of Tourism, Sport and Hotel Management, Griffith

Business School, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia
Kaye Chon The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong
Tran Phu Cuong Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, Hanoi, Vietnam
Karl Basil Dicen School of Management, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai,
Thailand
Anya Diekmann Research Centre LIToTeS (Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire,
Tourisme, Territoires, Sociétés), Université Libre de Bruxelles, Bruxelles, Belgium
Saurabh Kumar Dixit Department of Tourism & Hotel Management, North-
Eastern Hill University, Shillong, Meghalaya, India
Babu George Fort Hays State University, Hays, KS, USA
Se You Jang Nanjing Tech University Pujiang Institute, MODUL School of
Tourism and Hospitality Management, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
Andrew Jones Institute for Tourism Travel and Culture, University of Malta,
Msida, Malta
Earney Lasten RMIT University Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Claire Liu School of Hospitality & Tourism, Auckland University of Technology,
Auckland, New Zealand
Erwin Losekoot RMIT University Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Hakamelamphylla Mawroh Department of Tourism & Hotel Management,
North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, Meghalaya, India
Nantaporn Mingkwan School of Management, Mae Fah Luang University,
Chiang Rai, Thailand
xi
xii Contributors
Adel Nikjoo Shandiz Institute of Higher Education, Mashhad, Khorasan Razavi,

Iran
Hera Oktadiana James Cook University, Douglas, Australia
Bina Nusantara University, Jakarta, Indonesia
Smrittee Kala Panta Department of Tourism, Recreation & Sport Management,
University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
Jyotsna Patwardhan Garware Institute of Career Education and Development,
University of Mumbai, Mumbai, India
Masoud A. Samimi Shandiz Institute of Higher Education, Mashhad, Khorasan
Razavi, Iran
Sudipta Kiran Sarkar Sol International Hospitality Management Department,
Woosong University, Daejeon, South Korea
Heike Schänzel School of Hospitality & Tourism, Auckland University of
Technology, Auckland, New Zealand
Siamak Seyfi Pantheon-Sorbonne University, Paris, France
Katrine Sonnenschein Department of Learning and Philosophy, Aalborg
University, Nathan, Australia
Paul Strickland La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia
Brijesh Thapa Department of Tourism, Recreation & Sport Management,
University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
Eugene Thomlinson Royal Roads University, Victoria, BC, Canada
Martin Vincent LIToTeS, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Bruxelles, Belgium
Rebecca Wilson-Mah Royal Roads University, Victoria, BC, Canada
Libo Yan Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Macau University of
Science and Technology, Macau, China
Chachaya Yodsuwan School of Management, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang
Rai, Thailand
Andreas H. Zins Nanjing Tech University Pujiang Institute, MODUL School of
Tourism and Hospitality Management, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
About the Editors
Claire Liu is the head of the Tourism and Event Management Department and a
senior lecturer in tourism management at the Auckland University of Technology,
New Zealand. Claire serves on the editorial boards of the International Journal of
Tourism Cities and the Journal of China Tourism Research. She has published chap-
ters in edited books. Claire’s research interests include the Chinese tourism market,
tourism quality management, environmental management systems, tourism and
hospitality education, quantitative and qualitative methodologies, tourism entrepre-
neurship, museum and tourism volunteers and hospitality green marketing.
Heike Schänzel is an associate professor at the Auckland University of Technology

in Auckland, New Zealand, and has extensive editorial experience with book publi-
cations (Family Tourism and Femininities in the Field: Researching Tourism with
Channel View and Children, Families and Leisure with Routledge) and journal spe-
cial issues (Annals of Leisure Research and Hospitality & Society). Her research
interests include tourist behaviour and experiences; families, children and adoles-
cents in tourism; sociality in tourism; innovative educational practices; femininities
and paternal masculinities in tourism research; innovative and qualitative research
methodologies; and critical theory development in tourism and hospitality.
xiii
About the Authors
Ken Butcher is a senior lecturer in the Department of Tourism, Sport and Hotel
Management, Griffith Business School, Gold Coast campus, Queensland, Australia,
and also a visiting scholar at Mae Fah Luang University in Chiang Rai, Thailand.
Ken has an extensive background in corporate planning, human resource manage-
ment and organisational change within state and federal governments in Australia
and has been teaching management, marketing and research subjects at the univer-
sity since 2002. His research interests focus on corporate social responsibility, espe-
cially in tourism and hospitality, the hospitality experience and experiential
learning.
Kaye Chon (PhD, CHE, FIH) is dean of the School of Hotel and Tourism
Management at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He holds a chair at the uni-
versity as well as being the Walter Kwok Foundation professor in international hos-
pitality management. He is currently editor-in-chief of the Journal of Travel &
Tourism Marketing and the Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research.
Tran Phu Cuong is director general of the International Cooperation Department

at VNAT (the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism) in the Ministry of
Culture, Sports and Tourism based in Hanoi, Vietnam. He studied economics at the
Economics University, Varna, in Bulgaria and completed his MBA at Vietnam
National University, Hanoi. Since 2015, he has been working on his PhD at the
University of National Economics, Hanoi, Vietnam. He is secretary general of the
Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Vietnam Chapter. For 10 years, he was a
member of the Vietnam Tourism Certification Board. Mr Cuong has many years of
tourism administration in the private and public sector and has a proven track record
of managing, monitoring and implementing large-scale projects funded by interna-
tional donor organisations such as the EU and ASEAN.
Karl Basil Dicen developed an early interest in hospitality, tourism and manage-

ment studies. The service industry has always inspired him. His education back-
ground is in culinary arts and tourism and hospitality management. Karl is a former
xv
xvi About the Authors
hospitality industry management lecturer at Mae Fah Luang University, Thailand,

on courses covering kitchen management, food and beverage management and
accommodation management. He is interested in hospitality training and hospitality
education research.
Anya Diekmann (PhD) is a professor of tourism at the Université libre de Bruxelles,

Belgium. Her teaching involves courses on cultural tourism and related aspects
including intercultural collaborations. Anya’s research and publications include
work on social tourism and cultural tourism with a particular focus on heritage,
urban slums and ethnic tourism in Europe and India. Among others, in 2011 she co-
authored (with Kevin Hannam) Tourism and India: A Critical Introduction
(Routledge), and in 2015 she coedited (with Melanie Smith) Ethnic and Minority
Cultures as Tourist Attractions (Channel View).
Saurabh Kumar Dixit is an associate professor and founding head of the

Department of Tourism and Hotel Management, North-Eastern Hill University,
Shillong (Meghalaya), India. His research interests include consumer behav-
iour, gastronomic tourism, service marketing and guest satisfaction in hospi-
tality and tourism contexts. He has ten books to his credit including The
Routledge Handbook of Consumer Behaviour in Hospitality and Tourism. Presently
he is editing The Routledge Handbook of Gastronomic Tourism to be published in
early 2019. Saurabh has contributed many research papers to peer-reviewed
journals and books. He is an editorial board member, active reviewer and guest
editor of many international journals such as the International Journal of
Contemporary Hospitality Management.
Babu George holds a PhD degree in management studies (2004) and a Doctor of

Business Administration degree with a focus on marketing and tourism (2016). He
is a graduate of Harvard University’s Institute for Educational Management (IEM-
2018 batch). For more than 15 years, he has been serving the international higher
education sector as professor and as an academic administrator. Currently, he directs
the international programmes of Fort Hays State University’s College of Business.
In the recent past, he served the Swiss Management Center University as professor
of business research methods; University of Nevada, Las Vegas, as a visiting profes-
sor; Alaska Pacific University as an associate professor; and the University of
Southern Mississippi as an assistant professor. Babu is also associated with various
other institutions of higher learning around the world as a visiting professor.
Se You Jang is currently an assistant professor at MODUL University School of

Hospitality Management, Nanjing Campus, China. He has been employed at vari-
ous universities in Korea, Singapore, Macau China and Mainland China including
the Surrey International Institute, Dalian, China. He is a CHE (Certified Hospitality
Educator) and a Certified Brand Manager. He has completed more than 20 tourism-
and hospitality-related government projects and is currently working on several
educational projects sponsored by Chinese local and central government. His
About the Authors xvii
research targets are hospitality marketing, guest experiences, trends and pedagogi-
cal development in tourism and hospitality. He is a consultant, trainer and training
designer specialising in hospitality and service subjects.
Andrew Jones is currently an associate professor at the University of Malta. He has

also worked for the University of Wales, the Swansea Business School in Wales and
the University of Brunei. Andrew has professional experience in planning, environ-
mental management and tourism at both international, regional and local levels and
has been an enthusiastic contributor for over 30 years to the academic tourism com-
munity within Malta, the UK and internationally. Andrew first qualified in urban
and regional planning but joined higher education in the late 1980s where he focused
his research on tourism, sustainability and environmental planning. In his most
recent work, Andrew has focused on the development of transnational education
(TNE), working internationally in Europe and in Central, South and South East Asia
over the last 10 years.
Earney Lasten has a PhD from Rosen College University of Central Florida and an
MA and MSc from the University of Saint Thomas in Minnesota and has consider-
able experience in tertiary educational institutions in North America, the Caribbean,
the Middle East and Asia. He has worked on the Caribbean Island of Aruba in the
public and private sectors, collaborating with the DMO-Aruba Tourism Authority,
the Minister of Tourism and others on science and applied research as an IT special-
ist, a marketing specialist, an F&B manager, an HR manager, an accountant and a
strategic analyst manager. He is currently an associate professor and the discipline
leader in tourism and hospitality management at RMIT University Vietnam. Dr
Lasten specialises in research that includes strategies and tactics in lodging, guest
service management, travel and tourism planning and food service.
Erwin Losekoot (FIH, FRGS, FHEA) graduated in 1990 from the Scottish Hotel
School, University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland. He gained 10 years’ indus-
try experience working on P&O Princess cruise ships in Alaska, Mexico and the
Caribbean; the Sheraton hotel in Edinburgh, Scotland; and the Crowne Plaza hotel
at London Heathrow, all in customer-facing roles, followed by an MBA from
Edinburgh University (1995). He started his academic teaching and research career
in 1999 back in Glasgow, where he taught undergraduate and postgraduate students
in Glasgow but also in Tehran at INSTROCT and in Hong Kong at HKU (SPACE).
He completed his PhD (2015) whilst lecturing at the Auckland University of
Technology in New Zealand before becoming academic head of tourism and hospi-
tality management programmes at the Auckland Institute of Studies. He is currently
a senior lecturer at RMIT University in Vietnam.
Hakamelamphylla Mawroh is a doctoral student in the Department of Tourism

and Hotel Management, North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU), Shillong, India,
under the supervision of Associate Professor Saurabh Kumar Dixit. Her research
topic is “Gastronomic Tourism in Meghalaya: A Study on Khasi Food”.
xviii About the Authors
Hakamelamphylla is also an assistant professor at Lady Keane College in Shillong,

India, in the Department of Tourism and Travel Management teaching on the
Bachelor of Tourism and Travel Management (BTTM) programme. Her areas of
interest are gastronomic tourism and globalisation, rural and social/community-
based tourism, eco-tourism and the cultural attributes of a place. Her research has
been presented at international conferences and in an edited book, Emerging
Paradigms of Hospitality and Tourism: Marketing Perspectives.
Nantaporn Mingkwan has a background in tourism and hospitality industry man-

agement. She worked in the hotel industry for a few years before graduating with a
Master of Management in Tourism and Hospitality Industry and has turned to the
academic field since 2013. Ms Mingkwan works at Mae Fah Luang University,
Thailand, as a lecturer in hospitality industry management on courses covering food
and beverage service, food and beverage operation management, gastronomic cul-
tures and health and spa tourism management. She provides professional service
training for local organisations and helps the university to operate a hotel as a
student-training centre. Her special interests are hotel and restaurant management
as well as hospitality training and education development.
Adel Nikjoo is a lecturer in tourism management at the Shandiz Institute of Higher

Education in Mashhad, Iran. He regularly teaches courses related to the leisure
industry, tourist behaviour and tourism economy. So far, he has conducted some
funded research projects in tourism and hospitality. He holds a master’s degree in
tourism planning from Sheikh Bahaei University of Isfahan, Iran. A recent article,
co-authored by Siamak Seyfi, received the “Valene L. Smith Prize” for best paper at
the international tourism conference, Service Quality in Hospitality and Tourism:
Experiencing Persian Heritage, in Isfahan, Iran, in 2016. His areas of interest
include tourist behaviour, tourist motivation, social media, wellbeing and destina-
tion image.
Hera Oktadiana earned her PhD from the School of Hotel and Tourism Management
at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. She qualified as a CHE (Certified
Hospitality Educator) with the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute.
She has been the head of Hotel Management/Hospitality and Tourism Departments
at Bina Nusantara (BINUS) University and Bunda Mulia University and deputy
manager for the International Hotel and Tourism Programme at the Trisakti Institute
of Tourism in Indonesia. She joined James Cook University, Australia, as a visiting
scholar (tourism research) in 2017 and then later as an adjunct senior lecturer. She
is presently the regional vice president Southeast Asia of the International Tourism
Studies Association (ITSA). Her research interests include tourism education and
tourist behaviour.
Smrittee Kala Panta received her PhD degree in recreation, parks and tourism
from the Department of Tourism, Recreation and Sport Management at the
University of Florida. Her research is focused on the promotion of inclusive
About the Authors xix
d evelopment in Nepal with a special interest in gender, tourism and sustainable

development.
Jyotsna Patwardhan has been teaching tourism since 1985 in the Garware Institute
of Career Education and Development at the University of Mumbai where she was
programme coordinator till 2017 for the post-graduate programme in tourism. Over
the years, she has made a significant contribution to developing tourism training
programmes along with BVoc courses for many colleges in India, notably at the
Indira Gandhi National Open University. Jyotsna has played a leading role in the
Indian intercultural collaboration with Belgian university, Université libre de
Bruxelles (ULB).
Masoud A. Samimi is a lecturer and the head of the Tourism Management
Department at the Shandiz Institute of Higher Education in Mashhad, Iran. He has
been working as a tourism consultant and the operations manager for a local travel
agency in Mashhad since 2012. He holds a BSc in tourism management and a mas-
ter’s degree in tourism marketing from the University of Semnan, Iran. His research
and teaching interests include destination management, tourism marketing and stra-
tegic management.
Sudipta Kiran Sarkar has been an academic in the field of tourism and hospitality
for more than 17 years. His extensive experience involves teaching, learning and
scholarly activities in the countries of India, Malaysia, Hong Kong and currently
South Korea. Sudipta completed his PhD in 2015 at the School of Hospitality and
Tourism Management, Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He has served as a coor-
dinator for the Curriculum Development and Review Unit as well as being acting
head of programme for tourism at Berjaya University College of Hospitality,
Malaysia, for a considerable period. Sudipta joined Woosong University, South
Korea, in December 2016 as an assistant professor in hospitality management and
is currently the programme coordinator for the Master of Arts in Culinary
Entrepreneurship (MACE).
Siamak Seyfi is a doctoral student in the Department of Geography at the EIREST

Research Unit (Interdisciplinary Research Group for Tourism Studies) of Pantheon-
Sorbonne University, France. He holds a master’s degree in sustainable tourism
from the University of Montpellier III, France. His research interests are sustainable
tourism, community development, resident attitudes and social innovation in tour-
ism. He has recently coedited a book on Tourism in Iran: Challenges, Development
and Issues for Routledge. Using primarily qualitative methods as well as mixed
methods, he is particularly interested in political ecology and tourism, power and
the environment. The latter representing a return to the research he has undertaken
for his PhD.
Katrine Sonnenschein is currently working as a research assistant at Aalborg

University (Department of Learning and Philosophy), Denmark, where she is
xx About the Authors
supervising master’s students’ theses and written assignments within topics of

leadership psychology, organisational learning and learning in multicultural
contexts, among others. She completed her PhD thesis in October 2016 at
Griffith University (Griffith Business School), Australia. Her dissertation
investigates differences and similarities in the perceptions of diverse stakehold-
ers concerning the attributes needed by Chinese graduates with an Australian
degree entering the Chinese hotel industry. The study enters the contested
environment of the role of universities in an increasingly globalised world
where geographically mobile students from diverse national backgrounds are
seeking tertiary qualifications in foreign higher education institutions.
Paul Strickland is the programme director and a lecturer in Tourism, Hospitality

and Event Management at La Trobe University, Australia. Paul has a vast back-
ground of job titles in industry including hotel and restaurant management roles
globally. Paul has taught in a variety of countries and Australian locations including
Bhutan, Singapore, Vietnam, Melbourne, Albury-Wodonga, Bendigo, Beechworth
and Mt Bulla. Paul’s approach to pedagogy is to embed work-integrated learning
into the curriculum to compliment theory and for students to become ethical global
citizens. His research interests include wine marketing, ethnic restaurants, fashion
trends, Bhutanese studies and space tourism. Paul is a doctoral candidate specialis-
ing in wine marketing and events.
Brijesh Thapa is a professor in the Department of Tourism, Recreation and Sport

Management at the University of Florida. Overall, his research theme is within the
nexus of tourism, conservation and sustainability. He has been involved in numer-
ous projects in various capacities in over 30 countries. Recently, he has been focused
on capacity building and institutional development projects through curriculum
development, research and training in tourism, nature and cultural heritage conser-
vation and natural resources management in several developing countries.
Eugene Thomlinson has approximately 20 years of tourism and hospitality experi-

ence in industry and academia. His research interests and experience are focused on
sustainable development, experiential marketing, interpretation, persuasive com-
munication, image and branding, screen tourism, location and product placements
and mega-event sports tourism (e.g. Commonwealth Games, Olympic Games,
World Cup). Eugene completed his PhD in tourism through La Trobe University in
Australia, focusing on persuasive communications and the effects of film on desti-
nation image. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce in finance and small business
management from the University of Manitoba. He also has an MBA in tourism and
hospitality management from the University of Calgary with his thesis examining
the business of ecotourism in Central America.
Martin Vincent is a PhD candidate at the Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium,

where he works as a teaching assistant. He supervises students in tourism manage-
ment. His main teaching subjects deal with cultural tourism, tourism geography and
About the Authors xxi
research methods in tourism. His research interests deal with senior tourism with a
special focus on the relationship between health issues and tourist behaviours.
Rebecca Wilson-Mah is assistant professor and a Chartered Professional in Human

Resources (CPHR) with the School of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Royal
Roads University, Canada. Rebecca’s research interests include transnational edu-
cation, experiential learning and faculty learning communities. Rebecca is a board
member of the CASE Association and a member of The CASE Journal editorial
board. Currently completing her EdD in higher education, Rebecca is engaged in
research on the impact of communities of practices in university settings. With a
keen interest in case-based teaching, Rebecca has published several cases and con-
venes an interdisciplinary community of practice of case researchers. Her teaching
areas include research methods, human resource management and career
development.
Libo Yan obtained his PhD in tourism management from the Hong Kong Polytechnic
University and is an associate professor in the Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism
Management, Macau University of Science and Technology. His current research
interests are in tourism education, tourist attraction, visitor experience and tourism
development in urban and rural areas. He has published in various tourism journals,
including Tourism Management, Annals of Tourism Research, Journal of Sustainable
Tourism, Current Issues in Tourism, International Journal of Tourism Research, and
Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research.
Chachaya Yodsuwan has a background in tourism and hospitality management.

She has been teaching tourism, hospitality and MICE (meetings, incentives, confer-
encing and exhibitions) management for many years and is involved in many local
tourism- and hospitality-related projects. Her teaching technique often includes
tourism and hospitality experiential learning. Chachaya’s research interests include
tourism stakeholder collaboration, MICE management, special interest tourism and
tourism and hospitality education. Currently, Chachaya is a lecturer in hospitality
industry management and assistant dean at the School of Management, Mae Fah
Luang University, Thailand.
Andreas H. Zins is a professor of tourism management and a programme director

at the MODUL School of Tourism and Hospitality Management Nanjing (affiliated
to Nanjing Tech University Pujiang Institute), adjunct full professor at MODUL
University Vienna and associate professor of marketing at the University of
Economics and Business, Vienna, Austria. Dr Zins lectures in entrepreneurship,
marketing, tourism marketing and consumer and travel behaviour. His research
interests are tourism behaviour, marketing research, destination image, social
impacts, tourism spending, theme parks and cultural and other leisure attractions.
He has published 5 books, edited 4 other books, contributed 30 book chapters, 30
scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals, 50 contributions in refereed conference
proceedings, 70 peer-reviewed conference presentations, 21 invited conference pre-
sentations and 68 research reports.
Part I
Introduction to the Book
Chapter 1
Introduction to Tourism Education
and Asia
Claire Liu and Heike Schänzel
Abstract Tourism and hospitality education programmes have been growing

across Asia in the past 20 years. Major countries like China, Taiwan and Korea have
highlighted the increasing number of tourism and hospitality education programmes
and enrolled students (Kim et al., 2007). A further popular trend is the large number
of Asian students attaining tourism and hospitality qualifications overseas due to a
lack of adequate education opportunities in their home countries. The challenges
facing the tourism industry and tourism educators require a new paradigm for tour-
ism education (Sheldon et al., 2011), particularly with regard to a fast growing Asia.
There is existing literature documenting the growth, current status and challenges of
tourism education in various Asian countries (Hsu, 2015) but not in a combined
format. This is the first book compilation to focus on the contemporary Asian tour-
ism education market and its associated issues in term of globalisation and consid-
erations for the future. This book compilation aims to cover the various aspects of
tourism education in a diverse range of Asian countries and the impacts of sustain-
able development in tourism education on the Asian student markets. This book and
its contributors provide a systematic guide to the current state of knowledge on
tourism education and Asia; case studies of educational practices in nine Asian
countries including Greater China and India, transnational tourism education in
Asia and education case studies of Asian students abroad.
Keywords Tourism education · Tourism programmes · Asian tourism students ·

Transnational tourism education · Asia · Motivations · Culture and learning styles ·
International accreditation · Programme articulation · Employability
C. Liu (*) · H. Schänzel

School of Hospitality & Tourism, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland,
New Zealand
e-mail: claire.liu@aut.ac.nz; heike.schanzel@aut.ac.nz
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2019 3

C. Liu, H. Schänzel (eds.), Tourism Education and Asia, Perspectives on Asian
Tourism, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2613-4_1
4 C. Liu and H. Schänzel
1.1 Introduction
Asia constitutes the Earth’s largest and most populous continent. Located primarily
in the Eastern and Northern Hemispheres, Asia covers about 30% of Earth’s total
land area and 8.7% of the Earth’s total surface area. The continent, which has long
been home to most of the human population, was also the site of many of humani-
ty’s first civilisations. Asia is notable for not only its overall large size and popula-
tion but also dense and large settlements, as well as vast, barely populated regions.
Its 4.5 billion people constitute roughly 60% of the world’s population, with China
(about 1.4 billion) and India (about 1.3 billion) making up the two biggest countries
by population (United Nations World Population Division, 2017). Given its size and
diversity, the concept of Asia – its name dating back to classical antiquity – may
actually have more to do with human geography than physical geography, as it var-
ies greatly across and within its regions with regard to ethnic groups, cultures, envi-
ronments, economics, historical ties and government systems.
This vast continent with its diverse countries and rapidly growing and changing
population is the focus for this book compilation regarding its tourism education
needs, both current and future. Admittedly, to give justice to such an undertaking is
difficult, given the enormity of the task at hand. What this book and its contributing
authors aim to achieve is an up-to-date account of the state of tourism education in
at least nine Asian countries, mainly situated in South Asia and Southeast Asia,
including the greatest players of China and India; also covered are transnational
tourism education in Asia and three educational case studies of Asian students
abroad. It is the first publication of its kind available in the English language written
by Asian scholars or by scholars with extensive knowledge of higher education in
Asia. This, then, is the first book compilation to focus on a large portion of the con-
temporary Asian tourism education market, its associated issues in terms of globali-
sation in tourism education and possible future directions.
Tourism and hospitality education has evolved over the past 40 years. Earlier
research has studied tourism and hospitality education at a global and regional level
and investigated areas including curricula, international education, teaching, learn-
ing and assessment, resources, progression and quality (Airey & Tribe, 2005). An
increasing number of studies have been published involving tourism higher educa-
tion in Asian countries. Hsu’s collection of works (2005) profiled the past, present
and future of tourism programmes in different countries. In particular, it focused on
representing tourism-related education models from the Pacific Rim, including
Canada, China and South Korea, as well as Turkey and Israel. With the development
of the Internet, the travel and tourism industry has experienced opportunities and
challenges. Consequently, the impacts of the Internet on tourism education were
studied. Williams, Chernish and McKercher (2001) collected studies from a variety
of perspectives and considered the macro and micro aspects of the Internet in learn-
ing and teaching in their book, The Internet and Travel and Tourism Education. A
more recent collection of studies on tourism and hospitality education was the
1 Introduction to Tourism Education and Asia 5
Routledge Handbook of Tourism and Hospitality Education. In this edited book,

Dredge, Airey and Gross (2015) provided insightful and authoritative accounts of
the various issues that are shaping the higher educational world of tourism, hospital-
ity and events education. While this previous literature in tourism and hospitality
education has provided comprehensive coverage of the subjects with an interna-
tional and interdisciplinary approach, the up-to-date characteristics and practices of
tourism education in Asian countries and the demand of students from Asia for
tourism education are still underrepresented. Therefore, the purposes of this edited
book are to identify the paradigms and recent trends in tourism education in Asia
and to demonstrate the unique features of both Asian students and transnational
tourism education providers.
The book is composed of contributions from specialists in the field and is inter-
national in scope through its authorship and content. It is divided into four parts:
firstly, an introduction setting the scene of tourism education and Asia; secondly, a
focus on case studies of tourism education in various Asian countries; thirdly, case
studies of the tourism education of Asian students abroad and their transnational
learning experiences; and lastly, issues of broader perspectives on intra-Asian and
transnational tourism education. This book aims to provide a systematic guide to the
current state of knowledge on tourism education in Asia and its future direction,
which could become essential reading for students, researchers, educational practi-
tioners and academics in tourism studies and in international education.
This introductory chapter sets out to identify the main themes of the edited book:
to extend the existing knowledge of tourism education through focusing on case
studies of tourism education in emerging Asian countries and the current issues
derived from the globalisation of tourism education. Eight of the 14 chapters present
the history and development of tourism education in the countries of Indonesia,
India, Nepal, Iran, China, Bhutan, Vietnam and Thailand. The motivations, behav-
iours, and career inspirations of Asian students studying in countries outside their
origins are demonstrated in the case studies of Canada, Belgium and Australia.
Additionally, three chapters in the collection are dedicated, respectively, to the anal-
ysis of quality accreditation in tourism education and its impacts on teaching and
research performance, a critical reflection on the differences in patterns of tourism
and hospitality education in India and Malaysia and an evaluation of the growth of
tourism and hospitality education programmes offered through transnational and
global partnerships.
1.2 Main Findings
This section highlights the key findings of this book in relation to existing knowl-
edge in tourism and hospitality education.
1.2.1 Characteristics of Tourism Education in Asian Countries
Global tourism and hospitality education has developed in three different stages. It
started with European programmes, which emphasised practical training and
apprenticeship, through US programmes focusing on the management science of
the tourism and hospitality industry, to the contemporary Asian emphasis on inno-
vation and service quality. For example, tourism and hospitality education in Hong
Kong has grown from vocational training courses in the 1970s to a breadth of pro-
grammes offered by different institutions in various study modes (Lo, as cited in
Hsu, 2005). With the motivation of raising regional profiles and competitiveness,
the governments of Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia have liberalised their edu-
cation polices to become the region’s education hub (Hsu, 2015) and have since
grown into global players.
The expansion of the tourism industry in developed and less developed countries
in Asia has brought about the establishment of tourism and hospitality education
programmes. Using in-depth interviews with educators and students from hospital-
ity and tourism institutions in Java and Bali, the contributors in Chap. 2 have
explored the development of a distinctive curriculum framework for the hospitality
and tourism bachelor degree programmes in Indonesia. They found that human
resources and employment were seen as a major problem with an inadequate supply
of qualified people to fill various occupations in the industry. The industry tends to
search for job-ready people, and employers were ignorant about the skill level and
education background of bachelor-level applicants when recruiting employees.
Through a comprehensive and more holistic exploration and analysis of the key cur-
riculum components, this study has filled a gap in the development of undergraduate
curricula for Indonesia as they identified that vocational bachelor and academic
bachelor programmes require a combination of both knowledge and practical skills.
Similarly, the contributors in Chap. 3 have reviewed the current state of vocational
education in India – considered a latecomer in establishing formal tourism educa-
tion programmes. Their analysis of vocational education and training practices in
the tourism and hospitality sector in India indicates that the present education sys-
tem does not synthesise general academic and vocational skills, highlighting a need
for better trained professionals in India.
Using documentary survey methods along with the Delphi technique with 20
stakeholders, the contributors in Chap. 5 have analysed the past, present and future
directions of tourism education in Iran. Unlike other developing countries, tourism
higher education in Iran was not developed until 1995. The chapter provides a his-
torical background of tourism development in Iran and the structure, characteristics
and trends in Iranian tourism education. More importantly, the authors have identi-
fied a lack of alignment between the current education curriculum and industry
needs. Using personal narrative, Chap. 7 presents the case study of hotel and tour-
ism management education in Bhutan. The contributor analysed the background of
the emerging tourism and hospitality industry in Bhutan since the 1970s and the
process of the creation of the Royal Institute of Tourism and Hospitality in 2008.
This chapter explains Bhutan’s unique concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH),
which is embedded in the country’s vision to ‘foster a heritage, safeguarding sover-
eign status of the Nation for significantly contributing to National Happiness’.
While the current programmes on offer in Bhutan are vocational, the authors sug-
gest there is potential for the development of tourism and hospitality education
institutions focusing on the need for formal qualifications in developing countries.
Chapter 6 explores the change from an employability focus towards personal
growth and values orientation in tourism education in China through an analysis of
the content of undergraduate programmes offered by colleges and universities. The
study also investigated the supply-side perspective through focus groups compris-
ing human resource managers of international hotels in China and Chinese hotel
managers to identify the industry expectations of hospitality programmes. The
authors conclude that, in order to improve the role and effectiveness of higher edu-
cation for hospitality and tourism management in China, it will be necessary to
involve multiple stakeholders.
1.2.2 D
ynamics of Global Tourism Education
and the International Asian Student Market
According to a forecast by the International Development Programme (IDP) in

Australia, the global demand for international education will experience a fourfold
increase to approximately 7.2 million students by 2025. In particular, Asia will remain
the major growth region contributing over 70% of this demand, with China and India
emerging as the two leading sources of international students (Bohm, Davis, Meares,
& Pearce, 2002). There has been increasing domestic and international competition
from other higher education provider countries such as the USA and the UK, and
other global environmental issues have led to market segmentation and shifts in inter-
national student mobility worldwide (Arambewela, Hall, & Zuhair, 2006).
Going beyond Asian countries, the next section of the book explores interna-
tional joint programmes in tourism education. Chapter 10 investigates the outcomes
and challenges of a cooperative and intercultural learning project shared by master’s
degree students in India and Belgium through online communication and virtual
presentations. This innovative approach and pedagogy of tourism education has
enhanced students’ learning experience and their understanding of different cultures
in addition to teaching them teamwork skills.
Chapter 11 presents the findings of research into the career goals of Chinese
international students studying hospitality and tourism in Australia. While hospital-
ity management was recognised as the sixth most popular degree among Chinese
international students within business and commerce in 2016, the study found that
most students change their career goals during their studies. This chapter empha-
sises the importance of collaboration between universities and industry to provide
students with realistic insights into work requirements in the tourism and hospitality
industry. Academics can also play a crucial role in assisting students to develop
realistic expectations about their future career and employment in line with personal
interests. Chapter 12 provides another case study of a joint international tourism
education project in Canada. Using a push-pull model of motivations, the authors
analysed the factors that support and encourage students from a Chinese polytech-
nic to continue their studies in a Canadian university. The research showed that only
10% of the participants have the desire to continue degrees in Canada or China and
that these students are not primarily motived to study applied degrees in hospitality
and tourism.
Chapter 14 describes a comparative study of tourism higher education in two
developing countries in Asia – India and Malaysia. The contributors of the chapter
reviewed the trends of past, present and future development, curriculum design,
pedagogical innovations, popular demand for tourism and hospitality programmes
and identified the industry-academia gaps and government higher education polices.
The study points out that the common issue for both countries is the lack of an
adequately qualified and trained workforce. Some contrasting issues in the two
developing countries were also discussed in terms of culture, diversity and develop-
ment in tourism, which are influencing the practice of tourism and hospitality edu-
cation. Empowered by institutional theory, the contributors in Chap. 9 have analysed
the hospitality industry needs and addressed the importance of experiential learning
in hospitality education in Thailand as an example. They reviewed the characteris-
tics of experiential learning approaches and discussed the distinction between prac-
tical and research orientations in the existing Eastern and Western hospitality
education systems. The chapter calls for investment in balanced experiential learn-
ing in hospitality programmes globally. As Kiser and Partlow (1999) argued, while
many global hospitality programmes have implemented new and innovative
approaches to experiential learning, there remains the need to balance theory and
practice in the hospitality curriculum.
1.2.3 Accreditation in Tourism and Hospitality Education
Quality assurance and international accreditation was recognised as one of the main
trends affecting international hospitality and tourism education. Voluntary interna-
tional course accreditation has become a much more significant factor for institu-
tions and departments offering hospitality and tourism than the issue of registration
and mandatory accreditation. The current hospitality and tourism accreditation pro-
grammes include the US-based and focused Accreditation Commission for
Programmes in Hospitality Administration (ACPHA), the Andorra-based UNWTO’s
TedQual Certification, the UK-based Institute of Hospitality and the International
Centre for Excellence in Tourism and Hospitality Education (THE-ICE) (Hobson,
2013). Using primary data collected from the TedQual-certified programmes in
Greater China (including Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan), the
author of Chap. 13 compared the research performance of the TedQual-certified
Chinese programmes and explored the link between staff research productivity and
teaching quality. This chapter raises the issue of how research performance can be
incorporated into the assessment criteria for the TedQual accreditation system in the
future. In Chap. 4, the contributors point out the need for quality assessment,
accreditation and standardisation in Nepal as a new field in tourism education and
training based on situation analysis. For a country that relies heavily on tourism
development, the importance of trained human resources was identified along with
practical strategies.
1.2.4 The Challenges of Transnational Tourism Education
An important subset of international students are those engaged in transnational

education (TNE). Demand for TNE from Asian countries (excluding China) was
estimated to rise to more than 480,000 students by 2020 (Blight & West, 1999).
Southwest Asia is considered as a laboratory for the development and regulation of
transnational education. The region combines high demand from students with keen
competition among providers. TNE includes a significant number of students at both
university level and in postsecondary vocational training. It offers opportunities for
increasing market expansion and raising international profile for the providers and
the possibility for students of obtaining a foreign qualification at a considerably
lower cost, compared with travelling abroad (McBurnie & Ziguras, 2001).
The contributor in Chap. 15 has reviewed and evaluated the growth of hospitality
and tourism programmes through transnational education and global partnerships
from ‘exporting’ countries, such as the UK, to countries such as China, Hong Kong,
Malaysia, Singapore, Japan and India. Using qualitative data analysis from interna-
tional collaborative institutions across Asia, the study found contemporary issues
and future challenges for international collaborative provision. In addition, Chap. 8
provides a unique case study of Vietnam where the government-controlled economy
has pushed students to study abroad for quality tourism education but recently has
seen the development of international education providers at home. With an over-
view of the development of current tourism programmes in Vietnam, this chapter
outlines the challenges of employing qualified teaching staff and quality education
providers. This study also raises the issue of the standardisation of international
tourism and transnational education in the future.
1.3 Conclusions and Future Directions
This book compilation untangles the developments and current trends in tourism
and hospitality education in a diverse number of Asian countries and investigates
the characteristics of the tourism and hospitality programmes and that of Asian stu-
dents in the global education market. The purpose of this collection is to link the
development of tourism education to the changing international education market

and to contribute up-to-date knowledge of tourism education in Asian countries and
beyond to a wider English-speaking audience. It provides a snapshot of the main
players in tourism education in Asia – limited by the level of research available at
the time – across a wide range of Asian countries, with an impetus for more dia-
logue with and research on other Asian markets.
It can be concluded that tourism and hospitality education in Asia is still affected
by the levels of economic and tourism development in their origin countries. The
majority of the case studies covered in this book represent the emerging stage of
tourism and hospitality education, focusing more on vocational or functional mana-
gerial knowledge. However, it appears that such a narrow emphasis is not sufficient
any longer and more generic personal skills, such as creativity, leadership, reflexiv-
ity, critical thinking, social responsibility and communication, are valued more by
managers in the industry. Building these competencies into the existing curricula is
one of the major challenges for higher education in hospitality and tourism along
with making a career path in the industry more attractive to students. Fundamental
issues as posed by Hsu, Xiao and Chen in 2017, such as the impacts of higher edu-
cation learning on the tourism industry and on the learners’ career advancement and
their intellectual and personal growth, therefore still need to be addressed in the
Asian context.
A common theme across the chapters is the divide between the supply and
demand side, or the academic-industry skills gap, found in hospitality and tourism
education in Asian countries. In addition, the chapters reveal the common issues for
global tourism and hospitality education, such as quality assurance, international
accreditation and the sustainable management of partnered tourism programmes.
However, what is still needed are discussions on the ‘big picture’ topics in higher
education that move away from more micro issues of curricula and teaching and
learning towards macro issues related to transnational mobility, global citizenship,
educational discourse, sustainable development, care ethics and future-oriented
policies.
This collection has incorporated diverse writing styles from international authors
with personal experience as international educators and researchers in Asia or of
Asian students abroad. It covers a wide range of countries and higher education
programmes – from Nepal, with a high dependency on tourism employment ham-
pered by a lack of skilled human resources, to Malaysia, which has moved towards
the internationalisation of their higher education system. More research is needed to
explore the similarities and differences in tourism and hospitality education across
more countries in Asia, including countries such as Japan and South Korea, but also
newly emerging tourism countries such as Myanmar. Other issues that need to be
focused on by future studies are global and government policies and unpredictable
economic environments impacting on the tourism and hospitality education sector.
This is a pertinent issue with much of the global order seemingly in disarray through
more isolationist and anti-immigration policies affecting Asian hospitality and tour-
ism students not just in Western countries but also in their home countries. In line
with this, it is important to learn more about the best practices in tourism and
hospitality education at a global level. Internationalisation is a powerful tool for

developing global human resources and enhancing intercultural understandings of
human society. The sustainable development of tourism and hospitality education in
Asia and for Asian students, then, depends not only on the integration of the inter-
ests of multiple stakeholders and more inclusive international regulations but also
on a more general sense of cohesion across all higher education providers in tourism
and hospitality in the region and globally.
References
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The Netherlands: Elsevier.
Arambewela, A., Hall, J., & Zuhair, S. (2006). Postgraduate international students from Asia:
Factors influencing satisfaction. Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, 15(2), 105–127.
https://doi.org/10.1300/J050v15n02_05
Blight, D., & West, L. (1999, October). Demand for transnational higher education in the Asia
Pacific. Paper presented at the global alliance for transnational education conference, access or
exclusion? Trade in Transnational Education Services, Melbourne, Australia.
Bohm, A., Davis, D., Meares, D., & Pearce, P. (2002). Global student mobility 2025: Forecasts of
the global demand for international higher education. Deakin, Australia: IDP Australia Ltd.
Dredge, D., Airey, D., & Gross, M. J. (Eds.). (2015). The Routledge handbook of tourism and
hospitality education. London, England: Routledge.
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Hospitality & Tourism Education, 22(1), 4–7. https://doi.org/10.1080/10963758.2010.10696
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Hsu, C. H., Xiao, H., & Chen, N. (2017). Hospitality and tourism education research from 2005 to
2014: “Is the past a prologue to the future?”. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality
Management, 29(1), 141–160.
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NY: Haworth Hospitality Press.
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Gross (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of tourism and hospitality education (pp. 197–209).
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grammes. Tourism Management, 28, 140–151.
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education. New York, NY: Haworth Hospitality Press.
Part II
Tourism Education in Asia
Chapter 2
Differentiating Academic and Vocational
Hospitality and Tourism Education:
The Milieu of Indonesia
Hera Oktadiana and Kaye Chon
Abstract This chapter explores the development of a distinctive curriculum frame-

work for the hospitality and tourism bachelor degree programmes within Indonesia’s
higher education system. The framework considered and built in this study stresses
reflection and action concepts based on integrating established educational philoso-
phies. Semi-structured/in-depth interviews with key educational stakeholders
informed the application and development of these ideas in the Indonesian context.
Although some similar elements may appear in the curricula of both programmes,
by differentiating the underpinning educational philosophies – which in turn lead to
separate aims and objectives, content, learning and instruction and assessment – the
differences between the academic and vocational bachelor degrees can be
articulated.
Keywords Academic · Vocational · Tourism · Curriculum · Educational philoso-

phy · Indonesia
2.1 Introduction
The chapter presents a curriculum framework for hospitality and tourism education
programmes in Indonesia. The approach is underpinned by a philosophical stance to
determine the aims and objectives, content, teaching and learning approach and
H. Oktadiana (*)
James Cook University, Townsville, Australia
Bina Nusantara University, Jakarta, Indonesia
e-mail: hera.oktadiana@jcu.edu.au
K. Chon
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong
e-mail: kaye.chon@polyu.edu.hk

16 H. Oktadiana and K. Chon
assessment strategy. The term ‘Komodo Curriculum’ is used in this chapter to pro-
vide a symbolic allusion to the context of Indonesia as well as highlight the endur-
ing links between the past and present in the philosophy of educational course
design. Komodo is the name of the family of dragons that has lived and thrived in
Indonesia for millions of years and endured various cycles of change. The modern
Komodo dinosaur ancestor evolved 200 million years ago, while its genus is 40 mil-
lion years old (Holland, 2014). Here, Komodo is depicted as a philosophy that has
existed for thousands of years.
The core problem being addressed in the ‘Komodo Curriculum’ model is the
current confusion within Indonesia’s higher education offerings in hospitality and
tourism. At the undergraduate level, hospitality and tourism programmes in
Indonesia are defined as ‘Diploma IV’ (vocational bachelor) and ‘Bachelor’ (aca-
demic bachelor). Although the level of study is regarded as equal for both pro-
grammes, the aims and content of each programme are often confused, which has
generated confusion among stakeholders such as the industry, parents, students and
prospective students. Perhaps due to the recent advent of this field of study, the cur-
ricula of Indonesia’s hospitality and tourism programmes in both vocational and
academic bachelor modes are not yet well defined. The sector is, arguably, domi-
nated by a vocational approach and management/business studies. Borrowing and
adjusting already well-established educational curricula are commonly found in
developing countries such as Indonesia, even though importing such materials may
not suit the local needs and culture (Blanton, 1981; Ernawati & Pearce, 2003). It is
very likely that many curricula have been established because of local power issues,
popularity, pals, precedents and pragmatism (Tribe, 2015).
The definition of the term ‘curriculum’ comes in various guises. For the purpose
of this analysis, the definition that captures the key points is as follows: a curriculum
is an educational plan that constitutes aims and objectives, content, learning and
instruction and assessment. The heart of a curriculum should be well grounded in a
philosophical position that informs a direction and purposes for a school or a study
programme. The chosen philosophy is an initial platform for a curriculum design and
development and will assist in defining the aims and objectives, ideology, content,
teaching and learning strategies and assessment methods (Chen & Groves, 1999;
Tribe, 2015; Tyler, 1949). It can be noted, however, that discourse concerning philo-
sophical values is often overlooked in tourism curriculum design (Fidgeon, 2010).
This chapter defines a curriculum framework for the Indonesian undergraduate
hospitality and tourism programmes that is firmly built on a philosophical base.
Indonesia’s hospitality and tourism education programmes are currently delivered
in two styles, the vocational and the academic modes. The vocational style has
existed for almost half a century. The academic mode has more recent origins. In
March 2008, the Indonesian government formally acknowledged and allowed hos-
pitality and tourism institutions to offer academic education. A contrast here can be
drawn with other countries and regions such as Australia, Hong Kong and the United
Kingdom which expanded their offerings from the 1960s to the 1990s (Fidgeon,
2010; Lo, 2005; Weaver & Lawton, 2010, pp. 8–9). The challenge for Indonesia is
to develop a home-grown approach to the planning of hospitality and tourism cur-
2 Differentiating Academic and Vocational Hospitality and Tourism Education… 17
riculum. It appears that this challenge has not yet been met. To appreciate the com-
plexity of the issues, fundamental points about Indonesian tourism and the study of
curriculum design will be considered as the foundation work for this investigation.
The value and importance of the approach lie in advancing tourism and hospitality
education in a country where so many people depend on the sector for their
livelihoods.
2.2 Background Literature
2.2.1 Indonesia’s Hospitality and Tourism Education
The successful development of tourism and the provision of tourism services are
heavily dependent on the capabilities of human resources (Baum & Szivas, 2008;
Haven-Tang & Jones, 2006). The Indonesian government, as stated by the Minister
of Tourism and Creative Economy (now the Minister of Tourism) and the Directorate
General of Higher Education, has recognised the need for various occupations
(high-level managers, planners, researchers, scholars, technocrats and other profes-
sionals) to promote and sustain the Indonesian tourism sector in the global market-
place. This can be supported by both academic and vocational education and training
and certification programmes (Andriani, 2014; Hernasari, 2014).
The first initiative for hospitality education was developed in 1965 by a
government-run institution, Bandung Institute of Tourism (STP Bandung), which
was previously a hotel academy. Various efforts at hospitality training were devel-
oped in the next two decades. In-depth discussion about tourism as a field of study
was stimulated by Nyoman S. Pendit through his publication in the Bali Post on
March 23, 1983. In 1985, scholars from various disciplines attended a seminar con-
cerning tourism study in Udayana University, Bali. Tourism study at that time was
still regarded as an enrichment of other disciplines. Twenty-three years later, the
Directorate General of Higher Education finally approved tourism as a field of study
on March 21, 2008. It was marked by the opening of bachelor programmes in tour-
ism commencing in the 2008/2009 academic year at Bali Nusa Dua Institute of
Tourism (STP Bali Nusa Dua) and the Bandung Institute of Tourism (STP Bandung).
The acknowledgement was noted in letters addressed to the Ministry of Tourism and
Culture, which runs those two institutions (Kanalsatu.com, 2014). In 2009, a Faculty
of Tourism was introduced in Udayana University, Bali. In 2010, the first Indonesian
master’s degrees in the subject – Master in Hospitality and Tourism and Master of
Science in Hospitality and Tourism – were offered by Trisakti Institute of Tourism.
Now, there are approximately 141 hospitality and tourism institutions with more
than 200 hospitality and tourism study programmes at all levels of education (i.e.
diploma, undergraduate and postgraduate programmes) as listed in the database of
Indonesia’s higher education, issued by the Ministry of Education. The majority of
the programmes are in hotel management, and many of the programmes are located
in Java and Bali.
Despite the breakthroughs for this field of study in the last decade, the develop-
ment of Indonesia’s hospitality and tourism education still faces various challenges,
such as inadequate strategic initiatives, and communication shortfalls among hospi-
tality and tourism educators and the industry (Oktadiana & Chon, 2014; Sofia,
2013). Furthermore, few research studies have explored areas of Indonesia’s hospi-
tality and tourism education such as curriculum content and its future development
(Ernawati & Pearce, 2003). In a preliminary study examining curriculum issues in
Indonesia, it was found that the undergraduate curricula of hospitality and tourism
at both academic and vocational camps were vocationally oriented, and the content
of programmes overlapped. Stakeholders were confused about the distinctions
between the offerings and the qualities of the graduates. It also appeared that vari-
ous stakeholders should be involved in designing and developing a curriculum.
2.2.2 The Curriculum Components
Scholars focus on different components of curricula. In general, however, the key

components of a curriculum should consist of the aims and objectives, content,
learning activities and evaluation or assessment procedures (Klein, 1991; Nicholls
& Nicholls, 1978). Morris and Adamson (2010) contend that ‘educational aims and
other curriculum components reflect a set of images, orientations, conceptions,
characterizations or value systems which involve beliefs and assumptions about the
learner, knowledge, schooling and society’ (p. 46).
The basis of a curriculum is a philosophy that will assist educators in organising
classrooms. Four philosophical positions in education (perennialism, essentialism,
progressivism and reconstructionism) are rooted in four philosophies, two of which
may be described as traditional approaches, while two can be viewed as contempo-
rary perspectives. The traditional positions are idealism and realism, while the con-
temporary positions are pragmatism and existentialism (Ornstein & Hunkins, 2014).
The oldest educational philosophy, perennialism, is rooted in realism. This most
conservative philosophy emphasises knowledge building, intellectual development
and moral character. Next, essentialism is based upon idealism and realism and
promotes an individual’s intellectual growth, mastery of concepts, essential skills
and academic subjects. The final two philosophical positions in education, progres-
sivism and reconstructionism are both grounded in pragmatism. Progressivism
focuses on students’ active learning and interests. It promotes knowledge develop-
ment leading to growth and democratic and social living. Reconstructionism stresses
social reform and social issues as well as the future trends for society (Ornstein &
Hunkins, 2014).
Additional concerns can be added to these prominent contemporary philosophi-
cal positions in education to further support the goals of tourism and hospitality
education. The reflective practitioner, as proposed by Schön (1983), assimilates
dialectic processes of thought and action through personal experiences, openness to
discovery and reflection. Doll’s (1993) postmodern position on how to understand
the world encourages the concept of self-reflection through critical thinking, explo-
ration and discovery. Tribe’s (2002) Philosophic Practitioner promotes tourism
stewardship and employment through the balance and integration of the liberal and
vocational elements: vocational action, reflective vocational, reflective liberal and
liberal action. Dredge et al.’s (2012) curriculum space that was built on Tribe’s
Philosophic Practitioner incorporates the Aristotelian domains of knowledge (epis-
teme), capabilities (techne) and practical wisdom (phronesis). The integration of
concepts (knowing something) and practice (doing something), asserted by Young
(2014), can also be seen as essential for knowledge creation as it helps students in
explaining a phenomenon and solving problems and promotes critical thinking.
Young (2013) also identified the concept of ‘powerful knowledge’, which provides
explanation, prediction and generalisation beyond everyday knowledge and enables
people to look to the future.
Clearly, a philosophical position directs the aims and future strategies of a pro-
gramme. Aims assist in the selection of objectives, that is, what students can do at
the end of learning. It is important to align aims and objectives closely (Morris &
Adamson, 2010). Objectives serve as a source for determining curriculum content.
Content encompasses the select knowledge, skills, attitudes and values that learners
should attain (Nicholls & Nicholls, 1978). Content can be oriented to liberal con-
cerns (a body of knowledge that is pertinent for the society) or have a vocational/
technical orientation (specific knowledge essential for employment; Ben-Peretz &
Connelly, 1991).
Another key curriculum component is the teaching or delivery method. The
choice of instruction is determined by several factors such as objectives, content,
school facilities, the students, the teachers and the environment (Nicholls &
Nicholls, 1978). The modes of instruction strongly influence the attitude of students
and the mastery of content (Eash, 1991). Parsons, Hinson and Sardo-Brown (2001)
outline three approaches to learning: cognitivism, behaviourism and neo-
behaviourism. Rooted in Gestalt psychology, the contemporary cognitive theories
acknowledge dual processing theory (visual and verbal learning) and the influence
of prior knowledge and experiences (schema theory). Cognitive structuralists main-
tain the use of schemata to aid the learning process by linking the existing informa-
tion to the new information. This view can be beneficial in promoting expository
teaching (e.g. concept mapping) and discovery learning. Cognitive structuralism is
conceptualised in metacognition theory and constructivism theory (Parsons et al.,
2001). Metacognition is a self-regulated learning that favours thoughtfulness, criti-
cal thinking skills and problem solving. Constructivist perspectives (grounded in
Jean Piaget’s works) accentuate students’ interests and recognise their autonomy.
This conception allows students to explore ideas and acquire knowledge based on
their own views embodied in self-questioning/self-reflection, discovery learning
and collaborative learning (Parsons et al., 2001).
The other view of learning theory, behaviourism, promotes classical and operant
conditioning approaches to learning. An extension of the behaviourism approach,
neo-behaviourism, lies in the social learning theory that endorses observational
learning (modelling and imitation) and cognitive behaviour modification (CBM).
The dual system of CBM (neo-behaviourism and metacognition) is beneficial for

students’ personal and skills development as well as fostering moral sensitivity in
social situations (Parsons et al., 2001).
To measure the achievement of the objectives, assessment and evaluation are
essential as they provide feedback to teachers and students, which can enhance the
learning experiences and students’ development (Eash, 1991; Ratcliff, 1997).
Assessment is also important to ensure alignment between the aims and objectives,
the content being delivered and the teaching and learning approaches (Kauchak &
Eggen, 2011). Assessment is, arguably, a protracted process that involves collecting,
interpreting and reporting information regarding students’ performance (Parsons
et al., 2001). The more traditional formal assessment approaches are standardised
assessment and teacher-made assessment. The other types of formal assessment
(performance assessment and product/portfolio assessment) are authentic/alterna-
tive assessments that are based on a constructivist perspective (Kauchak & Eggen,
2011; Parsons et al., 2001). The teaching/delivery methods and assessments are
highly related to the aims, objectives and content of the curriculum (Cooper, 2002).
Ratcliff (1997) recommends that the aims, structure of the curriculum and evalua-
tion should be well-connected and constructed on a set philosophical ideal which
articulates what should be taught, how it should be being taught and how learning
should be evaluated. Moreover, such a philosophical position provides guidance for
teachers when devising activities and encourages them to critically think about why
they should teach this way (Dunn, 2005).
Building on this review of the basic issues structuring the hospitality and tourism
education curriculum, the present study seeks to address the following objectives.
First, the analysis seeks to identify the graduate profile of the academic and voca-
tional bachelor programmes in Indonesia. A second purpose of the study is to iden-
tify the aims and objectives for the academic and vocational bachelor programmes
based on the educational philosophical positions of the institutions. Third, the
research considers how to develop the content of the curricula for the academic and
vocational bachelor programmes and, fourth, how to develop the learning and
instruction sets for the academic and vocational bachelor programmes. As a fifth
aim, the research attempts to develop the classification of assessment for the aca-
demic and vocational bachelor programmes. Importantly, and as a sixth aim, the
research endeavours to combine the results of this study to develop an integrated
Komodo Curriculum framework.
2.3 Study Details
This study adopts an interpretive approach using qualitative means to achieve its
aims. The qualitative method is regarded as a valuable way to collect rich data based
on a real case or context in order to understand the social world through individual
perspectives. This approach allows the researcher to observe and gain specific,
nuanced and detailed information (Tribe, 2001, 2010).
2.3.1 Sampling Strategies and Data Collection
Tribe (2001) contends that the beginning of curriculum design within the interpre-
tive approach is derived from the participants or stakeholders. In the present study,
the curriculum framework was built from the perspectives of four groups of stake-
holders (educators, students, industry people and government representatives). It
was considered that different points of view obtained through in-depth interviews
and observations would strengthen the study’s objectivity and enrich its
interpretations.
To choose which hospitality and tourism institutions, educators and students to
include, a careful strategy was employed to ensure equal representation of both the
vocational and academic bachelor programmes. The 12 institutions selected for this
study are the prominent hospitality and tourism education providers listed in the
Association of the Indonesian Tourism Tertiary Education Institutions (known as
HILDIKTIPARI in Indonesia) and the database of the Directorate of Higher
Education of the Republic of Indonesia. Six institutions are located in Greater
Jakarta, two in Bandung, West Java, two in Bali and one each in Yogyakarta and
Surabaya. There were 36 participants involved in this study, comprising 14 educa-
tors, 12 students, 8 industry professionals and 2 government representatives.
Purposive and snowball sampling were employed to select the participants. They
were chosen based on several criteria such as knowledge and experience in curricu-
lum design and development, managerial roles and interest and involvement in hos-
pitality and tourism education. The profile of the participant is shown in Table 2.1.
Primary data in this study were obtained through an in-depth semi-structured
interview with each participant. An interview approach was favoured as it had the
potential to deliver rich, nuanced and detailed information which would be helpful
in developing the curriculum framework. Semi-structured interviews are useful for
an exploratory study where the researcher is attempting to understand the object or
field under study (Bernard & Ryan, 2010). The primary data were supported with a
close examination of the existing curriculum documents of various hospitality and
tourism institutions and articles related to curriculum and education study.
The first interviews were conducted in five major cities in Indonesia (Greater
Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta, Surabaya and Denpasar-Bali) between October 2014
and February 2015. This initial round of interviews sought information from the
stakeholders which could be a basis for the curriculum framework development. A
second round of interviews took place in June and July 2015 and was confined to
participants in Greater Jakarta due to budget and time constraints. The purpose of
this second interview was to confirm the results and seek participants’ agreement on
the framework. Nine selected participants involved in the second interview were
carefully chosen given their knowledge, experience and availability. They consisted
of seven existing participants (three educators, two students, one industry practitio-
ner and one government official) and two new participants totalling five females and
four males. The two new respondents (one female and one male) were senior hospi-
tality and tourism educators who had worked in the hospitality and tourism industry
Table 2.1 Profile of the Number (%

participants (N = 36) Aspect Category total)
Gender Male 14 (39)
Female 22 (61)
Age 20–29 years 13 (36)
30–39 years 3 (8)
40–49 years 12 (33)
50–59 years 6 (17)
>60 years 2 (6)
Education Currently studying 12 (33)
Diploma 1 (3)
Masters 17 (47)
PhD/doctoral candidate 6 (17)
Work experience <1 year 9 (25)
1–5 years 3 (8)
6–10 years 3 (8)
11–15 years 3 (8)
16–20 years 6 (17)
21–25 years 5 (14)
26–30 years 4 (11)
>30 years 3 (8)
and education field for 31 years; their involvement was regarded as essential for
gaining fresh views about the findings.
The interviews used the Indonesian language mixed with some English. The set
of questions were designed in English. Prior to the interview, the list of questions
was shared with the participants to ensure that they understood what was being
asked. All the participants could speak and understand English well; however, the
use of their native language in the interviews made participants able to express their
ideas more easily. Many participants used a mixture of English and Indonesian dur-
ing the conversations. All participants were asked a similar set of questions. The key
questions included:
• The perspectives of participants concerning the current state of Indonesian hos-
pitality and tourism education and industry and future major challenges
• The occupations needed to promote Indonesia’s tourism and how well the aca-
demic and vocational bachelor’s degrees provide for those occupational needs
• The aims and objectives that suit each bachelor programme
• The knowledge and skills required for the graduates of each programme
• The focus of the curriculum content
• The range of learning and teaching activities
• Lecturers’ educational background and characteristics needed to teach in each
bachelor programme
• The range of assessment approaches
Adjustments were made to the questions concerning employment/occupation to

suit the participants’ interests. The interviews were tape recorded with the partici-
pants’ consent.
2.3.2 Data Analysis
Content analysis was adopted as it is a useful method to observe themes, patterns

and trends in the data. Data were organised using NVivo10 software to aid the pro-
cess of coding and categorising the material. Drawing on Berg (2007), Elo and
Kyngäs (2008) and Hsieh and Shannon (2005), the data analysis was performed in
three stages: preparation, organisation and reporting. The preparation stage included
the full transcription of interview conversations, selection of the unit of analysis,
summarised accounts of interview content and information and field notes of the
researcher’s observations and reflections. All transcriptions were done by the
researcher, and this process took more than 1 month. The second phase, the organ-
isation stage, started with a thorough reading of all data to develop the initial codes
that captured the key concepts. The codes were then sorted into categories based on
the relationships between the codes. Abstraction, or a general description of the
research topic, was built following the coding and generation of categories. This can
be explained as follows: abstraction (e.g. the content of academic bachelor degrees
in this study) was formed from the main categories (e.g. subjects and characteristics
of the content) and constructed upon several subcategories (e.g. tourism subjects,
humanities subjects, concept and knowledge focus). The last stage (the reporting
stage) develops the results of the study by linking findings to relevant theories. The
credibility of this study was strengthened by various means, such as:
• The development of rapport between researchers and respondents
• Data source and site triangulation (diversity of respondents and the use of vari-
ous documents and research sites to enhance the confidence of the results)
• Members’ checking or participant validation (to verify the interviews and to pro-
vide rich interview data)
• Iterative questioning (using probes and rephrased questions)
• Academic review and feedback (Maxwell, 2013; Rubin & Rubin, 2005; Shenton,
2004)
2.3.3 Findings
The results obtained from the perspectives of the interview participants suggested
that the curriculum components of the academic and the vocational bachelors can be
identified as indicated in Table 2.2.
Table 2.2 Stakeholder perspectives for the Komodo Curriculum framework

Aspect Academic bachelor Vocational bachelor
Graduate Tourism planner and developer (concept Managerial (for service/operation
profile development, planning and strategy for and management strategic)
tourism)
Researcher and academic (research and Operational/front liners (for service
teaching, theory and concept development) and [immediate] problem solving)
Managerial (for service/operation and
management strategic)
Scope of Hospitality and tourism sector (back of the Hospitality and tourism sectors
work house, tourism government, education and (emphasis on specific/service area
training institutions, strategic management) operation and administration)
Aims and Promote tourism knowledge and Applied, practical, technical,
objectives Indonesia’s tourism development operational
Research, concept, theory focus Industry career (work-ready)
Relate to: Relate to:
Analysis, planning, problem solving, Operational and technical work in
conceptualising, creating, proposing ideas, specific areas, immediate problem
strategic thinking, strategic management, solving, operational managerial work
holistic tourism knowledge, applying theory
Emphasis Theory and knowledge focus, less applied/ Practical, applied and skills-based
of content practical
Subjects related to: Subjects related to:
Management and business Management and business
Tourism and events Hospitality- and tourism-specific
subjects (applied)
Social science Hospitality and tourism (general
knowledge)
Hospitality- and tourism-specific subjects Personal development
Natural and applied science
Humanities
Personal development
General subjects
Humanities
Social science
Learning Case study Simulation and demonstration
and Simulation and demonstration Case study
instruction Internship Internship
Field trip/field study Field trip/field study
Discussions, brainstorm Project
Project Discussions, brainstorm
Presentation Lecture
Lecture Presentation
Guest lecture Others (guest lecture, seminar, PBL)
PBL (problem-based learning) Strong emphasis on demonstrations,
Other (seminar, workshop, essay) simulations, field trips, projects,
Strong emphasis on case studies, work experience
discussions, presentations
(continued)
Table 2.2 (continued)
Aspect Academic bachelor Vocational bachelor
Assessment Formative and summative assessment Formative and summative
assessment
Varieties of assessment approaches can be Varieties of assessment approaches
applied can be applied
Written test, quiz, paper/essay, cases Written test, quiz, paper/essay, cases
(traditional assessment) (traditional assessment)
Performance assessment: presentation, Performance assessment:
simulation, problem solving demonstration, role play,
presentation, problem solving,
practical work performance
evaluation
Product/portfolio assessment: project and Product/portfolio assessment: sample
report, essay, research-based report of product, lab report, project-/
experimental-based report
Academic setting and non-academic setting Academic setting and non-academic
setting
Complex knowledge, concept and theories Expert (technical) skills
Process focus Fundamental concept
Procedural
Product focus
2.4 Discussion
2.4.1 T
he State of the Hospitality and Tourism Industry
and Higher Education in Indonesia
To support the development of the curriculum framework, it was deemed necessary

to systematically assess the current state, challenges and needs of the hospitality and
tourism industry in Indonesia. The participants agreed that Indonesia’s tourism is
booming and expanding. Such growth, however, is facing serious obstacles related
to human resources, tourism planning and development, research, marketing and
promotions, coordination among stakeholders, infrastructure and community
awareness of the benefits of tourism. Human resources and employment were seen
as a major problem with an inadequate supply of competent and qualified people to
fill various occupations in the industry. It was found that the industry simply searches
for job-ready people and employers are ignorant about the skill-level and education
background of bachelor-level applicants when recruiting employees. Additionally,
many people working in the various hospitality and tourism sectors do not hold
hospitality and tourism degrees or diplomas. At the same time, hospitality and tour-
ism graduates appear to favour working in other service industries, such as banks
and insurance companies. The human resources-related issues were still viewed by
the participants as a major challenge in the next 5 years. The lack of competency in
speaking English/communicating with foreign visitors and the shortage of good
infrastructure in Indonesia have been considered for some time as negative factors
in Indonesia’s tourism development (Indonesia-Investments, 2014). A study by

Krisnawati, Tobing and Sjarief (2017) on the competitiveness of tourism human
resources at two major locations in Indonesia – Jakarta and Bali – found that,
although Indonesian human resources are friendly and helpful, they tend to have
low self-esteem, a lack of education, limited technology skills and a lack of experi-
ence and adaptability.
2.4.2 Components of the Komodo Curriculum Framework
The first objective is to identify the graduate profile of the vocational and academic
bachelor programmes. In response to the rapid expansion of the tourism sector, the
participants proposed that Indonesia needs two categories of human resources. The
first category is people who can execute hospitality and tourism plans or pro-
grammes, provide the services and deal with immediate problems (e.g. frontline
staff, operational managers). The second one is people who are proficient in plan-
ning and concept development and possess generic skills that incorporate knowl-
edge and conceptual thinking (e.g. strategic-level managers, tourism planners,
policymakers, educators/scholars and researchers). The participants suggested that
the demand for these two categories can be satisfied by both the vocational and the
academic bachelor programmes. While the first type can be fulfilled by the voca-
tional bachelor graduates, the demand for the second type can be met by the aca-
demic bachelor graduates.
The second objective of this study deals with the identification of aims and
objectives for the academic and vocational bachelor modes. To better identify and
clarify the aims and objectives of the two programmes, key educational philoso-
phies were considered. They included essentialism, progressivism, reconstruction-
ism and postmodernism. Such underpinning philosophies aid the classification of
content, teaching and learning approaches and assessment (Oktadiana & Chon,
2016). Participants stated that the vocational bachelor degree should be designed to
develop practical skills and knowledge for tourism services and operations to satisfy
the industry’s need for ‘front liners’. The academic bachelor programme should
attend to the theories, concepts and knowledge aspects to generate the second type
of human resources (e.g. tourism planners, tourism scholars/researchers). Both pro-
grammes, however, require a combination of both knowledge and practical skills.
It can be argued that the central education philosophy of the academic bachelor
course is in the amalgamation of the progressive and essentialist positions, incorpo-
rated with the reconstructionism approach, as this camp emphasises the role of tour-
ism within its society. The focus of essentialism is at the academic core of the
discipline and stresses knowledge and concepts, cognitive development, problem
solving and essential skills. This is supported by the progressivist approach that
concerns concrete experience, students’ interests, and student-centred learning and
the reconstructionism approach that stresses social issues (Kauchak & Eggen,
2011). The combination of the essentialist and progressivist positions was seen as
suitable for the vocational bachelor programme as it intends to groom students for
industry careers and employment.
Drawing upon the discourse of contemporary philosophical positions, the
groundwork of the academic and the vocational bachelor curricula in Indonesia can
be built by synthesising the following concepts. The academic strand that underpins
knowledge and concepts, cognitive development, creativity and critical thinking,
essential skills and an understanding of social issues and aspects of the tourism
phenomenon should largely focus on liberal reflection and action and complex
knowledge (episteme) acquisition. The vocational style that reinforces specific
skills and knowledge (mainly technical), transferable skills for employment and real
experiences, should primarily emphasise vocational action and reflective vocational
ideas that equip students with expert practice/capabilities (techne).This separation,
however, cannot stand alone. The academic strand also needs to be supported by
some components of vocational action and reflection, while the vocational mode
requires some liberal reflection and action. Both bachelor modes should have the
elements of episteme and techne. Students need to know and be able to do some-
thing by applying the concepts to describe a phenomenon or to solve problems.
Students also need to develop a practical wisdom or phronesis that cultivates good
actions and moral virtue (Oktadiana & Chon, 2016).
The third objective of this study was to consider the curriculum content. The
findings identified that curriculum content is broadly related to other disciplines and
requires a wide range of subjects. As argued by Pearce (1993), hospitality and tour-
ism content is soft/unrestricted and mostly concerned with a phenomenon. This
field of study needs a range of approaches, such as multidisciplinary, interdisciplin-
ary and business interdisciplinary approaches (Jafari & Ritchie, 1981; Pearce, 1993;
Tribe, 1997). By linking to these aims and objectives, the academic bachelor’s con-
tent should stress the knowledge and skills leading to higher-order thinking through
the understanding of theories, exploration, self-reflection and experience. The voca-
tional bachelor’s content should reinforce transferable skills and knowledge leading
to growth and employment through concrete experience, exploration and self-
reflection. The results suggest that the content of both bachelor programmes may
comprise tourism subjects, hospitality subjects, management and business subjects
and complementary academic subjects/liberal arts. It can be maintained, however,
that tourism subjects should be the core of the academic bachelor programme, while
hospitality subjects are at the centre of the vocational degree.
Regardless of the type of programme, personal development subjects and sub-
jects related to Indonesian values and ideology should always be embedded in the
content. The latter subjects are deemed important as they equip students with an
ethical perspective that favours the local values and culture. In addition, the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) common curriculum of hotel and
travel services (front office, housekeeping, food production, food and beverage ser-
vice, travel agencies and tour operation), which have been agreed within the ASEAN
countries, could be integrated in the vocational mode, as these subjects require
applied competencies. The agreement, known as a Mutual Recognition Agreement
for Tourism Professionals (MRA-TP), was signed by the ASEAN member countries
on November 9, 2012, in Bangkok, Thailand, to enhance the international mobility

of tourism professionals as well as to increase tourism competitiveness across the
ASEAN country members (ASEAN, 2012; Hefner, 2013).
To satisfy the fourth objective (the development of learning goals and instruction
for the academic and vocational bachelor programmes), the manifestation of the
learning theories (constructivism, critical pedagogy, neo-behaviourism and cogni-
tive behaviour modification) promotes learning that is based on the notion of reflec-
tion and action. In the context of this study, constructivism and critical perspectives
can be connected to the teaching and learning strategies of the academic bachelor
mode, supported by the neo-behaviourism and CBM perspectives. The constructiv-
ism position, which incorporates metacognition, is highly relevant to the aim of the
academic bachelor programme, although this type of learning is indispensable for
the vocational bachelor course. The critical view approach in learning directs aca-
demic bachelor students to study social issues related to tourism (e.g. the impact of
tourism on society and the economy). The strategies can include brainstorming and
discussion, case study, field trip/field study, presentations and projects. Neo-
behaviourism and CBM approaches in the service of constructivism may well assist
the teaching and learning experiences of the vocational style. The observational
learning style of neo-behaviourism can be applied to hospitality and tourism practi-
cal subjects (e.g. food and beverage service and guiding) that contain demonstration
and simulation exercises. This pragmatic approach is valuable as it promotes the
development of functional skills through modelling processes and imitation. CBM
strategies can be used in a project, a field trip/field study or an internship. In teach-
ing tourism subjects that favour cognitive and pragmatic elements, Stergiou (2005)
suggests that students should be given autonomy in their learning and be challenged
to think creatively and critically.
The fifth objective deals with assessments related to the hospitality and tourism
curriculum. The findings revealed that the combination of traditional and construc-
tivist authentic assessments, that is, teacher-made assessments, performance assess-
ment and product/portfolio assessment, can be applied to both bachelor programmes.
The teacher-made assessments, such as written test, quiz, paper/essay, interviews/
dialogues and cases, are considered applicable to both programmes. The emphasis
on performance assessment can be applied to both process and products (Parsons
et al., 2001). A process may consist of problem solving that leads to a solution or
preparation that produces a product; a product may include performance at work.
Performance assessment for academic bachelor students can take the form of pre-
sentations, simulations and problem solving. For vocational bachelor students, it
can include role play, demonstration, practical work performance evaluation, prob-
lem solving and external assessment from the industry. Product/portfolio assess-
ment can be designed as a product creation and a lab report for the vocational
bachelor mode (e.g. foods that are produced in the kitchen spaces) or an essay for
the academic bachelor style.
2.4.3 The Integrated ‘Komodo Curriculum’ Framework
The sixth objective of the study was to develop an integrated curriculum framework,
as shown in Table 2.3. The Komodo framework indicates ideologies underpinning
the programmes’ aims and objectives, which are reflected in the content, teaching
and learning approaches and assessment methods.
Table 2.3 The integrated ‘Komodo Curriculum’ for the academic and vocational bachelor
programmes
Academic mode bachelor Vocational mode bachelor
Underpinning Progressive essentialist position, Essentialist progressivist position
philosophies incorporated with the reconstructionism
approach
Supported by Tribe’s (2002) philosophic practitioner; Dredge et al.’s (2012)
curriculum space; Schön’s (1983) reflective practitioner; Doll’s (1993)
postmodernism; Young’s (2013) powerful knowledge
Aims and To promote tourism stewardship and To endorse essential knowledge and
objectives tourism knowledge based on reflection skills for employability built upon
and action the notions of action and reflection
Graduates can demonstrate higher-order Graduates can demonstrate
thinking skills, equipped with complex knowledge and transferable skills
knowledge, essential skills and practical for employment, equipped with
wisdom expert capabilities/skills, essential
concepts and practical wisdom
Focus of Emphasis on the knowledge and skills Emphasis on the knowledge and
content and leading to higher-order thinking skills transferable skills leading to growth
subjects through the application of theories, and employment through (real
experience, exploration and reflection world) experience, exploration and
reflection
Tourism subjects as the core of the Hospitality subjects as the core of
content, complemented with some the content, fortified by some
hospitality subjects tourism subjects
Management and business subjects
Academic subjects/liberal arts (more wide-ranging ideas for the academic
mode)
Personal development subjects
General subjects (Indonesian values and ideology)
Learning and Constructivism and critical approaches Neo-behaviourism and cognitive
instruction focus behaviour modification (CBM)
focus
Manifested in self-reflection and Strongly manifested in collaborative
self-regulated learning (metacognition), learning, observation learning
discovery learning, collaborative (modelling and imitation), concrete
learning, active and hands-on experiences/real-tasks learning
exploration, social criticism
Assessment Stresses the complex knowledge Stresses the expert skills/
(metacognitive knowledge), essential capabilities (procedural
skills and the process knowledge), essential knowledge
and the product
2.5 Conclusion
This study has attempted to identify the key components of curricula for the aca-
demic and vocational bachelor programmes in Indonesia. The approach was
underpinned by considering the philosophical orientation of the degrees followed
by a review of aims and objectives, content, learning and instruction and assess-
ment. The results from interviews with 36 key informants indicated that hospital-
ity and tourism curricula can be seen through two lenses: reflection and action and
theories and practices. The differences in curriculum components for the two
bachelor camps were articulated, although there were some overlapping elements
of mutual value.
This study provides theoretical and conceptual contributions to tourism study
and education in three ways. First, the work integrates a number of concepts to
develop the ‘Komodo Curriculum’ framework: educational philosophical positions,
learning theories and the multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and business interdis-
ciplinary epistemologies in hospitality and tourism content and assessment meth-
ods. Second, it provides a more comprehensive and holistic exploration and analysis
of the key curriculum components, rather than just emphasising one single compo-
nent as much previous research in this field has done (Eash, 1991). Third, this study
assists in the development of undergraduate curricula for Indonesia’s hospitality and
tourism education as work on such issues in Indonesia does not currently exist.
The limitations of this study can be identified as the following. First, the partici-
pants involved in this study were limited to the educators and students from repu-
table hospitality and tourism institutions in Java and Bali. Second, this study could
use a different approach to address some degrees of unfamiliarity in discussing
curricula with the students. As the students were selected based on the judgement of
the school management, an extra effort was taken to introduce the students to the
study, because it was felt that the methods of recruitment may not have given them
a complete understanding of the purpose of the work. Third, constant follow-up in
scheduling interviews with the participants was required due to the cultural style of
the Indonesian people who are reluctant to give direct answers, although they were
willing to be involved in the study. This issue caused long delays in the data collec-
tion process.
This study could be expanded by involving a larger number of participants and
using a written survey to gain more specific data on the curriculum components.
Such an approach offers flexibility and potential comparisons among groups of
respondents. Future study could also include hospitality and tourism institutions in
other cities or regions beyond Java and Bali. Another prospect is to upscale the
study through collaborative research with neighbouring ASEAN countries, such as
Malaysia and Singapore, in order to reveal any similarities or differences between
the curriculum patterns in other regions.
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Chapter 3
Vocational Education and Training
for Hospitality and Tourism Industry
in India
Saurabh Kumar Dixit and Hakamelamphylla Mawroh
Abstract The future economic growth rate and employment generation capacity of
any nation depend on the knowledge and skill of its local workforce. In India, the
tourism and hospitality industry continues to experience a critical shortage of a
qualified and skilled workforce. Currently, only 2.3% of the Indian workforce has
undergone skills training, resulting in the need for a substantial investment in voca-
tional education and training. The Skill India initiative of the Government of India
seeks to provide the institutional capacity to train a minimum of 300 million people
by 2022, with a total outlay of USD 234 million. This chapter aims to offer an
insight into the present scenario, latest developments and future potential of voca-
tional education and training in the context of the Indian hospitality and tourism
industries. The chapter analyses the existing system of hospitality and tourism voca-
tional education and the skill development initiatives of both public and private
sector organisations.
Keywords Tourism · Skill · Vocational education · Workforce · Training · India
3.1 Introduction
The travel and tourism industry is highly diverse in terms of its subsector mix, occu-
pations and talent requirements. Its subsectors range from hotels to air transport,
while occupations range from concierges to pilots. A relatively high proportion of
the travel and tourism workforce is employed in elementary, low-skilled occupa-
tions, e.g. cleaners and waitresses. The sector has a below-average proportion (at
least in comparison to advanced economies) of its workforce employed in
S. K. Dixit (*) · H. Mawroh

Department of Tourism & Hotel Management, North-Eastern Hill University,
Shillong, Meghalaya, India

36 S. K. Dixit and H. Mawroh
higher-skilled professional occupations (World Travel & Tourism Council, 2015).

The travel and tourism industry in India has experienced enormous growth over the
last decade, and the future holds impressive potential. It has evolved into a highly
competitive, complex and global business that offers exciting career opportunities.
The tourism and hospitality industry continues to experience a critical shortage of
qualified and skilled labour. Employment forecasts of future workforce requirement
for Indian tourism industry strongly indicate that this pattern will continue. As the
industry continues to grow, strategic planning is required to enable businesses to
access appropriately skilled staff in requisite numbers to ensure operations remain
productive and sustainable and are able to meet rising consumer expectations
(Government of India, 2014).
There is a saying by Jean Piaget (Duckworth, 1964, p. 499) that ‘The principal
goal of education is to create men and women who are capable of doing new things,
not simply of repeating what other generations have done – men [sic] who are cre-
ative, inventive and discoverers’. This quote completely sums up the need for and
importance of education. The growing significance of professional and specialised
knowledge in many emerging fields has allowed people, particularly youth, to opt
for something that enhances their interests and passion. One such field is the hospi-
tality and tourism industry. Industry employment records show that the specialised
workforce in the field is one of the fastest growing in the world because of its high
revenue returns. There is a general recognition of tourism as a major job generator
especially for youth and women (Yunis, 2009). Since this industry demands a spe-
cialised workforce, many youths are motivated and encouraged to take up hospital-
ity and tourism educational programmes and training.
A formal education system does not necessarily equip a person with the practical
skills needed for the employment market. In India, a minimum entry level desired
for vocational education/qualification prescribed by such training institutes excludes
most potential students – who could otherwise have gained sufficient practical skills
for gainful employment. Vocational training is about imparting certificate-level
training pertaining to the tourism and hospitality sector, which in India is mostly
provided by the ITI (Industrial Training Institute) and industrial training centres at
universities. These courses are normally aimed at school dropouts in grades 8–12 or
the age group of 12–18 years old (Government of India, 2015). The delivery of hotel
and tourism training has a number of unique features in that the training environ-
ment must attempt to match as closely as possible the ‘real work environment’ that
students will face when entering the industry.
Vocational education and training (VET) is an important element of any nation’s
education system. In order for vocational education to play its part effectively in the
changing national context and for India, there is an urgent need to redefine the criti-
cal elements of imparting vocational education and training to make them flexible,
contemporary, relevant, inclusive and creative.
According to Kaushik (2014), ‘vocational education’ can be defined as education
that is based on occupation and employment; it is also sometimes referred to as
‘career and technical education’ or ‘technical vocational education and training’.
VET is the education and training that equips young people with the specialised
3 Vocational Education and Training for Hospitality and Tourism Industry in India 37
knowledge and skills in a particular field for the purpose of occupation and career.
Vocational training, to be effective, should serve as a bridge between employer
needs and those of work seekers, and this can only be achieved through effective
partnerships between the vocational training centres and industry stakeholders. It is
through this partnership approach that vocational training can add real value to
development efforts within the tourism industry.
Understanding this interplay between the economy, the labour market and educa-
tion and training is one of the prerequisites for effective government policy responses.
To identify the potential areas of growth, types and levels of qualifications and skills
and competencies needed and to provide education and training that is relevant to the
labour market require the cooperation of the education and training and employment
sectors, social partners and third sector organisations (which are neither public nor
private organisations but voluntary and community organisations, such as charities).
This is important to ensure that VET gives people the opportunity to acquire a mix
of skills that combines theory and practice, allowing them to perform a specific
occupation but also giving them the opportunity to progress later in their careers by
returning to education and training to upgrade and complement their skills.
Collaboration and support structures are needed to help small and microenterprises
engage in training. The Indian Government is aware of the important role of voca-
tional education and has already taken many important initiatives in this area.
This chapter aims to offer an insight into the present scenario, latest develop-
ments and future potential of vocational education and training in the context of the
Indian hospitality and tourism industry. The chapter will, therefore, throw light on
the existing system of hospitality and tourism vocational education and the skill
development initiatives of both public and private sector organisations.
3.2 Evolution of Tourism and Hospitality Education in India
According to Airey (2005), tourism as an activity has shown continuous global

growth since 1945. This has led to the emergence of major airline companies and
international tour operators and hotel corporations. These companies have created a
demand for professional tourism suppliers, prompting educational institutions to
cater to these demands and opportunities. As a result, there is a growing vocational
emphasis on tourism and hospitality education. Tourism education programmes
have developed within the context of the general development of vocational educa-
tion. Vocational education programmes have been one of the key themes underlying
educational developments throughout the western world during the past 50 years
(Airey, 2005). Governments have encouraged vocational education through the
emergence of successful business schools, which have diversified and extended
their teaching into journalism, housing studies, leisure management and tourism.
Furthermore, in the views of Morgan (2004), tourism education was a product of
vocational education in Europe wherein students were trained in significant areas of
hospitality and business. As the tourism industry evolved, tourism educators started
to redefine tourism education to include the skills necessary for employability in the
industry (Inui, Wheeler, & Lankford, 2006; Tribe, 2001, 2002). Tribe (2002) argued
that tourism education should be flexible enough to enable a balance between satis-
fying the demands of business and those of the wider tourism society and world.
Even though tourism is a latecomer to India (Singh, 1997), its practices and prin-
ciples have been witnessed from times immemorial (Singh & Singh, 2005). In the
mid-1950s in Mumbai, the government introduced a hospitality course with the
funding support of the United Nations. In the year 1962, the Government of India
began an education programme in the fields of hotel management, catering technol-
ogy and applied nutrition under the Department of Food in the Ministry of
Agriculture. In the 1970s, tourism research commenced in India when the first
known authoritative study of tourism as an industry was published (Singh, 1975).
Singh (1997) and Jithendran and Baum (2000) have investigated and documented
the evolution of hospitality and tourism education and training in India; they have
identified the Centre for Vocational Studies, University of Delhi, established in
1972, as pioneering the first tourism study programme. In 1976, the Centre for
Tourism Research and Development, Lucknow, was established for the purpose of
publishing the academic journal Tourism Recreation Research in order to further the
cause of tourism education and research in India (Singh & Singh, 2005). In 1982,
the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, established the National Council of
Hotel Management and Catering Technology. The establishment of the Indian
Tourism Development Corporation has helped set up training institutions for young
people in order to attain the skilled and semi-skilled workforce needed for the prom-
ising industry (Singh & Singh, 2005). According to Jithendran and Baum (2000), in
1983, the Indian Institute of Travel and Tourism Management was established,
which marked the beginning of tourism (non-hospitality) education in the country.
The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) was established to provide
tourism programmes through distance education, which has an impressive outreach
across the country (Singh & Singh, 2005). Since 1994, IGNOU has offered certifi-
cate to PhD-level programmes in hospitality and tourism and currently has more
than 20,000 students enrolled in them (IGNOU, 2017).
India started tourism courses about three decades ago. Earlier tourism education
in India was limited to diploma and postgraduate diploma courses; degree and higher
levels of tourism education were not started until the 1980s. Once the degree and
higher degree tourism education courses were started by a few visionary leaders and
academics, they gradually came to be known as mostly professional courses. The
courses became multidisciplinary in nature, including varied subjects from courses
such as management, economics, commerce, finance, history, geography and geol-
ogy, to meet the curriculum expectations of the tourism industry (Bansal, 2006;
Kukreti, 2007). In 1982, the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, with the
necessary infrastructural support, endeavoured to put in place a system of training
and professional education to meet the needs of the tourism and hospitality industry.
As a result, with the financial support of the Ministry of Tourism, 41 Institutes of
Hotel Management comprising 21 central IHMs, 8 state IHMs, 12 private IHMs and
5 Food Craft Institutes following the National Council’s course curriculum are pres-
ently operating as autonomous societies with a specific mandate to impart/conduct

education/training in hospitality skills. In addition to this, a number of central-/state-
funded universities are also offering hospitality and tourism courses at undergraduate
and postgraduate level in various parts of the country (Chand & Dahiya, 2008).
Over recent years, course contents have shifted from hotel and catering manage-
ment to include ‘hospitality’. The change in title opens a wider conceptual frame-
work. Hospitality comprises a number of different disciplines, such as tourism,
hotel business operations, transport business and leisure activities. It is clear that
‘vocational orientation remains at the core of the curriculum’ (Airey & Tribe, 2000,
p. 292). A key point of focus for the industry is the Vocational Education and
Training in Schools (VETiS) programme. VETiS is seen as a critical area for action
as it is perceived as being a significant source of future talent. It is widely held that
the provision of vocational and professional courses in tourism and hospitality has
to be carried out by sector-dedicated institutions and programmes, as these have the
most prominent role in meeting the industry’s human resource needs. It can contrib-
ute to the training, development and skilling of unemployed youths through short-
term courses relating to the trade. Due to increased tourism, there has been a
remarkable growth in the hospitality industry in India in recent years, and this has
attracted hospitality investors. Hotels are the most prominent part of the country’s
infrastructure, and the hotel industry is closely linked to the tourism industry. These
sectors have contributed a significant amount to the country’s economy. To support
the development of these sectors, professional guidance and training are required. A
diagram of the hospitality management courses currently available in India is pre-
sented in Fig. 3.1.
18-month
diploma
programme
PhD
4-year
programme
degree
programme
Hospitality
Manageme
nt courses
in India
3-year 3-year
degree diploma
programme programme
2-year
master's
programme
Fig. 3.1 Hospitality management courses in India (Adapted from Kumar, 2014)
3.3 V
ocational Education and Training (VET) System
in India
In today’s world, VET is becoming highly significant because of rapid advance-

ments in every field, especially in the technology and service sectors. For the all-
round growth of any country, education and training are vital, enabling students to
become employable and thus able to contribute to the country’s development.
Imparting skills and knowledge is thus the central task of vocationally orientated
education. In India, VET is highly endorsed by the government because, being the
second most populous country in the world, with youth accounting for the largest
percentage of the population (more than 65% of people in India are below the age
of 35 years; Kumar, 2017), specialised skills and training are necessary to provide
this large, young population with employment opportunities. According to Kaushik
(2014), vocational education involves practical courses which impart the skills and
experience appropriate to future employment. This has seen the emergence of VET
as a crucial provider of job-ready, highly qualified graduates to work in areas as
diverse as hospitality, information technology, business and health care. VET is no
longer seen as an alternative study system. It is a central part of the modern approach
to post-school education, offering a variety of pathways for people of all ages and
backgrounds to get their dream jobs. Employers seek VET graduates because they
have the practical and technical skills for a seamless transition from study to work.
At an aggregate level, barely 2% of the Indian workforce have gained skills
through vocational education, and only another 2.4% workers have some technical
education (Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler [KPMG], 2016). The graduates who
are trained in vocational education also lack the skills required in the labour market.
Thus, the employability of graduates continues to be a major concern, and there is
no formal link between general education and vocational training in the country.
The Indian education system recognises the role of education especially in terms
of vocational education. Vocational training in India consists of two types: full-time
training and part-time training. Full-time training is offered through ITIs (Industrial
Training Institutes), and the nodal agency for these is the National Council for
Vocational Training (NCVT) which is under the Ministry of Labour, Government of
India. Part-time training is offered through state technical education boards or uni-
versities, which also provide full-time courses. The Technical and Vocational
Education and Training system in India is divided into three parts/levels:
• Graduate and postgraduate students (e.g. Indian Institute of Technology,
National Institute of Technology and engineering colleges) trained as engineers
and specialists
• Diploma-level graduates who are trained at polytechnics as technicians and
supervisors
• Certificate-level education for higher secondary students in the vocational stream
and crafts where people are trained through formal apprenticeships as semi-
skilled and skilled workers
There are many private institutions in India that offer vocational education and
training, but most of them have not been recognised by the government. The govern-
ment recognises the urgent need to make vocational education and training flexible,
contemporary, relevant, inclusive and creative. India is a developing country, but it has
come a long way to boost and implement vocational education (Kaushik, 2014).
There has been a long-felt need to align Indian higher education with the emerg-
ing needs of the economy to ensure that graduates have adequate knowledge and
skills for employment and entrepreneurship. The higher education system has to
incorporate the requirements of various industries in its curricula in innovative and
flexible ways while developing a holistic and well-groomed graduate. In India, the
National Vocational Education Qualification Framework developed by the Ministry
of Human Resource Development provides a descriptive framework for linking
various qualifications in order to set common principles and guidelines for a nation-
ally recognised qualification system. The framework covers schools, vocational
education and training institutions, technical education institutions, colleges and
universities (University Grants Commission [UGC], n.d.).
3.4 Regulation of Vocational Education in India
The Indian vocational educational framework is quite centralised. Two ministries –

Human Resource Development and Labour and Employment – are the key decision
makers for vocational education and training in India. Seventeen ministries of the
Government of India, ranging from the Ministry of Labour and Employment to that
of Human Resource Development, Tourism and the Food Processing Industries, are
presently engaged in undertaking various training initiatives with the combined tar-
get of skilling 350 million people by 2022 (KPMG, 2016). ‘The NSDC (National
Skill Development Corporation) was also set up to enable skills-related training
through its private-sector partners with the intention of skilling 150 million people
by 2022 to contribute to the prime minister’s vision of skilling half-a-billion Indians’
(Infrastructure Development Finance Company [IDFC], 2013, p. 201).
The Ministry of Human Resource Development controls the vocational higher
education including polytechnics and graduates in engineering through the All India
Council for Technical Education (AICTE). The AICTE prepares curriculum designs,
certification and the standardisation of syllabi and monitors the entire vocational
higher educational structure. The ministry also controls vocational education in sec-
ondary schools. This is done through the National Council for Education Research
and Training, which prepares the curricula and certification for vocational education
at secondary school level.
The Ministry of Human Resource Development, in conjunction with the SSCs [Sector Skill
Councils] being set up by the NSDC, has launched the National Vocational Education
Qualification Framework (NVEQF) to allow seamless migration from vocational to formal
education. The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has also launched a
scheme under the NVEQF. Given that these efforts are parallel in nature, efforts are to align
them and bring about a uniform framework. (IDFC, 2013, p. 201)
The Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, issued an

Executive Order in September 2011 for a National Vocational Education
Qualification Framework (NVEQF). Subsequently, the Ministry of Finance, in pur-
suance of the decision of the Cabinet Committee on Skill Development in its meet-
ing held on December 19, 2013, issued a notification for a National Skills
Qualifications Framework (NSQF), which superseded the NVEQF. Similarly, the
Ministry of Labour and Employment regulates and monitors the lower end of voca-
tional educational training, such as ITIs, through the National Council for Vocational
Training (NCVT). The NCVT is mandated to design, develop and maintain curri-
cula and monitor ITIs across the country. The same ministry also regulates appren-
tice programmes for those who pass out from ITIs and others through its Craftsmen
Training Scheme. After successful apprentice training, the trainees are expected to
sit an All India Trade Test; the NCVT provides certificates for those who pass these
exams. Another training scheme done under the ministry is the Skills Development
Initiative Scheme. The scheme is targeted at workers seeking to upskill or gain cer-
tification of skills acquired informally through courses run by Modular Employable
Skills. The trainees who complete such a training scheme are also provided with
certificates by the NCVT. States also play a part in this process through the State
Council for Vocational Training. Steps are being undertaken to strengthen the
NCVT structure. As part of the National Policy on Skill Development 2009, the
NSDC has been given the responsibility of setting up Sector Skill Councils to define
standards for the segments they represent (IDFC, 2013, p. 201).
A third component of the regulatory framework came into being with the estab-
lishment of the Prime Minister’s National Council on Skill Development in 2009.
This body later (in June 2013) became known as the National Skill Development
Agency with autonomous status and a parliament mandate. The agency is expected
to coordinate and harmonise skill development in India and foster cooperation
between the government and the private sector to meet the skill needs. In addition to
the vocational education activities existing under various central ministers, the
agency supports NSDC skill initiatives in various ways. It is also expected to anchor
the National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF) and facilitate the setting up
of professional certifying bodies in addition to the existing ones (Mehrotra, Raman,
Kalaiyarasan, & Kumra, 2014).
The National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) India, established in 2009,
is a not-for-profit company set up by the Ministry of Finance, under Section 25 of
the Companies Act, 1956, corresponding to Section 8 of the Companies Act, 2013.
The present equity base of NSDC is Rs. 10 crore (approximately 1 million USD), of
which the Government of India through the Ministry of Skill Development and
Entrepreneurship (MSDE) holds 49%, while the private sector has the balance of
51% (NSDC, 2017).
The NSDC aims to promote skill development by catalysing the creation of large,
quality and for-profit vocational institutions. Further, the organisation provides fund-
ing to build scalable and profitable vocational training initiatives. Its mandate is also
to enable a support system that focuses on quality assurance, information systems
and train-the-trainer academies, either directly or through partnerships. The NSDC
acts as a catalyst in skill development by providing funding to enterprises, compa-

nies and organisations that provide skill training. It also develops appropriate models
to enhance, support and coordinate private sector initiatives. The differentiated focus
on 21 sectors under NSDC’s purview and its understanding of their viability will
make every sector attractive to private investment (NSDC, 2017).
3.5 V
ocational Education and Training in the Tourism
and Hospitality Sector in India
Tourism is a specialised service industry. Globally, tourism has become one of the
largest and fastest-growing economic sectors (Daniel, Costa, Pita, & Costa, 2017).
At present, tourism contributes to about 4.1% of GDP, 5.9% of employment and
21.3% of service exports of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development economies (OECD, 2016). According to Daniel et al. (2017), the tour-
ism sector has a significant impact on labour markets because it is labour-intensive,
and, hence, it accounts for more employment opportunities. These authors further
added that, despite the association of tourism sector workers with low levels of
education and limited entrepreneurial skills, the employment scenario has been
changing. Advanced knowledge and skills are now needed in the sector, and the
tourism and hospitality industry has signalled the need for education that would
meet these new requirements. Therefore, tourism higher education, as a major plat-
form for human capital development for the industry (Ladkin, 2005), has a close
link with its economic development (Biswakarma, 2016). This applies to Indian
tourism and hospitality education and industry as well.
According to Biswakarma (2016), tourism education is much needed to develop
and improve the human resources in tourism which relate to work and employment.
Being updated on the trends in skills within tourism can be achieved through voca-
tional education. For example, in order to develop the tourism sector, skilled work-
force such as airline managers and ticketing officers, having different levels of skill
competencies, are required.
The National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF) in India has defined ten
levels of competency. Some school boards are providing Level 4 certificate training
which is being considered as equivalent to Class XII. The University Grants
Commission (UGC), the regulatory body in higher education, has written to all
universities that students coming out with Level 4 certificates in vocational educa-
tion may be considered for admission into degree courses as those who have attained
the traditional secondary school qualification requirements. The UGC has laid down
diploma, advance diploma and B.Voc. (Bachelor of Vocation) degree programmes
under the NSQF, which are considered equivalent to Levels 5, 6 and 7 of NSQF,
respectively. Although academic higher education courses (such as academic
degrees) are not covered in the NSQF, it may be broadly aligned with the prevailing
framework for higher education qualifications, allowing levels of acquired compe-
tency to be compared with the academic degrees as suggested in Table 3.1.
Table 3.1 National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF) level of competency and academic
equivalence
Level Proposed academic
expected Level of competency as defined under NSQF equivalence
Level 1 No responsibility, always works under continuous instruction Pertains to
and close supervision school-level
education
Level 2 No responsibility, works under instruction and close Pertains to
supervision school-level
education
Level 3 Works under close supervision. Some responsibilities for Pertains to
own work within defined limit school-level
education
Level 4 Responsibility for own work and learning Pertains to
school-level
education
Level 5 Responsibility for own work and learning and some Diploma
responsibility for other’s work and learning
Level 6 Responsibility for own work and learning and full Advanced diploma
responsibility for other’s works and learning
Level 7 Full responsibility for output of group and development Graduation
Level 8 Exercise management and supervision in the context of Honours at
work/study having unpredictable changes, responsible for undergraduate level
development of self and others
Level 9 Responsible for decision making in complex technical Masters
activities, involving unpredictable study/work situations
Level 10 Responsible for strategic decisions in unpredictable complex Doctorate
situations of work/study
Source: Skill Development Bureau (2015)
In order to make education relevant and create an ‘industry-fit’ skilled work-

force, the institutions recognised under the Community Colleges/B.Voc. degree pro-
gramme and DDU Kaushal Centres offering skill-based courses will have to be in
constant dialogue with the industry and their respective Sector Skill Council(s) so
that they remain updated on the requirements of the workforce for the local econ-
omy. There are credit-based modular programmes, wherein banking of credits for
skill and general education components is permitted to enable multiple exits and
entries. This enables the learner to seek employment after any level of award and
join back as and when feasible to upgrade her/his qualification/skill competency
either to move higher in her/his job or in the higher educational system. This pro-
vides the learner an opportunity for vertical mobility to second year of B.Voc.
degree programme after 1-year diploma and to third year of B.Voc. degree
programme after a 2-year advanced diploma. The students may further move to
master’s and research degree programmes (NSQF Level 8–10). Some of the top
institutes in India offering programmes and courses in tourism and hospitality

(source: Dewra, n.d.; ‘List of hospitality tourism colleges,’ n.d.) are as follows:
1. Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management situated at multiple cam-
puses – Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, Noida, Goa, Bhubaneshwar and Nellore. It
offers a Postgraduate Diploma in Management in international tourism business,
tourism and travel, services, tourism and leisure and tourism and cargo.
2. Amity School of Hospitality situated on campuses at Noida, Jaipur, Lucknow
and Dubai. It offers a Bachelor of Hotel Management, a Diploma in Front Office,
Food Production and Food and Beverage Service, an MBA in Hospitality
Management and a Postgraduate Diploma in Hospitality.
3. Bharati Vidyapeeth College of Hotel and Tourism Management Studies situated
at Mumbai. It offers a B.Sc. (Bachelor of Science) Degree in Hospitality Studies.
4. National Institute of Tourism and Hospitality Management situated at Hyderabad.
It offers a Postgraduate Diploma in Tourism Management, an MBA in Tourism
and Hospitality, a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in Tourism and
Hospitality and so on.
5. National Council for Hotel Management and Catering Technology with head-
quarters at Noida offers diplomas in food production, bakery and confectionery,
housekeeping and so on.
6. Bundelkhand University situated at Jhansi (Uttar Pradesh). It offers a BBA in
Tourism.
7. North-Eastern Hill University at Shillong (Meghalaya) is one of the pioneering
education institutes of North-Eastern India. It offers postgraduate and doctoral
degrees in tourism and hotel management.
3.6 C
hallenges of Vocational Education and Training
in India
According to Kaushik (2014), vocational training has been successful only in indus-
trial training institutes teaching trades. The initiative of private institutes to imple-
ment VET remains futile because of the lack of government recognition. The author
(Kaushik, 2014) further emphasised the problems of VET in India as follows:
Most employers want to engage young workers who have strong basic academic
skills and not just vocational skills. The present system does not synthesise general
academic and vocational skills together. Vocational education is presently offered in
schools that is equivalent to secondary school 11th and 12th grade standard. Students
reaching these grades meet the entry requirements for higher education. However,
since the present system does not recognise the grade equivalence of the vocational
education in schools, the skills obtained are lost because these students cannot
access the higher education needed for them to become employable. Further prob-
lems include:
• The lack of consultation between industry and private education providers
• A high dropout rate at secondary school level
• Inadequately trained faculty at vocational training institutes
• The lack of identification of new sectors of vocational education and skills
training
• Less continuous skill upgrading opportunities
• A huge gap in supply of skills to meet current demand because the education
system prohibits the contribution of vocational education in schools to the entry
requirements for higher education
Rigid structures, outdated syllabi and the absence of a monitoring committee in
most vocational education training institutes in India are other important issues that
need to be addressed.
3.7 Conclusions
The industrial and labour market trends clearly indicate the need to strengthen voca-
tional education and training in India. The introduction of vocational education at
secondary school level through bivalent schools and Sector Skill Councils (voca-
tional) will enable India to broaden its vocational education base. A clear pathway
for vocational students to enter higher education streams is also the way to move
forward. The vocational qualification framework, the introduction of vocational
degrees and the setting up of a vocational university with polytechnics, community
colleges and DDU Kaushal Centres are some of the recommendations that require
further deliberation at national and state level.
This chapter is an endeavour to highlight the existing scenario of vocational edu-
cation in India. A picture has been revealed of room for further development in this
sector, because it remains poor not only in rural areas but also in urban areas. The
Government of India is stressing the development of the vocational education sector
in India because of the large percentage of youth in the country’s population, with
most of them only achieving the education level of a 10th grade standard pass or
less. This low level of educational achievement leaves these young people with
scant opportunities for employment. The government is tackling this problem by
enhancing and developing vocational education in India. In this endeavour, the gov-
ernment and many private institutions also see the opportunity to promote education
in the tourism and hospitality sector, as, with the boom in both tourism and hospital-
ity in India, there is a great need for trained professionals. Vocational education in
the tourism and hospitality sector solves two problems at once: the large number of
Indian undereducated, underemployed youth and the need for trained tourism and
hospitality professionals. Vocational education in the tourism and hospitality sector
in India is seen progressing in the departments of food production, food and
b everage services, bakery and confectionery and travel and tourism, among others.
The government is also planning to expand vocational education to new emerging
areas which are more specialised and catering for special interest tourism activities
and services and modern, environmentally friendly hospitality services.
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Chapter 4
Situation Analysis of Tourism
and Hospitality Management Education
in Nepal
Brijesh Thapa and Smrittee Kala Panta
Abstract Tourism is a major industry in Nepal and is viewed as a tool for economic
development especially in rural regions that depend on parks and protected areas.
The country’s natural and cultural resources are major assets that further develop
and promote tourism, but the lack of skilled human resources remains as a major
barrier. There is a critical need to prepare individuals to become leaders, decision-
makers and entrepreneurs in the private and public sectors. Tourism and hospitality
management education is a new field and gaining in importance as various institu-
tions become involved in training and degree programmes. The purpose of the
research described in this chapter was to conduct a situational analysis of tourism
and hospitality management education in Nepal based on four categories: availabil-
ity, affordability, accessibility and accountability. Thematic analysis was used to
explore the educational content, skills and employment prospects for human
resource development. The analysis revealed that formal education, training and
capacity-building programmes in Nepal were limited to a small number of higher-
education institutions with restricted enrolment quotas, located in only a few cities.
Also, programmes were largely offered by private institutions, which limited acces-
sibility and affordability for poor and marginalised individuals, notably in rural
areas. A system for national quality assessment, accreditation and standardisation of
curricula was absent. In such a context, coordination between the national govern-
ment, tourism industry and academic institutions for modification of curricula and
training could aid in building and strengthening the human resources that will be
necessary to meet Nepal’s goals for tourism development.
Keywords Tourism · Soft infrastructure · Education · Vocational training · Nepal
B. Thapa (*) · S. K. Panta

Department of Tourism, Recreation & Sport Management, University of Florida,
Gainesville, FL, USA
e-mail: bthapa@hhp.ufl.edu; smrittee@ufl.edu

50 B. Thapa and S. K. Panta
4.1 Introduction
Tourism is a dynamic phenomenon that stimulates wider socio-economic and envi-

ronmental changes in the destination (Liu & Wall, 2006; Stone & Nyaupane, 2016).
Tourism in today’s globalised world has become a sophisticated and complex sys-
tem, with benefits beyond the creation of low-skilled jobs (Baum, 2015). The grow-
ing tourism industry demands both professional employees and employers with
managerial, technical and vocational skills (Baum, 2015; Ruhanen & Cooper, 2009;
Thapa, 2012; Zagonari, 2009). While tourism is considered an applied discipline,
higher education aims to develop world-class leaders with critical thinking along
with relevant managerial skills that can promote the sustainability of the tourism
system (Airey, Tribe, Benckendorff, & Xiao, 2015; Inui, Wheeler, & Lankford,
2006; Tribe, 2002). Additionally, researchers advocate the embedding of five values
within tourism education: ethics, mutuality, stewardship, knowledge and profes-
sionalism (Sheldon, Fesenmaier, & Tribe, 2011). The integration of such values
within tourism education and training curricula could enhance the quality of human
resources. However, as curriculum design is influenced by multiple stakeholders
with different priorities and competing interests, educational institutions struggle to
produce graduates and trainees that can respond to the changing needs of the indus-
try (Baum, 2015).
In the case of least developed and developing countries, the tourism and hospital-
ity management sector is viewed as a vehicle for socio-economic development
(Telfer & Sharpley, 2015). In addition, given the projected prospects for future tour-
ist influxes, policies and resources for hard and soft infrastructure development will
be critical to manage and sustain growth. Soft infrastructure refers to the human
resources necessary to provide quality services to tourists and support tourism
development (Thapa, 2012). In the Asia-Pacific region, international tourist arrivals
are increasing, and visitor exports are expected to grow by 4.4% per annum from
2017 to 2027 (United Nations World Tourism Organisation [UNWTO], 2017). The
least developed countries (LDC) within this region receive a smaller proportion of
tourism arrivals and receipts, despite their unique attractions. Moreover, the contri-
bution of travel and tourism to LDC’s employment and GDP remains significantly
low (World Travel & Tourism Council [WTTC], 2017). Structural constraints in
these countries limit tourism-induced development, most notably in the lack of a
skilled labour force, which has long been an impediment for tourism development
(Liu & Wall, 2005; Shakeela, Breakey, & Ruhanen, 2012; Sharpley, 2009; Thapa,
2012).
Tourism is a labour-intensive industry where success depends heavily on the
quality of services and experiences offered to visitors. The significance of preparing
professionals with relevant training and education cannot be understated (Foster,
McCabe, & Dewhurst, 2010; Liu & Wall, 2005; Shakeela et al., 2012). With rapid
advances in technology and globalisation, the nature of work in the tourism and
hospitality sector is changing (Baum, 2007, 2015). There is an urgent need to
develop human capital and ensure tourism’s positive multiplier effect in the local
4 Situation Analysis of Tourism and Hospitality Management Education in Nepal 51
and national economies of LDCs in Asia and beyond (Liu & Wall, 2005, 2006;
Thapa, 2012).
Tourism and hospitality management education and training is in its infancy in
many developing countries. Additionally, the curricula for higher education and
training in tourism are inadequate (Manwa, Chipfuva, & Mahachi, 2011; Mayaka &
Akama, 2007; Pandey, 2011) and have been found to focus more on vocational
aspects than on managerial and knowledge-based learning (Kaplan, 2004; Liu &
Wall, 2006; Shakeela et al., 2012). This aspect is to be expected, since vocational
training provides transferable skills for immediate employment within a short
period of time (Thapa, 2012; Zagonari, 2009). Assessing the current state of higher
education and training is the first step in planning for improved human resource
development (Gu, Kavanaugh, & Cong, 2007; Semrad, Donohoe, Thapa, Tasci, &
Stepchenkova, 2012; Stepchenkova, Lane, Pennington-Gray, & Thapa, 2011). In
the context of developing countries, Thapa proposed four categories – referred to as
4As – within which to identify existing gaps in human capital development for the
tourism and hospitality industry: availability, affordability, accessibility and
accountability. This framework offers a tool for conducting a situational analysis in
order to assess the status and issues of tourism and hospitality management educa-
tion and training within a country (Thapa, 2012).
Utilising the thematic 4As categories, the purpose of this chapter was to conduct
a situational analysis of tourism and hospitality management education in Nepal.
This examination promotes a timely discussion, as the need to build human resources
capacity via education and training has been highlighted by a tourism employment
study conducted by the Nepalese government (Ministry of Culture, Tourism & Civil
Aviation, 2014). Correspondingly, lack of skilled human resources has also been
identified by stakeholders as one of the major barriers faced by the sector. A leading
newspaper declares:
Hospitality leaders say Nepal will have to produce more than 15,000 skilled manpower over
the next five years to cater to the growing demand from the sector. (Prasain, 2013)
Currently, Nepal ranks in 99th position among 136 countries with respect to
human resources and labour markets in the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness
Index (World Economic Forum, 2017). With the additional demands faced by the
sector due to a major recent earthquake (April 25, 2015), the need for skilled human
resources poses a dire challenge. Concomitantly, the tourism sector has not gener-
ated enough jobs, as for every six tourists that visit the country, only one additional
job is created (Ministry of Culture, Tourism & Civil Aviation [MoCTCA], 2014).
This is very low, compared to other tourism destinations. However, in 2016, the
travel and tourism sector generated 427,000 jobs directly, which is expected to
increase by 2.9% per annum to 604,000 by 2027 (WTTC, 2017). This has posed
both challenges and opportunities to existing higher-education and training institu-
tions in Nepal. Based on a literature review and a thematic analysis of current tour-
ism and hospitality curricula, this chapter will assess the status of professional
tourism education and hospitality management training in Nepal, based on the
aforementioned 4As categories (Thapa, 2012).
4.1.1 Tourism Context in Nepal
Nepal is a LDC in South Asia and a well-known mountain tourism destination. The
majestic Himalayan ranges along with a plethora of wild flora and fauna, cultural
diversity, hospitable people and its geographical location between two rapidly
developing neighbouring countries (India and China) has placed Nepal at a com-
parative advantage (Baral, Hazen, & Thapa, 2017; Bhattarai, Conway, & Shrestha,
2005; Nyaupane & Thapa, 2004; Thapa, 2004). Protected areas are the major tour-
ism destinations in the country, as 71% of international tourists visit one of its
national parks and wildlife reserves (MoCTCA, 2016). However, Nepal’s history of
tourism is relatively short as international visitors were only allowed entry into the
country in the early 1960s. Tourism growth was sustained for several decades; how-
ever, stagnation and a decrease in visitor arrivals have been evident in recent years
due to political instability and a decade-long armed domestic insurgency (see
Bhandari, 2010; Bhattarai et al., 2005; Thapa, 2004).
Although endowed with abundant natural and cultural resources, Nepal ranks
103rd among 136 countries on the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index
(World Economic Forum, 2017). Tourism is recognised as one of the main sectors
that promote sustained growth and development, yet its total contribution to Nepal’s
economy is only 7.5% of GDP (Crotti & Misrahi, 2017). Consequently, the govern-
ment has formulated a plan ‘Tourism Vision 2020’, which aspires to increase visitor
flow to two million (from 753,000 in 2016) and tourism employment to one million
jobs by 2020. Tourism Vision 2020 states that ‘Tourism is valued as the major con-
tributor to a sustainable Nepal economy, having developed as an attractive, safe,
exciting and unique destination through conservation and promotion, leading to
equitable distribution of tourism benefits and greater harmony in society’ (MoCTCA,
2009, p. 5).
Similarly, the national tourism policy has also emphasised the role of tourism in
stimulating socio-economic development and environmental conservation as well
as the potential benefits to communities in rural areas (MoCTCA, 2009). The policy
further aims to diversify tourism products especially by promoting new tourism
destinations and activities through community participation, encouraging private
sector involvement and developing integrated tourism infrastructure. Rural tourism,
community-based tourism and homestays are particularly given priority in the plan.
Despite advocating for homestays as an alternative tourism product (Acharya &
Halpenny, 2013), nearly one third of the employees in homestays are unskilled. In
addition, while trekking is an important aspect of the industry, it also suffers from
an inadequate supply of trained and skilled human resources. Furthermore, employ-
ers, especially in the accommodations and airline sectors, perceive the lack of a
clear vision or management policy and a shortage of skilled workers as key con-
straints to improving the quality of services (MoCTCA, 2014).
4.1.2 Institutions for Higher Education and Training in Nepal
Higher education in Nepal was initiated with the establishment of Tribhuvan

University in 1959. The country’s sole university until 1990, it is based in the capital
city, Kathmandu, but provides wider access via affiliated colleges in various regions
of the country (Asian Development Bank [ADB], 2015). Since 1990, six public
universities and three medical schools in various regions of the country have come
into operation. There has also been a significant increase in the number of private
colleges, from 132 in 1988 to over 600 in 2010. The private colleges are all affiliated
to one of the major public universities with respect to academic degrees (ADB,
2015). In fact, the majority of the country’s higher-education students are enrolled
in different colleges either in branch campuses or affiliated to the oldest and largest
university, Tribhuvan University. The total combined enrolment among public uni-
versities and affiliated units is approximately 450,000 students (ADB, 2015).
Universities in Nepal are self-governing autonomous bodies under the monitor-
ing and regulation of the Ministry of Education and the University Grants
Commission. Each institution has a university council, executive council, academic
council and faculties. Although about 65,000 students graduate annually, the role of
higher education as compared to primary and secondary level education in eco-
nomic growth (GDP) is significantly low (Nowak & Dahal, 2016). Moreover, the
educational system faces major challenges such as equality of access, quality, gov-
ernance and innovation capacity (ADB, 2015). Also, the curricula in higher educa-
tion institutions have been developed with a traditional discipline-centric approach,
rather than cross-disciplinary.
In order to supplement higher education with the aim of producing technical and
skilled citizens, the Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training
(CTEVT) was established in 1989. CTEVT is a national-level, autonomous body
composed of a council chaired by the Minister of Education. Its main functions are
to formulate policy, prepare curricula, control quality and assess training needs.
CTEVT has been the primary centre for providing short-term training, diploma and
certificate level courses in various disciplines. It has networks across the country
through its 17 institutes and 160 affiliated private institutions to award technical
school leaving certificate programmes (TSLC) and diploma and certificate level
qualifications in disciplines such as agriculture, construction, health, food and dairy
technology, tourism and sanitation. The total national enrolment capacity in the
CTEVT is about 12,000 (Katuwal, 2011).
4.2 Method
Data collection and analysis involved two phases. In the first phase, secondary
sources such as journal articles, reports, organisational web pages and policy docu-
ments were reviewed to gain an understanding of the broader context of tourism and
human resource development issues. This information was compiled and catego-
rised within each of the four questions devised by Thapa (2012, p. 1709):
1. What are the tourism and hospitality training and education programmes being
offered?
2. Are the training and education programmes affordable?
3. Are the training and education programmes accessible?
4. Are the training and education programmes accountable?
Since this was an exploratory study, a descriptive and thematic approach based
on the 4As was conducted for an initial assessment, as the findings could be further
utilised to develop specific indicators to monitor and evaluate (Thapa, 2012). In the
second phase, a compilation of existing curricula for the bachelor’s degree was con-
ducted. Most curriculum information was found within university websites, while
more and/or missing information was secured via direct email communications with
the appropriate officials. Only degree-based curricula were analysed in this study.
Upon receipt of all documents, a thematic analysis of the curricula was conducted.
Thematic analysis is a process used in qualitative research to enable and identify
key concepts and ideas (see Marshall & Rossman, 1999).
4.3 Findings
4.3.1 H
igher Education and Training in Tourism
and Hospitality Management
The beginning of a planned effort for human resource development in the hospital-
ity and tourism industry was via the establishment of the Nepal Academy of Tourism
and Hotel Management (NATHM) in 1972, with technical assistance provided by
the United Nations Development Programme/International Labour Organisation.
Initially, the emphasis was on providing craft and supervisory-level skills training to
generate a capable workforce for the industry; however, it evolved into offering
formal education in 1999 – a 3-year bachelor programme in hotel management.
Additional options, such as an undergraduate programme in travel and tourism
management, began in 2003, with both programmes (tourism and hospitality man-
agement) affiliated to Tribhuvan University.
Currently, four major universities offer degree programmes in tourism and hos-
pitality management. Tourism and hospitality management degree programmes are
generally offered under the Faculty of Management (Business Administration) at all
universities. The academic programmes at the bachelor and master’s levels encom-
pass courses in travel, tourism and hotel and hospitality management. The academic
programmes and curricula vary among the universities and are focused on produc-
ing middle and upper-management-level employees for the national and interna-
tional markets (see Tables 4.1 and 4.2).
Table 4.1 Higher education institutions and tourism and hospitality management programmes in
Nepal
Tourism and hospitality management # of colleges Programme duration Total
University programmes affiliated (semesters) credits
Tribhuvan Bachelor in Travel and Tourism 3 8 126
University Management (BTTM)
Bachelor in Hotel Management (BHM) 6 8 120
Bachelor in Mountaineering Studies 0 8 129
(BMS)
Masters in Hospitality Management 1 4 63
(MHM)
Masters in Travel and Tourism 1 4 63
Management (MTTM)
Kathmandu Bachelor in Hospitality and Tourism 2 8 132
University Management (BHTM)
Purbanchal Bachelor in Travel and Tourism Studies 1 6 117
University (BTTS)
Bachelor in Hospitality and Catering 1 8 138
Management (BHCM)
Master in Tourism Studies (MTS) 1 4 66
Pokhara Bachelor in Business Administration – 1 8 123
University Travel and Tourism (BBA-TT)
Table 4.2 Course titles in tourism and hospitality management programmes in Nepal
Covered frequently (≥2 universities) Covered less frequently (<2 universities)
Fundamentals of travel & tourism Contemporary issues in travel & tourism
Tourism economics Tourism in Nepal
Travel services operations management Ecotourism
Airlines operations management Sustainable tourism development
Hospitality accounting Alternative forms of tourism
Hospitality management Tourism product development
Tourism marketing Event management
Tourism geography Cultural heritage and religion tourism
Tourism policy, planning and development Tourism and environment
Destination development management Entrepreneurship in travel and tourism
Entrepreneurship Languages (English, French)
Tourism legislation Mountain tourism
Airlines operations management E-tourism
Air cargo operations Crisis and disaster management
Computer applications in tourism Nepalese society and culture
Research methods and statistics Intercultural communications
Languages (English)
In the case of vocational education, only a few tourism and hospitality manage-
ment programmes are offered by CTEVT: TSLC in culinary arts, TSLC in hotel
management and diploma in hotel management. The duration of the TSLC pro-
gramme is 15 months including 3 months of on-the-job training. The TSLC pro-
gramme aims to produce entry-level human resources for the hospitality sector.
Apart from this, short-course training is also offered in commercial cooking/baking,
waiter/waitressing and saving and credit mobilising. The 3-year diploma in hotel
management is offered by only 2 constituent institutions with an established enrol-
ment quota of 80 and 1 partnership institution with a quota for 40 under CTEVT’s
supervision. The cost for this diploma programme is NRs. 84,100 (US$1 = NRs.105,
approximately US$800) with scholarships offered to women and other marginalised
groups based on merit and socio-economic qualifications (CTEVT, 2017).
Short (weeks/months) courses are also offered by private tourism and hospitality
colleges in different parts of the country with varying fees. Such colleges provide
short-term training based on topics in demand by the private and public sectors.
Given the importance of mountaineering and adventure tourism, government organ-
isations, namely, Nepal Mountain Academy and NATHM, provide specialised
training to produce skilled citizens for certain jobs (e.g. mountain and trekking
guides). National parks and other conservation organisations frequently organise
nature- guide, cooking and language training in their adjacent communities.
Additionally, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are also periodically
involved in capacity-building programmes for local people by offering short courses.
It has been suggested that training needs to be oriented towards rural tourism with
timely revisions responding to the changing needs of stakeholders. Collectively, the
training offered and delivered by different organisations can be categorised into six
groups (Pandey, 2011):
1 . Trekking, mountaineering and tour guide
2. Travel/tour and hospitality management
3. Food/lodge (accommodation) services
4. Destination planning, development and management
5. Tourism interpretation, promotion and marketing
6. Enterprise/entrepreneurship/leadership development and management
Finally, given the separation of higher education from skill-based training in the
country, an initiative to combine both aspects was advocated and implemented. In
2002, the Nepal Mountain Academy (http://www.man.gov.np) was established as a
centre for research and teaching on mountaineering and tourism. This centre is
unique as it brings together industry professionals and representatives from various
government ministries (i.e. education, tourism, science and technology, national
planning commission and finance) under one platform. The centre currently provides
training for trekking guides and is scheduled to offer an undergraduate degree pro-
gramme (mountaineering studies) in 2018.
4.3.2 E
xisting Curricula of Tourism Education and Training
Programmes at the Global Level
The analysis of curricula for undergraduate programmes in tourism and hospitality

management at the global level indicated that course content could be categorised
into four major areas: (1) general discipline, (2) tourism/hospitality discipline, (3)
specialisation discipline and (4) internship. Under general discipline, core courses
were diverse, covering sociology, psychology, economics, organisational behaviour,
computer and information technology, food science and nutrition and human
resource management. Some variations in degree programmes among universities
occurred in terms of types of courses offered and total credit requirements. Also, the
tourism curricula required more credits in basic courses than the hotel management
programme, which is focused on developing specialised operational skills for hos-
pitality management. Furthermore, some of the skill sets that are in high demand
within the global industry – such as leadership, integrated communication and tech-
nology, marketing and technical writing (Baum, 2007, 2015; Sheldon, Fesenmaier,
Woeber, Cooper, & Tribe, 2007; Sigala & Baum, 2003), along with community
development, sustainability, entrepreneurship, crisis management, public speaking
and communication – could be included to strengthen the curriculum.
Similarly, in the tourism/hospitality discipline, core courses consisted of tourism
economics, tourism and hospitality accounting, sustainable tourism development,
tourism marketing, air travel operations, housekeeping operations, front office oper-
ations and food and beverage services. Programmes with an emphasis on hotel and
hospitality management aspects required significantly more credits in the curricula
than travel and tourism-focused programmes. This reflects academic institutions’
need to impart both operational skills and middle-level managerial knowledge for
the former. While a balance between industry-oriented skills and a basic knowledge
of the tourism system can create a workforce to fulfil the immediate needs of the
industry, this might limit students’ capacity to lead and adapt to a dynamic tourism
labour market (Liu & Wall, 2006).
The nature of tourism demands multidisciplinary courses that contribute to holis-
tic understandings of tourism components and their interrelatedness with the wider
society (Horng & Lee, 2005; Inui et al., 2006; Mayaka & Akama, 2007; Sheldon
et al., 2007). Courses that are in demand – such as tourism and aviation, tourism for
peace and progress, ecotourism, meetings and convention management and event
management – are offered as electives under the specialised discipline (ranging
from 3 to 18 credits). These courses need to be continually revised based on the
changing needs of the national and international tourism and hospitality sectors.
The emphasis on internship (practical experience/training) is common across
tourism academia worldwide, but caution needs to be taken that the unique contri-
bution of the programme compared to vocational education is retained (Zagonari,
2009). Given the importance of practical experience, it was evident that all pro-
grammes offered opportunities for experiential learning through internships and
projects during the 6th, 7th or 8th semester (3rd and 4th year). The duration varied
from 4 months to 1 year depending on the university and type of programme. As

employers seek to hire an experienced workforce, such provisions in the curriculum
make students more employable. The effectiveness of internships and industrial
practice can be enhanced if a student’s skill, experience and area of specialisation
are matched to their placement (Hawkins & Weiss, 2004; Zagonari, 2009). This
matching up requires close partnerships between industry and academic institu-
tions, which is still evolving and needs to be further strengthened in Nepal.
4.4 Discussion
Based on the situational analysis of tourism and hospitality management education

in Nepal, it is evident that higher education and vocational training are constrained
due to general availability, affordability, accessibility and accountability issues.
Programmes are offered by few higher education and training institutions, have lim-
ited availability and are concentrated in only a small number of cities and regions.
This was an expected finding and reflects student demand, as tourism and hospital-
ity management education is relatively new. Hence, the programmes are only avail-
able in and around major population centres, which creates accessibility issues for
those who live outside these urban areas and regions. Additionally, specialised
short-term courses are also less accessible to rural citizens as all relevant training
institutions are located in four major cities. Also, there are limited enrolment quotas
for diploma and TSLC programmes further restricting their accessibility as well as
creating competition.
Recently, there has been a trend for private institutions and public universities to
initiate opportunities for tourism and hospitality management education and train-
ing in other underserved areas and regions (e.g. the far-west and mid-west regions).
In addition, educational pursuits are relatively affordable, especially in public insti-
tutions when compared with higher-education degree programmes in other disci-
plines offered by private institutions. Also, training programmes and diploma
courses are cheaper than courses in disciplines such as agriculture, health and engi-
neering. Furthermore, limited scholarships are available for disadvantaged
students.
Besides government approval for implementation, a system for national quality
assessment, accreditation and the standardisation of curricula is absent in Nepal.
Consequently, tourism and hospitality management educational programmes are
not held accountable due to the absence of national quality management. This
results in inconsistencies in curricula, credits, internship and research requirements
and evaluation criteria. Essentially, universities are responsible for monitoring the
quality of their programmes as well as for those of affiliated institutions. Quality
control management is lacking as well because the universities have not demon-
strated their willingness to engage and be effective. This is a serious issue as national
standards and quality assurances are vital to ensure consistency between curricula,
credits, internship and research requirements and evaluation criteria (see Gu et al.,
2007; Mayaka & Akama, 2007). Currently, most academic programmes in tourism
and hospitality management in Nepal are not uniformly accredited nationally or
internationally – hence universities are not accountable due to the absence of
national quality standards. Moreover, universities are solely responsible for moni-
toring the quality of the curriculum delivery in their affiliated institutions/colleges
but are not effective in this role.
The current programmes are inadequate for the development of a workforce with
the range in vocational skills and intellectual capacity needed for a specialised sec-
tor such as ecotourism and other forms of sustainable tourism growth in Nepal.
Further, the training needs assessment that should precede the development and
delivery of training packages is fundamentally lacking (Pandey, 2011); in-depth
research is required for a skills-gap inventory analysis (Foster et al., 2010; Semrad
et al., 2012). The noted issues in Nepal are in alignment with various least devel-
oped and/or developing countries based on the 4As, along with the lack of any and/
or coherent tourism education policies and resource allocation as part of a national
agenda (Liu & Wall, 2006; Manwa et al., 2011; Mayaka & Akama, 2007; Pandey,
2011; Shakeela et al., 2012). However, the opportunities in Nepal can be further
capitalised given the important role of tourism for the national economy and
employment prospects. The experience of several Asian countries that have wit-
nessed major growth in tourism and educational opportunities could be closely
reviewed (Gu et al., 2007; Horng & Lee, 2005; Sangpikul, 2009) and replicated and/
or adapted to the Nepalese context.
It should be noted that there are several tourism and hospitality management
education programmes that operate through an affiliation (joint degree programmes)
with external institutions (e.g. the United Kingdom, Austria and Switzerland) and
are based in Kathmandu. Such institutions are exempt from the major governmental
regulations that are mandatory for institutions that offer the complete degree within
the country. Recently, there has been a major growth in such international partner-
ships, but these lack quality control and effective monitoring by the government.
However, these institutions do have international accreditations, as the final degree
is awarded by the partner institution. Additionally, these institutions are located only
in Kathmandu and have strict enrolment quotas. Also, they are very expensive in
comparison to local institutions and are mainly attended by students from affluent
backgrounds.
4.5 Conclusion
This chapter highlights the critical need to invest in reforming tourism education
and hospitality management training in Nepal to meet the targets of Tourism Vision
2020. Higher education in tourism and hospitality management is struggling to find
a middle ground that can fulfil both the academic and professional human resource
needs of the industry. While the recently formulated higher-education policy empha-
sises tourism as a priority sector and recommends producing human capital that
meets the industry needs, some level of incongruence between policy and the educa-
tion system is evident. Collectively, coordination between the national government,
the tourism industry and academic institutions leading to the revision of Nepal’s
curricula and training programmes could aid in building and strengthening the
human capital needed to meet the country’s tourism development goals.
More specifically, the human resource division under the Department of Tourism
(Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation) could take a leadership role. For
example, the findings of this study offer an initial assessment with regard to the
status of educational content, skills and employment prospects for human resource
development. Since this is the first basic evaluation, its findings can be built upon
through additional assessments (e.g. a skills-gap inventory, policy review and pri-
mary survey data) and used to facilitate collaboration among national tourism stake-
holders. Some practical strategies that could be used to address the issues in Nepal
are as follows:
• Establish a national-level tourism council for human resource planning and
development.
• Liaise between government, industry, NGOs and private and public education
institutions to create diverse opportunities for relevant curriculum development
and training programmes.
• Create a feedback loop between industry, government and academic
institutions.
• Create quality assurance and an educational accreditation board for this sector.
• Enhance student experiential learning and industry engagement.
• Increase accessibility through distant learning (online) programmes.
• Increase international exposure through student exchange and study-abroad
programmes.
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Chapter 5
Tourism Higher Education in Iran: Past,
Present and Future Directions
Siamak Seyfi, Adel Nikjoo, and Masoud A. Samimi
Abstract This chapter presents an overview of tourism higher education and its
structure in Iran and probes challenges facing tourism training in the Iranian higher
education system. The study underlines the importance of tourism education in
delivering the quality of service that is necessary for Iran, particularly in the wake
of a rapid growth of inbound tourism following the relaxation of sanctions in the
light of landmark nuclear agreement of 2015 known as the Joint Comprehensive
Plan of Action (JCPOA). This study used the documentary survey along with the
Delphi technique conducted with 20 stakeholders including tourism academia,
practitioners and government representatives as well as current tourism students and
graduates to obtain in-depth information describing the challenges facing tourism
higher education in Iran along with its future directions. Thematic analysis was then
used for the data analysis. The results of the study suggest that without an appropri-
ate tourism education policy, along with cooperation between stakeholders and
structural reforms in curricula, the desired economic and social benefits of tourism
will not be realised. Finally, the study concludes with policy recommendations for
overcoming tourism’s higher education challenges and future directions for improv-
ing the quality of higher education in tourism in Iran.
Keywords Tourism higher education · Human resource management · Service

quality · Developing countries · Delphi technique
S. Seyfi (*)
Pantheon-Sorbonne University, Paris, France
e-mail: siamak.seyfi@etu.univ-paris1.fr
A. Nikjoo · M. A. Samimi
Shandiz Institute of Higher Education, Mashhad, Khorasan Razavi, Iran
e-mail: a.nikjoo@shandiz.ac.ir; m.samimi@shandiz.ac.ir

64 S. Seyfi et al.
5.1 Introduction
In some service industries, such as travel, tourism and hospitality, the delivery of
high-quality services to consumers is increasingly sought as a key factor in con-
sumer satisfaction (Attallah, 2015; Baum, 2002; Dhar, 2015) and in the effective-
ness and flexibility of the entire company in the competitive global tourism
environment (Eraqi, 2006). The contribution of human resources, as reflected in the
quality of service and consumer experiences, is a key element in the delivery of a
high-quality tourism product (Baum, 2015). Consequently, investment in human
resources emerges as a crucial aspect of tourism development. Given the globalisa-
tion of the tourism and hospitality industry and its labour-intensive nature
(Thompson, 2016), the delivery of quality customer service requires improved
training for the workers in both small- and medium-sized (SMEs) and large tourism
and hospitality enterprises. It has been argued that tourism education holds the
potential to enhance customer satisfaction and also to improve the competitiveness
of tourism businesses and regions (Baum, 2012). It has even been asserted that the
education of qualified tourism professionals is the most important factor affecting
the development of the tourism industry (Du, 2003). While in the developed world,
training provision is readily available and well-resourced, in the developing world,
facilities, resources and training traditions often remain limited and ineffective
(Baum, 2012; Hai-yan & Baum, 2006).
In recent decades, the momentum in tourism and hospitality higher education has
been accelerating (Airey, 2008), as evidenced by the range and diversity of training
programmes available at various levels, especially in countries where tourism has
become a major socio-economic phenomenon (Mayaka & Akama, 2007). As tour-
ism plays an important role in the sociocultural and economic life of many develop-
ing countries (Hall & Page, 2017), tourism education at all levels plays a key role in
securing and maintaining sustainable tourism development. Within this context, this
chapter focuses on Iran. Unlike other developing countries, where tourism higher
education has a relatively long history, tourism higher education in Iran was not
developed until 1995 (Ziaee, Saeedi, & Torab Ahmadi, 2012). Yet its growth has
been quite rapid since its modest beginning, which is arguably associated in signifi-
cant ways with the phenomenal expansion of the country’s tertiary-level educational
opportunities in general.
With the rapid economic development in Iran after the relaxation of sanctions
following the nuclear agreement of July 2015, known as the Joint Comprehensive
Plan of Action (JCPOA), the influx of international tourists and businesspersons
into this untapped market has increased significantly (Khodadadi, 2016). Iran has
long been under sanction for its disputed nuclear programme, its ballistic missiles
programme and its human rights violations (Khodadadi, 2016; Morakabati, 2011).
In the aftermath of the landmark nuclear deal, and since sanctions were eased, it is
anticipated that the growth will continue; in particular, the country is hoping to
attract some 20 million tourists by 2020, as called for in its Fifth Five-Year Plan for
National Development (Porter, 2015). In 2017, Iran attracted more than five million
5 Tourism Higher Education in Iran: Past, Present and Future Directions 65
international tourists (World Travel & Tourism Council [WTTC], 2017). The major-
ity of foreign visitors to Iran have been religious pilgrims (Shia tourists). In Iran
there are many Shi’ite Shrines, the two main ones being Imam Reza Shrine in
Mashhad and Fatimah al-Ma’sūmah Shrine in Qom. Each year, millions of pilgrims
from Shi’ite countries visit these holy places. However, since the softening of sanc-
tions in 2015, changing the image of Iran to an emerging tourism destination, the
number of western tourists visiting Iran has considerably increased. Given both the
tourism development policy in the country and the ongoing attention to Iran as an
emerging tourism destination, an analysis of tourism higher education in Iran is
long overdue.
This chapter commences with a brief commentary on tourism development in
Iran. It then turns to address how tourism is shaped in Iranian higher education and
discuss the current structure and characteristics of tourism at higher education level
in Iran. The latter section of the chapter sheds light on the themes arising from the
challenges for the development of contemporary tourism higher education in the
Iranian context. Furthermore, implications and prospects for the further develop-
ment of tourism higher education in Iran, particularly in the wake of the relaxation
of sanctions, are also explored, and recommendations are proposed for tourism
planners, educational institutions and tourism establishments.
5.2 Tourism Development in Iran
Iran is located in south-western Asia and covers a land area of more than
1,648,000 km2 with a population in excess of 80 million. Known as Persia until
1935, the country is rich in the history of humanity (with historical and urban settle-
ments dating back to more than 5000 BCE) and has a high concentration of archaeo-
logical sites (Zendeh Del, 2001). Iran’s location at the intersection of major Asian,
Middle Eastern and European countries and trade routes (e.g. the Silk Road) has
shaped its diverse cultures and history (Alavi & Yasin, 2000). There are thousands
of historical places in Iran, and many are yet to be discovered. As of early 2018, 21
historical sites and 1 natural site are listed under the UNESCO World Heritage list,
while 56 more sites are tentatively listed (UNESCO, 2018). According to O’Gorman,
McLellan and Baum (2007), Iran’s archaeology, cultural heritage, traditions and
natural characteristics are among the main factors attracting inbound tourists.
Moreover, Iran is one of the world’s foremost oil producers, and oil along with gas
accounts for over 80% of its export earnings, indicative of a heavy reliance on
hydrocarbons, which has resulted in efforts at diversification (Cordesman, 2016).
Although the ancient Zoroastrian religion originated in Iran, the country is mainly
known as a centre for Shia pilgrimage in terms of religious tourism (Zamani-
Farahani & Henderson, 2011). Moreover, the tourism sector in the country benefits
from substantial domestic demand (Ghaderi, 2011). Despite this wealth of tourism
resources, Iran has failed to gain a comparable share of the world tourism industry,
especially when compared with similar countries in the region.
66 S. Seyfi et al.
Although Iran was considered to be the Middle East’s top tourist destination dur-
ing the period 1967–1977 (Morakabati, 2011), in the post-1979 era after the Islamic
Revolution of Iran, the aftermath of the Iran-Iraqi war and nuclear dispute, interna-
tional travel to Iran was substantially restricted. However, Iran’s negative image in
many countries disguises its long history of tourism and its rich cultural and natural
heritage. The Iranian tourism industry, despite enormous potential, has therefore
suffered severely over the past three decades; its challenges include negative imag-
ery in tourism-generating markets, political tensions with the West as a result of
Iran’s nuclear programme and human rights issues, over-reliance on oil revenues,
political instability and conflicts in the Middle East region and poor management
(Baum & O’Gorman, 2010; Ghaderi & Henderson, 2012; Khodadadi, 2016;
Khodadadi & O’Donnell, 2015; Morakabati, 2011). Strengthening inbound tourism
and its role as an economic and cultural pursuit has been a common goal favoured
by various state systems and administrations in Modern Iran.
During the Pahlavi monarchy, in the wake of strengthening relations with the
West and particularly the USA, tourism was considered as an important strategy for
introducing Iranian history and culture. In this period, Western Europe and North
America were Iran’s most important tourism markets. With the increase of inbound
tourism, tourism facilities and services along with the first tourism master plan were
developed. However, the steady development of tourism and the increasing flow of
visitors were interrupted by the Islamic Revolution in 1979 and the establishment of
the theocratic Islamic Republic in its aftermath (Bahaee & Pisani, 2009).
Consequently, inbound tourism faced a sharp decline, and the industry experienced
significant negative socio-economic impacts as a result of the dramatic change in
the political system from a monarchy to an Islamic Republic. Following the lifting
and softening of sanctions on Iran by western countries, the country is attempting to
leave behind years of conflict and international isolation and to turn itself into an
emerging tourist destination. According to the WTTC (2017), the direct contribu-
tion of the travel and tourism industry to Iran’s GDP was approximately USD
11.9 billion (2.9% of total GDP) in 2016, and it is expected to rise to USD 16.6 bil-
lion (7.5% of total GDP) by 2027. With the increasing focus on the development of
the tourism industry in the country following the nuclear accord, its expansion is
likely to create further employment. In order for Iran to penetrate the global tourism
market and obtain a bigger slice of this growing industry, the country needs to
improve the quality of its tourism and hospitality services. Given the intensifying,
constantly changing and competitive tourism environment, it is critical to under-
stand human resource training issues in the Iranian tourism industry. This knowl-
edge would be helpful in identifying the major issues relating to the delivery and
provision of professional training and higher education in tourism, as the develop-
ment of human resources can create lasting competitive advantages.
5.3 History of Tourism Higher Education in Iran
The developmental history of tourism education varies according to the character of

the sponsoring institution and the education and tourism industry framework sup-
porting it (Baum & Devine, 2007).The origin of tourism education in the Iranian
context traces back to the 1930s and the establishment of the Jalbe-Sayahan tourism
office (Ziaee et al., 2012). One of the most important measures of the pre-
revolutionary period was the establishment of the Hospitality Management Higher
School in 1963 and the Hotel Management School in 1966. In 1970, Iran’s
Educational Centre of Tourism Organisation signed a cooperation agreement with
the International Labour Organisation (ILO) with the aim of recruiting international
tourism and hospitality experts to train local employees working in hotels, as well
as revising the training plan for tourism services. Following this agreement, in 1971,
a hospitality school was temporarily founded in Shiraz in order to train the city’s
hotel employees. In that year, the Higher Institute of Tourism Services was founded
by the Iran Ministry of Intelligence and Tourism. In 1975, the first group of 25 hos-
pitality instructors and distinguished graduates was sent to Italy for a 3-month
internship. There was significant growth of provision for tourism in both further and
higher education after the Islamic Revolution in 1979 (Ziaee, 2004). At the higher
education level, the first tourism undergraduate programme was offered in 1995 and
the first graduate programme in 2004, along with a hospitality undergraduate pro-
gramme in the same year at the Allameh Tabataba’i University (ATU) in Tehran.
Since then, there has been a substantial increase in the number of universities and
colleges offering tourism programmes.
Starting from 1995, ATU has played a key role in tourism higher education in
Iran. The professors of this university as well as the first graduates contributed to
Iranian tourism higher education and the national tourism literature, although their
writings were generally published in Persian in national journals and comprised
conceptual work on tourism economics, tourism development and planning, mar-
keting and human resources (Farzin, 2005; Kazemi, 2004; Zahedi, 2006; Zargam,
2004). Starting from the late 1990s and early 2000s, other universities and higher
education institutes began offering undergraduate and graduate degree programmes
in tourism. At the graduate level, following the first graduate programme in tourism
marketing in 2004, new subjects such as ‘Ecotourism’ and ‘Religious Tourism’
have also been offered over recent years. The first PhD programme in tourism was
offered by the ATU and the University of Science and Culture in 2012. The develop-
ment of tourism in Iran along with the shortage of qualified staff for lower, middle
and senior positions in tourism organisations led to a further increase in demand for
degree programmes in the field. Coinciding with this trend, vocational training insti-
tutes and private universities were founded to further expand higher education.
Along with some positive and promising outcomes, the opening of so many pro-
grammes has resulted in a number of problems and challenges that will be examined
in this chapter.
68 S. Seyfi et al.
5.4 T
he Current Status, Structure, Characteristics
and Trends in Iranian Tourism Education
Tourism programmes at higher education institutions in Iran have been offered over
the past two decades and have been developed in an effort to comply with the tour-
ism industry’s growth and labour demands (Heydari Chianeh, Nasrollahzadeh, &
Abdollahi, 2012). There are three levels of tourism education offered at Iranian
universities and higher education institutions: 2-year associate degrees, 4-year
bachelor degrees and two postgraduate (master’s and PhD) degrees. Tables 5.1 and
5.2 provide some statistical data on the number of students studying tourism at
postgraduate level at higher education institutions in Iran.
The 2-year associate degree programmes aim to provide graduates for lower and
middle management-level positions in tourism and hospitality organisations and are
offered at universities as well as vocational schools. There are no precise published
statistics about the total number of associate degree students in Iran. However, by
2016, it is estimated that more than 6000 students were studying on 2-year associate
degree programmes (Ministry of Science, Research and Technology of Iran [MSRT],
2018). Secondary school graduates are required to pass the national university
entrance exams conducted by the National Organisation of Educational Testing
(Sazman-e Sanjesh-e Amuzesh-e Keshvar) every June if they want to continue their
education in state universities. Students who want to study in private universities
like Islamic Azad University and the University of Applied Science and Technology
are exempted from passing the national entrance exams. The students can be selected
based on their performance in high school. However, they need to pay for tuition
and other expenses. Generally, the curriculum in these 2-year programmes consists
of four major fields: general requirements, basic courses, major and specialised
courses and internships. Some programmes specialise in certain areas, such as tour-
ism services, but most of the associate degree programmes have a broad and general
focus on tourism management. An associate degree (Kardani) is awarded after the
Table 5.1 Tourism disciplines with master’s programmes and number of students enrolled in
2016
No of No of % of total tourism master’s
Discipline universities students students
Tourism Marketing 11 197 17.2
Tourism Development 10 167 14.5
Planning
Geography and Tourism 26 498 43.4
Planning
Ecotourism 11 181 15.7
Religious Tourism 3 60 5.2
Tourism Planning 2 45 4
Total 63 1148 100
Author’s own compilation derived from http://www.sanjesh.org and https://sanjesh2.iau.ac.ir/
Table 5.2 Universities with No of

doctoral programmes in Institution students
tourism in 2016
Allameh Tabataba’i University (ATU) 10
University of Science and Culture 7
Total 17
Author’s own compilation derived from http://www.
sanjesh.org/
successful completion of a 2-year period of study that normally lasts four semesters
(MSRT, 2018).
The 4-year degree programmes are designed to prepare students to enter the tour-
ism industry at management-level positions and to train them to improve the quality
of service. The first school to offer a 4-year degree in tourism was the ATU estab-
lished in 1995 in Tehran. The most established tourism programmes are at the ATU,
the University of Semnan and the University of Mazandaran. Most of the remaining
programmes, particularly in the non-profit universities, have opened over the last
decade and are still in the development stage. As a result of the establishment of
other similar schools, there are presently more than 30 bachelor degree programmes
in tourism and hotel management offered by both public and private universities in
Iran. More specifically, 4-year programmes offer education in the areas of tourism
management and hospitality management. As of 2016, it is estimated that nearly
5000 students were enrolled in these 4-year tourism degree programmes. Students
need to study over 40 subjects and obtain over 132 credits to graduate. A bachelor’s
degree (Karshenasi) is awarded after the successful completion of a 4-year period of
study that normally lasts eight semesters (MSRT, 2018).
The master’s degree programmes offer advanced education to students interested
in deepening their knowledge of the tourism industry in order to enter careers in
either the industry or education. Generally, two types of students enrol in these pro-
grammes: those seeking academic careers at universities and headed for doctoral
programmes and those interested in advancing their careers to get a better job in the
tourism public or private sector. The first master’s degree programme was launched
by the ATU in 2004. For the 2015–2016 academic year, according to the list pro-
vided by the National Organisation of Educational Testing, 63 universities offered
master’s programmes in tourism-related areas. Table 5.1 presents some statistics
about the number of universities offering master’s programmes and the number of
students in respective tourism disciplines. There are two types of master’s pro-
grammes: those requiring a dissertation and those not requiring a dissertation. The
first programme requires 32 credits, while the students in the latter programme are
encouraged to pass some seminars instead of completing a dissertation. The aim of
these programmes is to develop both senior managers for tourism organisations and
academics for tourism programmes. A master’s degree (Karshenasi Arshad) is
awarded after the successful completion of a 2-year period of study. State-run uni-
versities that offer master’s programmes advertise their quotas for each programme
annually through the National Organisation of Educational Testing (MSRT, 2018).
70 S. Seyfi et al.
Doctoral programmes generally provide advanced education to students inter-

ested in academic careers or in developing their research skills in order to advance
in the private or public tourism sectors. Doctoral programmes in tourism were
offered for the first time at the ATU and the University of Science and Culture in
Tehran in 2012. For the 2016–2017 academic year, these two universities offered
doctoral programmes in tourism. These programmes consist of required and elec-
tive courses for 39 credits, a qualifying comprehensive exam, a dissertation pro-
posal and a dissertation. The doctoral programmes are normally 4 to 5 years in
duration. Compared with the USA, UK and other western countries, the master’s
and doctoral dissertations in Iran tend to focus on macro areas of tourism, such as
tourism planning, tourism economics, tourism marketing and tourism organisations
and their management practices.
5.5 Prospects for Tourism Higher Education in Iran
Formal education plays a critical role in the development of a skilled and competent
workforce (Baum, 2015). However, the nature of the tourism industry and its many
different kinds of work at a variety of organisational levels requires different types
of skills. Therefore, the development of a qualified workforce capable of satisfying
all human resource needs in the tourism industry is an extremely challenging task
for many countries. ‘Many countries face a problem of matching the suitability of
education and training to the needs of the industry, and qualified tourism instructors
are in short supply’ (Esichaikul & Baum, 1998, p. 1). These challenges have been
addressed by a number of researchers, for instance, in Latin American countries
(Pizam, 1999), in China (Qiu Zhang & Wu, 2004), in Turkey (Okumus & Yagci,
2005; Yeşiltaş, Ozturk, & Hemmington, 2010), in Thailand (Chaisawat, 2006), in
Israel (Reichel, 2006) and in Cyprus (Katircioğlu, 2010). With respect to Iran, part
of the country’s failure to achieve the potential economic and social benefits avail-
able to it from tourism is due to the lack of efficient and trained human resources,
which has affected product and market development, infrastructure and investment
(Heydari Chianeh et al., 2012; Zargam, 2004; Ziaee et al., 2012). Moreover, a large
part of the need for human resources is met by staff members who lack the neces-
sary skills and expertise (Heydari Chianeh et al., 2012; Khodaee & Kalantari, 2012).
According to Ziaee (2004), tourism training programmes conducted by public and
private sector departments in Iran still do not have a suitable local model; the skills
being taught often do not meet real and predictable conditions and needs.
In light of the rapid growth of inbound tourism following the softening of sanc-
tions on Iran, and in view of the continuous support from the Rouhani administra-
tion in developing the tourism industry as one of the major pillars of Iran’s economy
during the post-sanctions era (Mozaffari, Karimian, & Mousavi, 2017), it is expected
that tourism in Iran will grow at a rapid pace and the demand for professionally
trained people will thus continue to increase over the next decade. With the lifting
of sanctions on Iran and the changing image of Iran from a pariah destination into
an emergent destination, alongside the forecast from the WTTC (2017), more
opportunities are available for Iranian people who are interested in developing a
career in the field of hospitality and tourism. Therefore, the numbers of hospitality
and tourism vocational programmes are expected to grow.
5.6 Study Method
A document survey and the Delphi technique were the major research techniques
used in this study. Background information was first collected via a survey of Iranian
tourism higher education records sourced from various official and unofficial data-
bases in both Persian and English languages (e.g. Ministry of Science, National
Organisation of Educational Testing and Azad University Testing Organisation).
Then, the Delphi technique was employed to obtain in-depth perspectives from 20
tourism stakeholders on the higher education challenges in tourism and hospitality
in Iran; stakeholders surveyed included tourism academics, industry practitioners
and government representatives as well as current tourism students and graduates.
A description of the participants is provided in Table 5.3.
Discussions revolved around the following questions:
• What gaps exist between the demand and supply of tourism and hospitality
workforce training in Iran?
• What are the challenges faced in providing effective tourism and hospitality at
higher education level in Iran?
• What are the future tourism and hospitality higher education needs of Iran and
how might they best be met?
A thematic analysis – a widely used ‘method for identifying, analyzing and
reporting patterns within data’ (Braun & Clarke, 2006, p. 79) – was then used in
order to explore the challenges facing tourism higher education in Iran. Seven
Table 5.3 Participants in the Delphi survey

Tourism academics Academics from five universities offering higher education tourism
programmes plus a representative from the ACECR Institute for Tourism
Research
Industry practitioners Representatives from associations for hotels, apartment hotels, travel
agencies and cafés and restaurants
Managers of four- and five-star hotels
Managers of large travel agents
Government A representative from Iran’s National Tourism Administration (ICHTO)
representatives A representative from the Ministry of Science
Current tourism Representatives from current tourism undergraduate and graduate
students students + two postgraduate students
Tourism and Three tourism graduates
hospitality alumni
72 S. Seyfi et al.
themes emerged, around which the findings are presented in the rest of this
section.
5.6.1 Lack of Cooperation Among Tourism Stakeholders
First, there is a lack of cooperation between tourism higher education programmes

and the tourism industry in spite of their role as the main supplier to the industry’s
labour pool (Hsu, 2005). Tourism programmes at undergraduate level are not diverse
enough with only two having a particular focus – one on tourism management and
the other on hotel management. However, most curricula are similar and have no
differentiating content or requirements. Specialisations, including airlines and travel
agency management, food and beverage management and event management, are
being neglected in higher education. There is evidence of a lack of communication
between tourism enterprises and training institutions, making it difficult for training
institutions to encourage students to enhance their learning in a real service environ-
ment, such as a hotel. While tourism and hospitality education has a short history in
Iran, the lack of qualified professors and trainers, as well as an absence of the
required equipment, provides a less-than-ideal education. This lack of cooperation
and communication has also resulted in a lack of trust from the private sector
towards the graduates due to the fact that they have ineffectual practical knowledge,
as the tourism professors in Iran focus mainly on theoretical approaches. Therefore,
when new graduates enter a professional working environment, they either fail to
make use of what they were taught or they adapt ineffectively to the working situa-
tion. As a result, many students have insufficient skills and opportunities to get a
job. Greater acknowledgement of the role of stakeholders in the education process
may assist the process of adaptation to the rapidly changing environment.
5.6.2 Location
In terms of the location of faculties and departments where tourism programmes in

associate degree and undergraduate programmes are offered, most are based either
in remote or small cities. The Islamic Azad and Payame Noor universities, as the
largest private universities in Iran, have branches in nearly all cities across the coun-
try. Although the driving idea was to evenly distribute training across the entire
country, the majority of these institutions, as in other developing countries, were
opened without any feasibility studies or strategic planning that investigated the
appropriateness of locations or the availability of human and financial resources
(Okumus & Yagci, 2005). The location of their studies hinders tourism and hospital-
ity students in terms of developing and maintaining good connections and working
relationships with tourism organisations in their region and in neighbouring regions.
Consequently, the students typically graduate without encountering many tourism

and hospitality organisations or domestic and international tourists.
5.6.3 Lack of Qualified Teaching Staff
The lack of qualified teaching staff has been a major problem for all programmes in
tourism. In the early days, due to a lack of qualified academics in the field, some
academics from other disciplines, particularly from geography, economics, man-
agement and linguistics, moved into the tourism field and occupied key positions.
The lack of qualified staff in these programmes has had a negative impact on the
teaching of practical and hands-on subjects. Moreover, it is also widely known that
many of the teaching staff in these tourism-related programmes have no or insuffi-
cient working experience in the industry. Moreover, the number of enrolled students
and universities’ capacities are not consistent with the number of teaching staff,
particularly at graduate levels in private universities.
5.6.4 Insufficient Facilities and Equipment
When many universities decided to offer undergraduate and more recently graduate
programmes in tourism, mainly in higher education institutions, the requirements
for training facilities and equipment were often ignored or underestimated. The
majority of these programmes still face difficulties in providing good training facili-
ties and equipment. The main teaching method in all programmes is still purely
lectures. It is often the case that practical subjects are taught without any, or with
limited, practical hands-on training, due to a lack of equipment and facilities.
5.6.5 Curricula
The curricula for tourism have not been updated since its establishment in 1995.
Criticisms had been raised about the curricula used in tourism programmes in higher
education. There have been ongoing debates and discussions among academics as
well as between academics and industry practitioners about the improvement of the
curricula used in tourism degree programmes. At all universities, the medium of
instruction is Persian. In addition to English, students are expected to learn a second
foreign language (either French or German, but mainly French); however, some
essential language skills in keeping with inbound tourism demand (like Arabic or
Turkish) are being neglected despite this fact that most of Iran’s international tour-
ism market consists of Arabic-speaking religious tourists, mainly Shia tourists
74 S. Seyfi et al.
coming from the Middle East along with the Turkish-speaking tourists from Turkey
and Azerbaijan.
Moreover, the main teaching method, like in other developing countries, is lec-
tures presented with limited discussion, and the main assessment method is written
exams that often force students to memorise facts and theories rather than to achieve
deeper learning by applying, synthesising and evaluating theories and issues
(Okumus & Yagci, 2005, p. 109).
5.6.6 Industrial Placements
Students studying tourism in associate degree programmes are required to complete

480 hours of internship as part of their formal training. Many universities and higher
education institutions are based in areas far from the main tourism destinations and
often face difficulties in building relationships with appropriate tourism organisa-
tions in order to arrange students’ industrial placements. Furthermore, the tourism
organisations, particularly hotels, often regard students as cheap labour and expect
them to work long hours with low wages. Students are not prepared for this, which
disappoints both parties. For example, many student interns complain of a poor
attitude from managers who do not have formal academic training. Finally, due to
resource limitations and unwillingness, it is often difficult for instructors to visit the
students during their internships in tourism organisations. A partnership created
between the different stakeholders can underpin the achievement of better outcomes
in terms of practice-based training needs.
5.6.7 Difficulty Keeping Graduates in the Industry
There is evidence that students who graduate from university tourism programmes
often leave the industry for a number of reasons. As stated above, most of the stu-
dents choose tourism programmes without having any clear understanding of the
working conditions and career paths in the industry. When they start their intern-
ships or begin working as full-time employees, tourism organisations do not always
treat them well or pay a sufficient salary. These poor working conditions do not help
to keep graduates in the industry. At the same time, industry practitioners claim that
graduates from tourism programmes lack essential practical skills, language skills
and a positive attitude. Because of the above reasons, it is estimated that more than
half of the graduates from tourism programmes do not work in the industry after
they graduate from associate degree tourism programmes or undergraduate pro-
grammes (Ziaee et al., 2012).
5.7 Conclusions and Implications
This chapter has sought to discuss and evaluate the development of and challenges
facing tourism higher education in Iran. Based on this discussion, a number of con-
clusions can be drawn. Tourism higher education in Iran is undertaken at three lev-
els: the associate, bachelor and postgraduate degree levels. As tourism higher
education started in 1995, it is still a relatively new phenomenon and has a short
history in Iranian higher education. The development of tourism education in Iran
has so far been ad hoc and unplanned. Iranian educational institutions have been
unable to meet the human resource needs of the tourism industry in terms of either
quality or quantity, which has led into an inappropriate development with long-term
ramifications.
At various levels, the tourism educational institutions have a number of problems
that need to be addressed. The 2-year associate degree and bachelor degree pro-
grammes are all characterised by insufficient training, equipment and facilities,
which are compounded by the lack of alignment between the curriculum and indus-
try needs. The postgraduate programmes face problems due to a lack of qualified
academic staff, particularly those active in high-quality and internationally recog-
nised academic research and publications. Furthermore, the Iranian tourism indus-
try is struggling to provide favourable work conditions and appropriate career
opportunities for graduates of tourism programmes. At the same time, students who
experience harsh work conditions and low-paying jobs even briefly as part of their
practical training or internship requirements develop negative attitudes towards
long-term employment in the tourism industry. Tourism employers also appear to
have negative perceptions of the quality of education provided by tourism schools
and believe that tourism instruction is not sufficiently relevant to the industry and
does not adequately prepare students to meet industry needs.
However, the landmark nuclear accord of July 2015 and the lifting of sanctions
on Iran have created a new environment for the development of the tourism industry.
This has brought both promising opportunities and unprecedented challenges, and
now that the embargoes have been lifted, substantial growth in tourism to and from
the country is being experienced. As a consequence of Iran’s rapid growth in
inbound tourism, the need to develop required human resources in various segments
of the industry has become imperative. It is widely accepted that the education of
qualified tourism professionals is the most important factor affecting the develop-
ment of the industry. Since higher educational institutions are the main locus of
tourism education in Iran, the demand for re-evaluating tourism education in the
country and exploring possible ways to further reform and develop it has become an
issue of great importance and urgency. In terms of the strategic implementation of
tourism product development, tourism education and training institutions should be
the catalysts and have a coordinating role with all stakeholders in each region or
destination.
76 S. Seyfi et al.
The results of this study conducted with various stakeholders, including tourism
teaching staff, industry partners, current students and graduates as well as govern-
ment officials, have provided the following recommendations:
• Practical industry experience in the form of a more supervised practicum and
internship should be integrated into all tourism education as a requirement.
Students are likely to develop a greater level of understanding of hospitality and
tourism concepts and much-needed work experience during industry engage-
ment than through theoretical teaching and learning.
• Tourism practitioners and educational institutions should work together closely
in order to improve curriculum design and provide proper training, with the aim
of aligning tourism curricula with industry needs so that they provide education
tailored to meet the needs of the hospitality and tourism industry in terms of the
professional skills required. Moreover, this cooperation would facilitate improved
internship and practical training programmes that will be mutually beneficial to
the industry and students.
• Greater awareness needs to be created among students entering into tourism edu-
cation regarding the positive and negative aspects of having a career in the tour-
ism industry. This can be achieved by establishing a ‘Career Development
Department’ within the institution. Improved awareness is likely to eliminate
unrealistic expectations regarding a career in tourism and reduce the number of
unsuitable and uncommitted students.
• Gaining and demonstrating industry experience as well as strong academic train-
ing and experience should be indispensable for those involved with teaching in
universities and vocational schools. Those lecturers who lack significant industry
experience should be encouraged to participate in industrial training programmes
as part of their professional development.
• The traditional selection process through entrance exams for associate degree
and bachelor degrees needs to be restructured to include a personal interview
(which is already a requirement for doctoral programmes). The interview can
serve as a screening process to select those appropriately motivated candidates
whose personality traits would fit the working environment in the tourism indus-
try and can be helpful in terms of informing students about industry work condi-
tions and career opportunities (Yeşiltaş et al., 2010).
• Foreign language education should be a significant part of tourism curricula. In
addition to English, a second foreign language should be shifted from French or
German to Arabic or Turkish as reflected in the demographic profile of the
Iranian inbound market, which are mainly Shia tourists coming to Iran to visit
important pilgrimage sites in Mashhad and Qom.
• In addition to the traditional classroom delivery mode, e-learning through the
Internet and other information technologies should be encouraged. E-learning
will allow more student-centred learning rather than faculty-centred instruction.
It also encourages interactive discussions involving all students. It can provide
more flexibility for students to learn at their own pace and be geared more to the
practice of continuous education and lifelong learning.
• In the wake of the lifting of sanctions and a changing relationship with the West,
universities in Iran need to fully support involvement in faculty and student
exchange programmes with regional or international universities. By doing this,
academic staff will have opportunities to build professional relationships with
colleagues at academic institutions in other countries; academic staff will gain
international experiences that will enrich their lectures, broaden their perspec-
tives and ultimately help improve standards at their own institutions; students
will gain invaluable experience through student exchange programmes; and by
building strong professional and institutional relationships, Iranian academics
and educational institutions can improve their international visibility.
The findings of the current study contribute to the growing literature on tourism
higher education in developing countries. This discussion has been set within the
context of the Iranian tourism sector but may also be relevant for other countries at
the same stage of development and where similar challenges occur. The findings
also provide tourism planners, educational institutions, as well as tourism establish-
ments with insights into the resources, attitudes and expertise needed to overcome
tourism training challenges at higher education level. Despite the contributions
made and the analytical and qualitative approach adopted, the findings of this study
should be viewed in light of a number of limitations that also provide opportunities
for further research. First, the lack of statistics and appropriate data in some areas of
the study could be seen as a limitation of the study. Nevertheless, the researchers
attempted to gather all the relevant information available. Some of the data used in
this study were mainly collected from secondary sources, such as government
reports. The validity of these reports and the information abstracted from them
could be questioned. Secondly, as is the case with all qualitative research, the
respondents cannot be considered representative of the whole body of tourism aca-
demia and industry practitioners. Therefore, further quantitative study is crucial to
further validate the results of the study.
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Chapter 6
Review and Assessment of Academic
Tourism and Hospitality Programmes
in China
Andreas H. Zins and Se You Jang
Abstract Over the past 30 years, the Western world has experienced the transition
of higher tourism and hospitality education from vocational to a broader social-
science orientation. This chapter investigates whether this shift away from a narrow
focus on employability towards a personal growth and values orientation has mate-
rialised in China as well. A content analysis of undergraduate programmes in
Chinese colleges and universities is used to identify the variability and emphasis of
curricula within the limited autonomy of higher education institutions in China. It
emerged that the transparency of programme designs is low, study programmes lack
a clear profile and positioning and teaching volume in classrooms is at least 80%
higher than the average of bachelor programmes in Western countries. Personal and
social skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking, creativity, teamwork and
liberal reflection capacities are neglected components. This supply side perspective
is complemented by focus group discussions with the HR managers of internation-
ally branded hotels in China. Participants considered emotional intelligence, an out-
going personality and personal endurance capabilities as more important assets than
technical skills. The third empirical study involved the reflections of more than 400
HR managers – mainly from the hospitality industry – on the contribution of broader
curricula components to the employability of graduates. These – mainly Chinese –
managers most appreciated extended language capabilities and experiences from
mindful internships. However, generic personal skills, such as communication, cre-
ativity, social responsibility, leadership and reflective, critical thinking, are valued
more than specific industry or functional managerial knowledge. Overall, a shift in
the perception of the service industry, innovation in new curriculum designs, more
transparency and competition as well as higher leadership competencies in the
industry will be required to foster a competitive edge for stakeholders, institutions
and educational beneficiaries in China.
A. H. Zins (*) · S. Y. Jang

Nanjing Tech University Pujiang Institute, MODUL School of Tourism and Hospitality
Management, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
e-mail: andreas.zins@modul.ac.at

82 A. H. Zins and S. Y. Jang
Keywords Curricula structure · Educational insight · Perceptual disparities ·

Transition · China
6.1 Introduction
In their recent review of research into education in hospitality and tourism, Hsu,
Xiao and Chen (2017) screened and summarised a total of 644 articles published in
13 different English-language journals over the period of 2005–2014. The research
activities of these publications were grouped into five broad areas: (1) teaching and
learning, (2) student development, (3) curriculum and programme, (4) education
environment and (5) faculty development. While the authors conclude that many
things have changed since Tribe published the seminal article on principles of reor-
dering the curriculum of tourism study programmes (2002) and that the hospitality
and tourism sector faces new challenges in the meantime, it remains rather unclear
whether the reported progress applies to China unequivocally.
Tourism development in China has been growing at an astonishing rate for more
than 25 years (Gu, Kavanaugh, & Cong, 2007; Lin & Zins, 2016; World Tourism
Organisation, 2017). Consequently, China’s higher education (HE) in tourism has
expanded at a similarly stunning pace (Bao, 2017; Wang, Huyton, Gao, & Ayres,
2010). Yet international publications on areas of tourism education (cf. Hsu et al.,
2017) with a focus on China are 10–20 years old. Over the past 30 years, the Western
world has experienced a transition in higher tourism and hospitality education from
vocational to a broader social-science orientation. This chapter investigates whether
this shift away from a narrow focus on employability towards personal growth and
value orientation has materialised in China as well.
To contribute to Hsu et al.’s (2017) third research domain of ‘curriculum and
programme’ and to update the scarce academic literature with a focus on China, the
following research questions (RQ) were developed:
RQ 1: In what respects do hospitality and tourism management programmes differ
between colleges and universities?
RQ 2: Do hospitality and tourism management programmes have much in common
or show distinct profiles?
RQ 3: What role does skills development and practical training play in these
programmes?
RQ 4: Do these programmes follow the ideas of a balance between the liberal vs.
vocational and action vs. reflection components of a curriculum, as outlined in
the vision of ‘the philosophic practitioner’ (Tribe, 2002)?
A content analysis of the curricula tables of a sample of undergraduate pro-
grammes enabled their structure to be screened against criteria identified in the rel-
evant literature, such as subjects regulated by the universities, compulsory internship
and practical vs. theoretical courses (e.g. Wang et al., 2010; Zhang, 2005; see
Fig. 6.1).
6 Review and Assessment of Academic Tourism and Hospitality Programmes in China 83
• Analysed curriculum contents of tourism and hospitality

majors from 20 universities and 20 vocational colleges
CONTENT throughout 17 provinces of Mainland China
ANALYSIS
• Conducted 2 focus group interviews at Shanghai and

Nanjing, China
FOCUS GROUP • Expected results for 4 main focus group interview questions
INTERVIEW
• Collected 155 survey questionnaires for a complete analysis

EMPIRICAL • Derived perceived benefits for employability
ANALYSIS
Fig. 6.1 Roadmap of the empirical components of this study
Socially controversial entrepreneurs are often encountered in communities,

regardless of nationality or ethnic background. Mr. Li Peiying, a chief of the Beijing
Airport holding company, appeared in a Chinese newspaper in 2016 for the embez-
zlement of 80.5 million Yuan from a public funds account to repay his gambling
debts and a further 26.61 million Yuan used to offer a bribe (Yu & Hong, 2016).
When we look at this kind of unconscionable individual antisocial aberration by a
business person, we tend to criticise it a lot, rather than find out what is causing this
behavioural misconduct. Wondering about the cause of the behaviour immediately
raises the question of what kind of education this person has received and how this
education may have influenced the individual’s departure from social norms.
Ultimately, this questioning leads to the premise that the purpose of education is not
only to convey knowledge and skills but also to qualify graduates as responsible and
ethical members of a society.
Since the supply side perspective of studying curricula content has turned out to
be very limited in identifying more general educational goals and value-driven prin-
ciples, it was decided to listen to HR managers during focus group discussions first.
These focus groups were conceived (1) to gain an understanding of hotel HR man-
agers’ needs, motivations or experiences about college or university graduates’
employability and (2) to develop a questionnaire that could be used to quantitatively
measure HR managers’ perceptions of college and university graduates’
employability.
In view of the lack of curricula-related studies in China with an emphasis on the
job market and employability perspective, the following research questions are to be
answered by this third part of the study, contributing to the second broader area of
‘student development’ mentioned above (Hsu et al., 2017):
RQ 5: Which curriculum components of bachelor study programmes contribute to
what degree to improving the employability of graduates?
RQ 6: Are there differences in the perceived benefits of the components between the
different programme majors: hospitality vs. tourism management?
RQ 7: Are there any recruiter characteristics influencing the employability assess-
ment of hospitality and tourism management graduates?
6.2 Literature Review
6.2.1 Sketch of Higher Education Studies
A comprehensive review of the state of higher tourism education in China was pub-
lished about 10 years ago (Gu et al., 2007). The authors screened a sample of 67
tourism education institutions in 2004. The history and scale of the programmes,
profiles of their students and faculty sociodemographics were topics covered by this
empirical study. The article also addressed a couple of current issues related to cur-
riculum design and positioning. Penfold, Wei and Ladkin (2012) arrived at similar
critical topics in their study about recent developments in China. Their study, in
contrast, was based on an assessment of the achievements of one particular institu-
tion from the perspective of its students and faculty.
Among others, both studies mention the problems related to undergraduate
employability and turnover in hotels, the prevailing gateway function to a job in a
‘higher-status’ industry and no lifetime career commitment from graduates and the
low attractiveness of jobs in the hotel industry (low rate of hospitality graduates
starting their career in the hospitality sector). Other critical issues address the opera-
tional and training perspective: practical and technical interests must be integrated
into a curriculum (Tribe, 2001), but also business interests dominate overall (Tribe,
2001), too little attention is made to skill development (Lam & Xiao, 2000) and
practical training is not sufficiently provided for students. Related to these deficien-
cies are aspects in conjunction with the available instructors: limited experience of
most of the faculty and limited laboratory facilities (Zhou, 1991), insufficient cur-
riculum design and faculty qualifications, lack of international scope and experience
of faculty and teaching programme limited to current faculty experience.
Gu et al. (2007) have already called for various measures to improve the quality
of higher education in hospitality and tourism management in China; among other
measures, they ask for more investigation by students, including themes such as
‘mindful managers’ (Moscardo, 1997), critical skills, reflective practice (Schön,
1983) and liberal reflection (Gross & Manoharan, 2016); for written learning out-
comes and module descriptors; for programmes to be backed by an industry advi-
sory board; and for schools to provide career direction and guidelines to their
students. It was also criticised that the level and position of hospitality and tourism
programmes are not clear, which leads to unclear positioning of graduates in the
marketplace; teaching material should be of better quality; special attention should
be given to foreign languages, information technology, practical skills and personal
development; and internship networks need to be strengthened to facilitate students’
future work in the tourism industry.
A recent summary of these concerns can be found in Li and Li (2013), in which
they appraise a new curriculum at South China University of Technology, which has
been implemented in close cooperation with Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts
Guangzhou. The following problems have been addressed there and in related
articles:
1. Low reputation and recognition of the tourism discipline within the current edu-
cational system (Cheuk, 2005).
2. Faculty do not have sufficient essential experience and industry relations to
effectively educate students (Cheuk, 2005; Li & Li, 2013).
3. Unclear educational objectives and confusing curriculum systems (Wu, 2004).
4. Zhang and Wu (2004) urge the development of a market-oriented curriculum for
China’s tourism and hospitality educational system.
5. Graduates from top-tier universities show no intention to work in the industry
(Lu & Zhou, 2007).
6. Tourism-related jobs are short-lived professions (Jiang & Tribe, 2009).
7. Internship trainings influence students negatively with respect to their overall
experience in the programme (Richardson, 2008; Zopiatis, 2007).
Regarding the fourth broad research area of ‘education environment’ referred to in
the introduction section (cf. Hsu et al., 2017), it was recommended that the hotel
industry’s recruitment system should be reformed together with the present pay
system; that industry, education and research should develop a uniform model
through industry cooperation; and, lastly, that the education system needs a more
international orientation (Gu, 2003).
6.2.2 Curriculum Composition and its Assessment
Curriculum designs are complex decision-making processes with a variety of con-

tingent factors, such as overall programme objectives, learning outcomes and avail-
able resources within the school, industry and other networks between the different
stakeholders, educational competitors and regional contexts (Morgan, 2004; Smith
& Cooper, 2000; Tribe, 2002). Ring, Dickinger and Wöber (2007, p. 107) sum-
marised the requirements of a balanced curriculum into seven main areas:
1 . Understanding of a wider tourism world and tourism society
2. Transferable skills, creativity and critical and flexible thinking
3. The future of tourism, including personal responsibility and the ability to take
part in the creation and shaping of the future of tourism
4. Sustainability
5. Preparation for the industry – the vocational part of an education
6. Management skills
7. Information technology, eCommerce and eTourism
The authors ran a survey among academics, tourism and hospitality industry profes-
sionals and other experts to assess the importance weights of the different knowl-
edge, skills and experience components of an ideal academic undergraduate
programme by applying an Adaptive Conjoint Analysis technique. For their empiri-
cal study, eight such components were defined out of which ‘internship’ ranked
highest with double the weight derived for the tourism knowledge domain. General
management and business administration subjects together with language skills
ranked next. Then, generic skills such as problem-solving, creativity, reflection,
entrepreneurship and ethics followed in terms of importance. For academics, the
latter competencies ranked significantly higher than for industry professionals,
which means that faculties value these competencies higher than practitioners.
A more recent study in Korea (Kim, Park, & Choi, 2017) investigated perceived
differences in the importance of the core competencies of tourism graduates by
industry practitioners using the technique of an analytic hierarchy process.
Competencies can be understood as personal attributes or characteristics that enable
the delivery of a role/job (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development,
2018). Hence, this perspective is outcome oriented and different to a curriculum
component analysis, which is much more input oriented. Relative importance scores
across five core competence factors did not show large differences. Yet the three
higher-ranking factors were ‘job-specific competency’, ‘social responsibility’ and
‘global competency’, while ‘creative competency’ and ‘administrative competency’
turned out be lower in importance. The use of different factors and labels and a dif-
ferent number of criteria make a direct comparison impossible. However, if we
acknowledge that internships directly serve to improve job-specific competencies,
and language skills support global competencies, we find some converging results.
In both studies, generic skills (creative competencies) were assessed as playing a
subordinate role. In contrast, general management and administrative competencies
diverged substantially.
A related study on the perceptions of essential entry-level management compe-
tencies in the hospitality industry in the USA (Jiang & Alexakis, 2017) considered
19 skill and competency factors and their perceived importance in preparing for a
good management position. These factors were regressed on an overall satisfaction
score for the undergraduate programme. The highest impact on satisfaction was
found from ‘analytical skills’ and ‘problem-solving skills’ with ‘flexibility and
adaptability’ in third place. ‘Knowledge of the hospitality industry’ had the least
influence out of only five significant factors that remained in the regression.
Comparing the latter results to the previous two studies, contradicting rather than
converging outcomes can be concluded.
Such controversies are not surprising given the complexity of curriculum design
tasks and the assessment of its effectiveness. Tribe (2002) developed guiding prin-
ciples for the design of curricula for higher tourism education, which he defined as
‘a whole educational experience packaged as a degree program’ (p. 340). He pro-
posed that the aim for such tourism degree programmes is educating ‘philosophic
practitioners’, which entails the promotion of a ‘balance between satisfying the
demands of business and those of the wider tourism society and world’ (p. 340). Its
value is embedded in the integration of knowledge from various fields ‘to encourage
vocational competence balanced by ethical competence’. He calls this value ‘stew-
ardship’. In the meantime, Tribe’s (2002) critical review of the role and design of
higher tourism and hospitality education spans a period of over 20 years and across
continents. The BEST Education Network (www.besteducationnetwork.org,
BEST-EN, 2018) emerged from this endeavour committed to furthering the creation
and dissemination of knowledge within the field of sustainable tourism. In 2007,
BEST EN launched the Tourism Education Futures Initiative (TEFI, 2018; see also
Sheldon, Fesenmaier, Wöber, Cooper, & Antonioli, 2008, Sheldon, Fesenmaier, &
Tribe, 2011), which seeks to provide vision, knowledge and a framework for tour-
ism education programmes to promote global citizenship and optimism for a better
world.
In China, this discussion and critical reflection either has not yet started or sim-
ply is not visible in international publications. In the academic literature, other con-
cerns prevail mainly addressing the lack of industry orientation in academic
programmes (Du, 2003; Li & Li, 2013; Zhang & Wu, 2004). However, the third
China Tourism Education Association Annual Conference and International Forum
on Tourism Education held in November, 2017, at Sun Yat-sen University in
Guangzhou brought the discussion to a wider audience by inviting many interna-
tional scholars to China to present their experience and visions of a better tourism
education to more than 500 participants. Interestingly, it was the representative of
the Ministry of Education in China, Mr. Feng Chen, who drew a picture of a future-
oriented education that integrates not only practical training but also the wider per-
spective of people’s happiness and the whole industry’s contribution to society
(Chen, 2017).
6.3 Study Design and Methods
6.3.1 Curriculum Analysis
A list of the programmes in hospitality and tourism management currently being

offered by colleges and universities in China was compiled using queries on the
official website about student admissions through the Gaokao (the centralised col-
lege and university entrance) system. Appendix A summarises the programme
offers differentiated by type of institution (college vs. university), by main emphasis
(hospitality vs. tourism management) and by province. Combining type of institu-

tion and course emphasis creates a matrix of four groups: college hospitality, col-
lege tourism, university hospitality and university tourism. It was decided to draw a
disproportional, clustered (by selected provinces) sample of 10 programme curri-
cula (Mertens, 2005, p. 316) in each of the four groups with a medium scale of
regional dispersion: 17 out of 30 provinces were represented with at least one cur-
riculum. Hence, the sample data cannot claim to be strictly representative. However,
it provides variation across several different types of provinces and across different
types and sizes of colleges and universities. The consecutive content analysis of 40
study programmes delivers the necessary data to answer research questions 1–4.
In a first step, all the courses listed in the curriculum tables were compiled and
grouped by their leading subject areas. Due to the immense array of variation and
options within and across curricula, it was reasonable to focus on a comparison of
only the compulsory components of these curricula. The attempt to structure and
condense these compulsory components followed a pragmatic approach to address
the research questions raised in the previous section. Components were grouped
into eight subject areas (SA 1–8; see Table 6.2). Each subject area was seen as hav-
ing a gravity towards (i.e. a pull towards with no sharp boundaries) one of the four
quadrant combinations of the two dimensions of the philosophic practitioner span:
action vs. reflection and vocational vs. liberal; thus action-vocational, action-liberal,
reflection-vocational and reflection-liberal. One group (SA 1) comprised all the
generic functional areas that commonly define Business Administration core sub-
jects: these include management, human resource management, marketing, account-
ing, finance, economics and statistics, classified as mainly vocational-action.
Similarly, we grouped sector-specific knowledge, concepts and skill development
courses into either the hospitality or tourism management groups (SA 2 and SA 3,
respectively).
Communication and personal skills (SA 4) can be seen as purely skills develop-
ment and technical training. These subjects frequently open the door to reflection
and personal development, which is why they were considered as having a greater
gravity towards (compatibility with) the reflection-action dimension of a curricu-
lum. A similar line of thought underpinned the grouping of career- and internship-
related courses (SA 5), as these subjects carry an ambiguous valence between action
and reflection. In contrast, the next group of subjects, labelled as Creativity and
Innovation (SA 6), carry a clear dominance towards reflection development. Any
innovation-, development-, planning- and research-related course subjects were
gathered into this category.
Courses not limited to the narrow boundaries of a subsector (such as the hotel or
resort industries or the tour operator or airline industries), and following a multidis-
ciplinary approach, were considered to contribute to a broader, liberal-reflective
capacity building. Subjects such as the regional economy, geography, anthropology
and culture were therefore grouped into this cluster (SA 7). For courses that open
the mind to improving the wellbeing of stakeholders other than company owners, a
separate group was created under the label of Liberal Action (SA 8).
6.3.2 Focus Group Discussions
Focus group interviews in this study had two main aims: (1) to accumulate a better
understanding of hotel HR managers’ needs, motivations or experiences about col-
lege or university graduates’ employability and to note their suggestions; and (2) to
use focus group results to develop a questionnaire that would enable HR managers’
perceptions of college and university graduates’ employability to be quantitatively
measured. Two focus groups with hotel HR managers were conducted (n = 2 and 4,
one male and five females) in Shanghai on October 27, 2017, and in Nanjing Wanda
Hilton hotel lobby bar on November 13, 2017.
There were four focused questions employed:
Q1: ‘How does what you are doing now relate to what you have learned? How does
what you have learned from your university help in your real work?’
Q2: ‘Can you share one of your best and worst experiences with any of your col-
leagues concerning work performance or work attitude? What are the most criti-
cal aspects when you evaluate their performance?’
Q3: ‘If you were to post a job call for a particular position in your hotel, what would
be a must-have attribute or competence you would list?’
Q4: ‘If there was only one thing you could change about your current employees,
what would that be?’
6.3.3 Online Survey Among Managers
To answer research questions 5–7 (how important are different curriculum compo-
nents for the employability of graduates from bachelor programmes in hospitality or
tourism management), an adaptive conjoint design seemed appropriate (Dubas and
Mummaleneni, 1997; Ring et al., 2007). It is a method of preference measurement
that constrains choice alternatives. Choosing or rating the favourability of two
options with partial or full profiles at the same time provokes trade-offs among the
defining characteristics of the entire profile (here: educational profile of graduates)
and prevents an unrealistic preference inflation. While this study followed the same
method as the authors above applied in their research, the framing was different.
Ring et al. (2007) tried to find the ideal composition of a bachelor curriculum. This
perspective is deemed appropriate when asking stakeholders involved in the design
and delivery of a particular study programme. In this study, the target criterion is the
comparative advantage of employability judged from the perspective of future
employers. The selection and grouping of curriculum components were informed
by the results of the curriculum analysis and the outcome of the expert focus group
discussions and, finally, guided by the dimensions outlined for the concept of the
philosophic practitioner (Tribe, 2002).
Following the principle ideas of Ring et al.’s study (2007), but adapting the
research questions to reduce the cognitive burden for respondents, the following
five subject areas were defined (Appendix B): business administration and manage-
ment, insights into either the hospitality or the tourism industry, generic skills,
internship and languages. In total, 14 different curriculum component options,
across all five subject areas, were outlined (Appendix B). Respondents (HR manag-
ers from hospitality and tourism sectors) were able to familiarise themselves with
these options before expressing their individual preference when hiring a fresh
graduate. Right from the beginning, respondents could choose either to hire a gradu-
ate from a hospitality management or a tourism management programme: the two
main and visible study programme options in China. After the familiarisation exer-
cise, respondents had to rate their preference for hiring one of two graduates with
differing educational profiles; in total, nine pairs were presented. This task was fin-
ished by a calibration or validation question with three different profiles generated
automatically, based on the respondent’s answers and similar to the pairs previously
generated (adaptive conjoint technique).
The questionnaire was developed with SSI Web from Sawtooth Inc. and put
online (Couper, 2000) in English and Mandarin language for about 3 weeks
(between December 2017 and January 2018). Potential respondents’ names and
email/WeChat addresses had been collected beforehand by contacting companies
listed on intermediary websites such as booking.com and TripAdvisor. In total, 454
managers were invited to participate in this study. Most were affiliated to the hotel
sector (440) with only 12 working in travel and tour operator businesses. Overall, 17
different provinces (as the managers’ place of work) were covered. After a second
reminder message was sent out, a gross response rate of 77% was registered.
However, only 155 completed questionnaires (or 34% net) could be used for a com-
plete analysis. Questionnaires had been answered using either a mobile phone or a
computer. The individual preference or utility values were derived by applying hier-
archical Bayesian parameter estimation procedures (Sawtooth Software, 2006).
From the differences between utility scores within each factor (or here, curriculum
components), it was possible to calculate the relative importance of each factor for
the favourability of a complete profile (Sawtooth Software, 2018). Next to the esti-
mation of importance and utility values for each component, respondents were also
asked how satisfied they were with already hired graduates with respect to the five
main curriculum elements.
The following section reports on the results for each of the study components
introduced in this method section. The different findings and their interpretation in
answering the proposed research questions are dependent on the selected methods,
concepts, data generation and preparation steps outlined here. The final concluding
section reviews these findings synoptically and gives directions for further research.
6.4 Results and Discussion
6.4.1 Characteristics of Curricula

6.4.1.1 Types and Volume on Offer
The results of the programme content analysis show that there are different options
for studying hospitality or tourism management in a higher education institution in
China. In terms of numbers, colleges offer the most, with their 664 tourism manage-
ment and 482 hospitality management programmes representing two thirds of the
entire range. At universities, 443 tourism and 114 hospitality management pro-
grammes can be found. While at colleges the hospitality programmes take a 42%
share of the hospitality-tourism total, at universities, the hospitality proportion is as
low as 20% (80% tourism). Colleges commonly offer 3-year programmes, awarding
a diploma to their graduates. Universities run bachelor programmes under the
broader category of business studies lasting for 4 years; graduates are awarded a
bachelor certificate. Until recently, institutions of higher education were not able to
offer hospitality and tourism management programmes with different majoring sub-
jects because only one unified curriculum framework had been developed and
approved by the government (Gu, 2017). Within this official framework, only a
small number of subjects and courses were compulsory (General Education Courses;
Wang et al., 2010). Institutions could define their own detailed curriculum based on
guidelines that specified only the larger subject domains, such as Subject Base
Courses, Major Base Courses, Major Core Courses, Concentrated Practice Courses
and Elective Courses.
Students interested in joint programmes offered in cooperation with foreign
institutions have a number of different options in China. About 30 different joint or
double-degree programmes are available with an overwhelming majority offered in
Chinese and English or English language only (Chinese Education Department,
2017). The following countries offer programmes in conjunction with Chinese insti-
tutions: the USA (7 programmes), the UK (4), France (4), Austria (2), Russia (2),
Hong Kong (2) and Australia, Korea, Ireland, Denmark and Switzerland (1). Joint
programmes vary in structure: either 4 + 0, which means the entire study programme
is offered in China, or 2 + 2 or 3 + 1, which means that part of the programme must
be finished at the partner institution abroad. Most of these programmes offer dual
degrees: a Chinese bachelor and a foreign bachelor certificate. However, some offer
a Chinese bachelor’s degree only, while others only award the foreign degree.
Finally, there are a few programmes open to foreigners and Chinese nationals who
want to study outside the Chinese educational framework. The latter two study
options are not considered in this review. These curricula are not included in
Appendices A and B and were not screened or commented on.
College programmes with a duration of 3 years follow a similar pattern irrespec-
tive of the subject major (see Table 6.1): teaching hours average at about 2100,
which is equivalent to about 28 hours per week each semester (excluding semesters
Table 6.1 Overall scope of teaching and practical education in hospitality and tourism programmes
at colleges and universities
Colleges Universities
Aspect HM TM HM TM
Sample size 10 10 10 10
Average teaching/credit hours 2094 2096 2723 2526
Minimum 1635 1794 2208 2208
Maximum 2566 2387 3343 3475
Average weekly teaching hours per semester (excluding 28 28 27 23
internship semesters)
Average internship hours (1 week = 30 h) 668 630 704 489
Average proportion of internship hours 24% 23% 20% 16%
Minimum 9% 13% 1% 2%
Maximum 41% 35% 38% 26%
Average proportion of practical teaching hours/supervised 40% 38% 25% 17%
learning
Minimum 14% 20% 12% 6%
Maximum 56% 59% 54% 59%
HM Hospitality management, TM Tourism management
with internships); however, the variation is substantial with a minimum of 1635 and
a maximum of 2566 h. Internships can be found in about 50% of the curricula in
only one semester, and the other 50% require internships in two semesters, yet not
fully occupying the entire semester workload. On average, internships last for about
650 h. Taking these working hours as equivalent credit hours, these internships
comprise about 24% of the curriculum; however, the internship share can be as low
as 9% and in other programmes as high as 41%. In addition, the screening of the
curricula data tried to identify courses with practical training components (RQ 3).
Considering such courses (including electives and practical language courses), the
practical training share is about 40% with the total hours of supervised (classroom)
teaching as the reference. Since the analysis did not take the credit weight of each
course into consideration, it can be expected that the reported share is somewhat
lower since practical training courses usually take fewer weekly hours. The varia-
tion among the different programmes is substantial: from a minimum of 14% practi-
cal training (Yunnan Tourism Vocational School, Hospitality Management) to a
maximum 59% (Qingdao Vocational School, Tourism Management; Wuchang
Vocational School – Hospitality Management).
University bachelor programmes, in contrast, show total teaching hours of
around 2600 h with a large variation ranging from 2200 (Shanghai Normal
University, Anhui Normal University) to 3500 h (Jiangxi University of Finance and
Economics). The average weekly teaching hours per semester (excluding internship
semesters) are 23 (in tourism management programmes) and 27 (in hospitality man-
agement). This average is a rough approximation since many programmes shift the
internship activities of their students to multiple semester breaks. These internship
requirements vary substantially across different programmes. In tourism
anagement curricula, compulsory hours are substantially lower (489 on average)

m
with a share of only 16% within the entire curriculum. The absolute duration as well
as the share is much lower compared to college programmes. Moreover, the share of
internship periods can be close to zero in some programmes. In hospitality pro-
grammes, the internship hours (704 h) are slightly above the average of those in
college curricula. However, the share of 20% of the complete study programme is
still lower. Here as well, some universities prescribe only 1 or 2 weeks ‘work experi-
ence’ in companies (e.g. Beijing International Studies University, Southeast
University Nanjing). Together with other practical learning opportunities embedded
within regular course work, the total programme share of practical experience
ranges between 17% (TM) and 25% (HM), which is much lower than the share
calculated for college programmes (RQ 3). However, some programmes put much
emphasis on such practical training opportunities where the weight (in terms of
number of courses) is even higher than 50% (e.g. Changzhou Institute of Technology,
Hospitality Management; Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics – Tourism
Management).
6.4.2 Course Structure
The following structural analysis of the sampled study curricula is mainly based on
the compulsory part and excludes those mandatory subjects common to every study
programme such as Contemporary History of China, Introduction of Mao Zedong
Thought, Moral Character Cultivation, Principles of Marxism, Military Education
and Physical Education. In college programmes, the elective part of the curricula
appears to be limited: less than 5% of the total curriculum on average. In contrast,
at universities, students have multiple options:
1. Many universities offer further specialisations within the large domain of tour-
ism management majors: one option is hotel or hospitality management; others
are event management, sports management, tour operation and tour guiding.
2. Curricula frequently offer groups or blocks of courses among which students
must choose one complete or several blocks with a minimum number of credits
and courses within each chosen block.
3. Further flexibility is granted through the opportunity to select elective courses
from a restricted or sometimes unrestricted list.
Table 6.2 summarises the variety (# of different) of courses found in the sampled
curricula as well as the density or weight (average # of courses) given to the respec-
tive group of subjects and helps to answer particularly RQ 1 and 2. The spread
(minimum and maximum # of courses) reflects the differences in curriculum struc-
ture, which is due to the individual design and profile of each institution’s study
programmes. The percentages express the approximate weight of the respective
subject group taking only the compulsory parts of the curriculum into account.
Table 6.2 Density and variation of compulsory curriculum courses in eight subject areas
Colleges Universities
Subject area (SA 1–8) HM TM HM TM
Sample size 10 10 10 12
1. Business administration 15% 10% 44% 33%
# different 9 7 30 31
Average # 3.2 2.2 11.0 6.3
Min./max./mode # 0/5/4 1/5/1 7/16/10 2/14/2
2. Hospitality management 48% 6% 25% 8%
Average # 10.2 1.2 6.3 1.6
Min./max./mode # 5/14/8 0/4/0 2/9/8 0/7/1
3. Tourism management 7% 53% 15% 26%
Average # 1.4 11.4 3.8 5.0
Min./max./mode # 0/5/1 8/14/11 1/10/2 0/10/5
4. Communication, personal skills 15% 18% 9% 8%
# different 11 11 15 11
Average # 3.2 4.0 2.2 1.6
Min./max./mode # 1/7/2 0/8/4 0/9/1 0/9/1
5. Career, internship preparation 9% 5% 3% 4%
# different 4 4 1 2
Average # 1.9 1.0 0.7 0.8
Min./max./mode # 1/3/2 0/2/1 0/1/1 0/2/0
6. Creativity, innovation, research 0% 0% 2% 9%
Average # – 0.1 0.5 1.8
Min./max./mode # 0/0/0 0/1/0 0/2/0 0/4/1
7. Geography, culture 1% 7% 1% 10%
Average # 0.2 1.5 0.3 1.8
Min./max./mode # 0/1/0 0/4/2 0/1/0 0/3/3
8. Liberal action 0% 1% 0% 2%
# different 0 2 1 2
Average # – 0.2 0.1 0.3
Min./max./mode # 0/0/0 0/1/0 0/1/0 0/1/0
HM Hospitality management, TM Tourism management, # Number of courses within the compul-
sory part of the curriculum
The results of content analysis show that tourism and hospitality programmes at
colleges do not put much emphasis on a comprehensive management and business
administration education (SA 1). At some institutions, it is not even a compulsory
element. On average, only two to three courses on these subjects are mandatory with
a significantly lower weight given to them within the tourism management pro-
grammes. In contrast, bachelor programmes at universities offer not only a much
larger variety of business administration topics but also three times more compul-
sory courses on these topics compared to college education programmes. Hospitality
curricula put much more emphasis on elementary managerial knowledge (with sub-
jects such as Principles of Accounting, Financial Management, Principles of
Management, HR Management, Fundamentals of Law, Economics) compared to
tourism management programmes.
In the hospitality management subject area (SA 2), colleges focus most on the
different functional (e.g. marketing, sales, HR, information management) as well as
service areas (e.g. front office, food and beverage, housekeeping, banquet) in their
curricula. On average, they dedicate about ten courses to hospitality management.
As can be expected, this subject group plays a minor role in their tourism manage-
ment programmes. This pattern is similar in university bachelor programmes, yet
with only six courses, on average, within the hospitality curricula.
A different structure can be seen in the supposedly core subjects of the tourism
management group of courses (SA 3). These subjects play a subordinate, almost
negligible role within Hospitality Management programmes. However, they are
very pronounced within the college curricula in Tourism Management with 11
courses on average. Surprisingly, some bachelor curricula at universities offer a
huge variety of courses (60 different subjects) but with less than 50% weight (only
five compulsory courses on average) compared to colleges. Some universities do
not even prescribe compulsory courses in tourism management (Jiangxi University
of Finance & Economics and Nanjing University of Finance and Economics with
only one course).
The next group of subjects (SA 4) mainly cover the development of (spoken)
language capabilities with English dominating and Mandarin in second rank. No
other verbal communication skills such as presentation techniques, group discus-
sions, negotiations or business communication can be found in the curricula. At
colleges, three to four courses on average are dedicated to improving – mainly –
language capabilities. At universities, only half of this emphasis can be found.
Moreover, there are programmes without any such courses (e.g. Sun Yat-Sen
University, Nanjing University of Finance & Economics, Anhui University).
In most of the college and university programmes (78%), some preparation
courses for internships and/or career planning (SA 5) are made compulsory. At uni-
versities, there is a slightly reduced emphasis on guiding and helping students
towards future careers. Courses that explicitly foster creative thinking and problem-
solving capabilities (SA 6) can be rarely found. Within college programmes, they
are not present at all. At universities, most courses are research related. Only one
among 16 courses explicitly focuses on innovation and entrepreneurship.
Complementary subjects (SA 7), which add different disciplinary perspectives,
are also rare. They are more pronounced in Tourism Management programmes
(with a share of 7–10%) and mainly cover geographic and cultural topics.
The last group of course topics (SA 8) cover the liberal-action quadrant of the
concept of the philosophic practitioner. In this quadrant, courses discuss and develop
knowledge related to policy and planning for ‘a better world’. Courses fitting into
this category are seldom found in hospitality and tourism curricula in China (RQ 4).
6.4.3 Focus Group Interview Results
In this second step of the study, it was possible to contextualise some of the informa-
tion derived from the literature review, from conference presentations and the ongo-
ing curricula screening. HR managers considered what students learned from their
universities and colleges being only partially or indirectly helpful in becoming
employable. In contrast, emotional intelligence, outgoing personality and personal
endurance capabilities are more important assets for being a hotelier than opera-
tional skills. HR managers in these focus groups unanimously perceived that dis-
playing a proactive and self-disciplined work attitude contributes to a more positive
evaluation of a potential employee, regardless of the candidate’s previous work
placements or personal background.
Other participants expressed that being passionate, exhibiting a kind of ‘hotel
DNA’ in the genes and a guest-oriented mind-set can result in an outstanding
employability evaluation. On the other hand, the participants agreed that lack of
independence and poor communication skills may result in a negative evaluation. In
general, warm-heartedness towards human beings, effective communication skills,
clear career plans in the hotel sector and fluent language skills were on the manag-
ers’ priority list. In contrast, selfishness and lack of team orientation must be
avoided, they stated. All participants admitted that punctuality tells many things
about a job applicant, especially in the hotel industry. Few participants highlighted
the role of colleges and universities as an important partner to the industry.
To sum it up, there seems to be a difference in the definition of talented graduates
between what the industry wants to get and what the higher education institutions
want to create. Therefore, it is necessary for higher education institutions to reflect
on the content of current curricula and the way they are delivered and for the indus-
try to seriously consider participating in a process of programme evaluation and
change.
6.4.4 Managers’ Perspective on Curricula
In this section, results from the third empirical study, the survey questionnaire, are
summarised. Respondents who completed survey questionnaires were either less
than or equal to 30 years old (n = 71) or in the age bracket of 31–40 years (n = 73);
56% were male. Because of the way contact addresses were obtained, 80% worked
in the hotel sector, 60% of those in international hotel companies. Almost 60% of
these managers preferred graduates with a hospitality management background.
The rest were either undecided or explicitly opted for tourism management gradu-
ates. Those respondents working in the hospitality industry preferred taking gradu-
ates with a hospitality management education.
Table 6.3 shows the average utility scores for the 14 curriculum component
options used in this study. Utility scores were derived from the nine individual
Table 6.3 Average zero-centred utilities of subject areas/competencies for future graduate

employees
Subject major
Subject area Options HM TM p level
Business administration Basic – selective −0.25 −0.38 n.s.
Comprehensive 0.25 0.38 n.s.
Industry insights Basic skills 0.25 0.02 < 0.05
Interdisciplinary −0.15 −0.01 n.s.
Including planning, development −0.09 −0.01 n.s.
Generic personal skills Individual −0.14 −0.38 < 0.05
Team-oriented, creative 0.05 0.10 n.s.
Socially oriented, ethics 0.09 0.28 < 0.05
Language No foreign language −1.48 −1.50 n.s.
English 0.13 0.16 n.s.
English + another 1.33 1.34 n.s.
Internship No internship −1.22 −1.26 n.s.
< 6 months: skills 0.23 0.25 n.s.
< 6 months: skills and reflection 0.99 1.01 n.s.
HM hospitality management, TM tourism management, p level probability, n.s. not significant
p airwise comparisons of graduate profiles and then calibrated to sum up to zero

within each subject/competence area (= zero-cantered). Utilities are separated by
the two major options: HM for hospitality management and TM for tourism man-
agement (RQ 6). The biggest employability benefit is gained by graduates with
extended language proficiency (cf. Table 6.3): English and a second foreign lan-
guage (around 33%). Managers from international hotels put more emphasis on the
language component compared to those working in other types of hotels. The sec-
ond most important domain was internship experiences, with a score of about 27%.
Training for up to 6 months in a company or organisation, including reflexive tasks
and managerial problem-solving, was recognised as a valuable curriculum
component.
Generic skills comprising basic communication and presentation skills, problem-
solving and critical thinking, teamwork, creativity techniques and reflective capaci-
ties turn out to have a similar contribution to employability as knowledge and skill
components. The latter are directly related to the applied field – either hospitality
industries or the wider domain of tourism-related sectors (cf. Table 6.4) – with an
average importance weight of 16%. Surprisingly, these industry insights are reverse
ordered: basic skills and knowledge in the applied field are appreciated more than
advanced and multidisciplinary competencies. Obviously, it is more important to
dedicate time and effort to curriculum components other than a detailed and differ-
entiated understanding of industry specificities. However, differences only show up
for Hospitality Management graduates (utilities vary between −0.15 and 0.25) and
not for Tourism Management graduates (utilities vary between −0.01 and 0.02). The
lowest benefit is attributed to educational efforts in the field of general management
and business administration subjects. No significant differences emerged between
Table 6.4 Relative importance values (percentage of the whole) of five subject/competence areas
from a manager’s perspective
Subject/competence area
Manager Business administration Industry Personal Foreign
background management insights skills language Internship
Hospitality 10% 16% 16% 32% 27%
management
Tourism 11% 13% 15% 33% 28%
management
Significant n.s. < 0.05 n.s. n.s. < 0.01
difference
Working with int. 9% 14% 14% 34% 29%
hotels
Working with 11% 16% 16% 30% 26%
other hotels
Significant n.s. n.s. n.s. < 0.05 n.s.
difference
Note: All five subject areas differ pairwise (horizontally) significantly, except industry insights –
personal skills
Int International
the two major options, HM vs. TM (RQ 5). In the similar study by Ring et al.
(2007), who interviewed mainly Western academics and industry practitioners, the
internship component turned out to have the highest perceived benefit within a
bachelor programme followed by foreign language capabilities. General manage-
ment knowledge and generic skills followed narrowly behind and knowledge com-
ponents from the graduates’ field (the tourism domain) played the weakest part.
Overall, no significant differences in importance weights and utilities could be
detected between males and females, between the two different age groups or
between the different employment sectors of the responding managers (RQ 7).
Respondents were also asked to rate the importance to industry HR managers of the
five competence areas differentiated in the hiring task. On a 6-point rating scale,
personal, social and communication skills ranked highest with an average score of
4.2, followed by language capabilities almost at the same level. Practical skills fol-
lowed in third place with a score of 4.0. Competencies in the field of general man-
agement and business administration were considered weaker at 3.9 followed by
insights into the hospitality/tourism industry. These performance ratings are uncor-
related with the individual benefit weight derived for the respective curriculum
components with one exception: managers attributing a better performance to grad-
uates for their personal skills gave slightly more emphasis to this curriculum
component.
6.5 Conclusion
In China, the curriculum frameworks for any academic degree (called ‘major’) are
centrally developed by the government. Until recently, it was only possible to offer
a hospitality management programme under a tourism management major. Tourism
management is exclusively classified as a business management major, irrespective
of the real structure and shape of the study programme, which is mainly designed
following the available resources and strengths of particular colleges, schools or
faculties. There is no differentiation between a bachelor of science, a bachelor of
arts or a bachelor of business administration orientation of the study programme.
Neither mission statements, study objectives, competence profiles of graduates nor
detailed curricula information are transparent in China. It is quite uncommon for
universities to release details about their study programmes. In most cases, the
information provided on their websites is limited to a list of the undergraduate and
graduate programmes they offer.
Curricula differ substantially between the two types of institutions and pro-
grammes screened in this study. Yet the variation of subject emphasis and variety
within the respective institutions is so large that a clear and distinct profiling is not
easy to establish. Practical orientation and skill development seem to be more pro-
nounced at colleges. More choice and flexibility in choosing from elective courses
prevail at universities. When comparing the hours dedicated to supervised instruc-
tion (mainly teaching in classrooms), it is striking that university bachelor pro-
grammes need 165 semester hours on average to complete a 4-year programme. In
many Western countries, bachelor programmes require 3 or 4 years of study with a
classroom input of 70–85 semester hours in total (Ring et al. 2007; Wang et al.
2010). The differences can have various reasons and implications:
• Chinese students must mainly learn while present in the classroom and not out-
side it (independent study).
• In China, learning materials are not available that allow students to study inde-
pendently (outside the classroom).
• Chinese students are not trained and prepared to study independently.
• Chinese instructors use inefficient teaching styles.
• The learning outcomes of Chinese bachelor graduates are of much higher quality
than those of the graduates of Western universities.
However, no comparative studies have addressed these questions so far. While it
would not be a trivial task to run comparisons about the effectiveness of different
teaching styles and approaches, this could be an interesting field of pedagogical and
didactic research.
In terms of a balance of liberal vs. vocational and action vs. reflective orientation,
the current curricula in China are still some distance from a more even mix. Exact
data for curricula from Western countries on this (im-)balance are either not avail-
able or outdated. Ring et al. (2007) reported that subjects with a liberal focus com-
prised 6% in their sample of Western tourism management curricula. In China, most
efforts are dedicated to vocational action-related subjects and teaching.
Different studies with a focus on employability and industry expectations show
diverging results: analytical skills, problem-solving capabilities, flexibility and
global competencies are ranked rather highly. HR managers in the tourism industry
in China were most appreciative of languages and experiences from mindful intern-
ships, including small managerial tasks, problem-solving and reflection. However,
generic personal skills, such as communication, creativity, social responsibility,
leadership and reflective, critical thinking, were valued more than specific industry
or functional managerial knowledge. In this respect, the results from managers
working in China do not differ much from judgements analysed and interpreted
from Western practitioners. Yet those competencies are still highly underrepresented
in the existing curricula in China. It appears that the narrow emphasis on even more
practical skill training in higher education programmes is not the solution anymore.
Of course, pure theoretical knowledge without practical application experience has
already been much criticised. Graduates are expected to provide problem-solving,
critical reflection and creativity competencies in the applied field together with a
high work ethos and self-discipline.
To improve the role and effectiveness of the higher educational system for hos-
pitality and tourism management in China, it is necessary to involve multiple stake-
holders: the educators and administrators from higher educational institutions,
government agencies and their representatives, industry associations, company
owners and managers, opinion leaders and parents and students. Curricula reforms
alone, which are decreed top-down, will not be sufficient. Increasing practical train-
ing hours for students without building capacities for self-directed learning and
reflective synthesising will not satisfy the industry needs nor students’ motivation to
follow a career in this sector. Keeping entrance salaries below average combined
with poor HR management practices in prospective employment sectors will not
change the existing mind-set of students who are not interested in working in the
hospitality and tourism industry. Only a joint and multidimensional initiative
towards more transparency, more efficiency and more attractive employability will
be able to solve the rising divide between the supply and demand side of higher
education in hospitality and tourism education in China.
6.6 Limitations
For this research, it was not possible to collect reliable and insightful information
about the details of the official ‘major’ programmes from institution websites.
Details about curricula structure, internship requirements, course titles, instructors,
learning outcomes and targeted graduates’ profiles could not be collected in a sys-
tematic manner. Most contacted faculty members – and even deans – refused to
deliver this kind of information. In this respect, there were no differences between
colleges and universities. Hence, it is highly questionable whether prospective stu-

dents, parents and even future employers can evaluate the various study programmes
on offer.
The convenience sampling of curricula causes some limitations to the scope of
the results. While the authors are convinced that the current sample showed a real-
istic picture of the huge level of variety, a different method of analysis would
enhance insights and understanding substantially. Instead of extending the sample
size, multiple case analyses including the development of programmes over a larger
period of the time and an analysis of programme objectives, syllabi and module
descriptions could deliver much richer material.
We conducted focus group interviews with HR managers. However, the voices of
front office, food and beverage and other department managers should have been
reflected as well. What HR managers pointed out about their expectations may not
fully cover the field’s real needs. HR managers’ evaluation of employees could be
partially based on standardised and fully structured forms.
The industry perspective is probably strongly biased towards the voice and views
of managers working in the hospitality industry. A more inclusive sample of repre-
sentatives from other tourism industries and service sectors within the supply chain
of the hospitality and tourism industry could come to different conclusions. Finally,
the perspective of students, graduates and faculty directly working in this educa-
tional field would greatly complement this review, which is fractional in its current
approach.
Acknowledgement The authors are grateful for the vast support in this research project offered
by their colleagues: Miranda Jiang, Helen Yan, Rick Li Xion, Shirley Gao and Nancy Zhang.
ppendix A: Hospitality and Tourism Undergraduate

A
Programmes at Vocational Colleges and Universities in China
in 2017
Hospitality Management major Tourism Management major

University College University College
Provinces Total # Sample # Sample # Sample # Sample
湖北 Hubei 108 8 34 1 23 43 1
河南 Henan 105 6 36 25 48
江苏 Jiangsu 105 10 2 31 2 23 3 41 1
山东 Shandong 96 4 22 1 19 51 1
安徽 Anhui 87 5 1 33 12 2 40
四川 Sichuan 87 4 20 23 40
广东 Guangdong 87 5 2 19 30 1 33 1
湖南 Hunan 83 7 22 29 25
河北 Hebei 80 0 24 1 15 41 1
Hospitality Management major Tourism Management major

University College University College
Provinces Total # Sample # Sample # Sample # Sample
江西 Jiangxi 68 3 22 13 1 30
广西 Guangxi 62 3 28 13 28
浙江 Zhejiang 61 2 19 1 14 16 1
黑龙江 58 2 17 16 23
Heilongjiang
陕西 Shaanxi 55 1 15 19 20
辽宁 Liaoning 57 4 16 15 1 22
福建 Fujian 56 7 2 11 1 13 25 1
重庆 Chongqing 50 6 1 13 18 1 13
山西 Shanxi 50 3 21 1 13 13 1
贵州Guizhou 45 4 13 1 10 18
北京 Beijing 39 4 1 6 15 14
内蒙古 37 1 15 7 14
Neimenggu
吉林 Jilin 36 3 9 15 9
新疆 Xinjiang 31 1 7 11 12
云南 Yunnan 31 2 8 1 10 11 1
海南 Hainan 31 4 11 5 11
甘肃 Gansu 25 4 1 5 7 9
天津 Tianjin 24 5 2 11 6
上海 shanghai 20 6 1 12 1 1 1
青海 Qinghai 6 0 1 3 2
宁夏 Ningxia 6 0 1 2 3
西藏 Xizang 4 0 0 2 2
Total 1703 114 10 482 10 443 10 664 10
Source: Beijing Xueersi Training School (2017)
ppendix B: Curricula Components and Optional

A
Characteristics for the Adaptive Conjoint Task
Theme; number of
Subject area options Options
Business Basic business 1. Only max. three subjects: e.g. marketing,
administration administration accounting, management
subjects; two options 2. Comprehensive, six or more subjects such as
HR management, organisational behaviour,
accounting, business law, economics, marketing
research and e-commerce
Theme; number of
Subject area options Options
Hospitality Insights into the 1a. Basic knowledge and applied training: e.g.
domaina or tourism tourism industry; three food and beverage management, housekeeping and
domaina options front office management, hotel sales, cooking
1b. Basic knowledge and applied training: e.g.
destination marketing, travel agency management,
attraction management, event management
2. Interdisciplinary aspects and impacts:
Economic, ecological, global, historical,
sociocultural and geographical perspectives of the
hospitality/tourism industry
3. Hospitality and tourism policy, planning and
development: role, function and responsibilities of
governments and other stakeholders
Generic skills Personal and social 1. Individual personal skills: goal setting,
skills; three options presentation skills, problem-solving, effective and
intercultural communication, teamwork
2. Team-oriented personal kills: creativity,
reflection and entrepreneurship, creative and
critical thinking, problem-solving, ability to reflect
on oneself, teamwork
3. Socially oriented personal skills: ethics,
creativity, reflection and entrepreneurship, personal
development, creative and critical thinking, ability
to reflect on oneself and impact on social
environment
Language Foreign language; 1. No foreign language training
three options 2. English and Chinese language training
3. English, Chinese and another foreign language
training
Internship Internship training in 1. No internship training
company or 2. Up to 6 months training of technical/operations
organisation; three skills
options 3. Up to 6 months training: skills and operations
including managerial problem-solving, reflection
on internal processes, debriefing and feedback
a
For hospitality major graduates, the hospitality subject area was chosen; for tourism major gradu-
ates, the tourism subject area was chosen
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Chapter 7
Hotel and Tourism Management Education
in Bhutan: The Creation of the Royal
Institute of Tourism and Hospitality
Paul Strickland
Abstract The Kingdom of Bhutan is an isolated country that prides itself on cul-
ture, heritage, religion, the natural environment and the concept of Gross National
Happiness (GNH) among others. GNH was introduced to the teaching curriculum
in the year 2000 to increase the happiness and satisfaction of the people, rather than
just focusing on monetary value or gain. Tourism plays an important role in being
one of the main contributors to Bhutan’s gross domestic product (GDP) by utilising
a unique visa tariff system in which international tourists pay a minimum of US$250
per day. In the past, exit studies conducted at the airport have highlighted the dis-
satisfaction of many tourists who were paying a high daily tariff and not receiving
the perceived quality products or services anticipated by international travellers
from developed societies. The government responded in 2004 by creating the Royal
Institute for Tourism and Hospitality (RITH) and offering a Diploma in Hotel
Management or Tourism Management and a Middle Management Programme to
educate Bhutanese tourism and hospitality employees to meet western expectations
and standards. Tourism education is currently delivered in Bhutan, rather than send-
ing Bhutanese nationals to foreign countries for training. This chapter focuses on
discussing the creation of RITH and highlights the future direction of tourism and
hospitality education in the Kingdom of Bhutan.
Keywords Education · Tourism · Hospitality · Kingdom of Bhutan · Royal

Institute for Tourism and Hospitality
P. Strickland (*)
La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia
e-mail: p.strickland@latrobe.edu.au

108 P. Strickland
7.1 Brief History of Education in Bhutan
Bhutan is an independent country land-locked in the Himalayas. Bhutan, also

referred to as the Kingdom of Bhutan, is governed by a constitutional monarchy
currently ruled by the fifth King, His Majesty, the Druk (Dragon King), Gyalpo
Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck; the Queen, Her Majesty, the Druk (Dragon
Queen), Gyaltsuen Jetsun Pema Wangchuck; and the incumbent Prime Minister,
Tshering Tobgay. Together with other government ministers and officials, these
leaders give guidance to the modern education systems and programmes as cur-
rently there is no legal framework or education act in Bhutan. However, ‘education
is recognised as a basic right and a pre-requisite for achieving the wider social,
cultural and economic goals’ and is viewed as an important aspect for Bhutan’s
future (International Bureau of Education, 2004, p. 1). To ensure that basic educa-
tional facilities are provided, the Ministry of Education was established to maintain
schools, facilities, sporting equipment and teaching supplies. The 11 years of pri-
mary and secondary education are all fully subsidised by the Bhutanese government
with all children having access to education (Worden, 1993). Additionally, public
schools have been established in remote locations, although some children may still
have to walk long distances to reach a school (Ritchie, 2008).
The first ‘modern’ school in Bhutan was opened in 1914, although much of its
teaching content was based on Buddhism principles. Prior to this school opening,
the overwhelming majority of education content was provided by monasteries to a
select number of Bhutanese. Monastic education continued until the late 1950s,
when ‘western-style’ education was introduced (Dukpa, 2016, p. 39). Western-style
education included teaching English, world history, global geography, modern sci-
ence and western customs. Currently, the Bhutanese system educates children for
7 years at primary level and 6 years at secondary level. A selected number of stu-
dents continue at tertiary level at one of the two universities: the Royal University
of Bhutan or Khesar Gyalpo University of Medical Sciences of Bhutan, selected by
application. Other students may be sponsored to study abroad in sectors such as
medicine, engineering, agriculture or business (Dorji & Kinga, 2005). Formal edu-
cation is taught in English in the hope of remaining progressive and competitive
with other nations; however, there are at least 24 dialects of the local language
called Dzongkha (Strickland, 2012). Dzongkha is generally spoken at home and
socially with friends. Additionally, Nepali is spoken in the northern areas of Bhutan
(van Driem, 1994).
Bhutan has a growing tourism sector, and employees new to the sector require
training to meet the expectations of visitors. However, compared to other nations,
tourism is still in its developing stages and operates differently with its tariff system
and inclusions. The following information was obtained from the annual Bhutan
Tourism Monitor, which is the main document the Bhutanese government uses to
keep track of historical tourism data and predict future trends on which to base
future industry decisions. The findings assist in the development of tourism, hospi-
tality and event programmes and the products and services that are offered in
Bhutan.
7 Hotel and Tourism Management Education in Bhutan: The Creation of the Royal… 109
7.2 E
merging Tourism and Hospitality Industry Since the
1970s
The first official tourists into Bhutan occurred in 1974 at the coronation of the fourth
King, His Majesty, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, with 274 invited foreign dignitaries.
Although other foreign nationals had previously visited Bhutan, the coronation was
credited as the first large-scale tourist event/s with accommodation and hospitality
being provided on mass (Dorji, 2007). The construction of the international airport
in Paro began in 1968 and was further expanded in 1983. Paro is approximately a
1-hour drive from the capital city, Thimphu (Ritchie, 2008). Excluding Indian citi-
zens, 93% of international tourists arrive by airplane, with the remainder via land
(Tourism Council of Bhutan, 2016a). Druk Air is the official airline for tourists, and
the airport is reputed to be one of the world’s ten most dangerous landing strips due
to the limited landing space and mountainous terrain (Zimba, 1996). The first tourist
hotels, built in 1974 for the King’s coronation, were the Hotel Druk in the town
square of Thimphu and the Olathang Hotel set in 28 acres of forest in Paro. Since
then, a plethora of hotels and guesthouses have been opened in a variety of locations
throughout Bhutan.
The Royal Government of Bhutan (RGoB) implements a 5-year plan for tourism
policies. The most recent policies are published in the Tourism Monitor 2016–2020.
Tourism policy is formed on the principle of ‘High Value, Low Impact tourism
which serves the purpose of creating an image of exclusivity and high-yield for
Bhutan’ (Tourism Council of Bhutan, 2016a, para. 2). For US$250 per day, a visitor
receives a double or twin share room in accommodation with a minimum of three
stars, a daily guide, entrance fees, a designated driver and three main meals per day
in preselected restaurants. Bhutan’s vision is ‘to foster a vibrant industry as a posi-
tive force in the conservation of environment, promotion of cultural heritage, safe-
guarding sovereign status of the Nation for significantly contributing to NH
[National Happiness]’ (Tourism Council of Bhutan, 2016b, para. 3). The idea of
GNH suggests that if the people are happy, the flow-on effects will help stimulate
economic development and environmental conservation, promote culture and meet
the spiritual and emotional needs of the people (Ministry of Finance, 2000).
Today, Bhutan attracts over 90,000 international visitors annually with a pro-
posed cap set at 100,000 foreign visitor visas issued annually by 2020 (Fig. 7.1;
Johns & Namgyal, 2017). When domestic tourists travelling within Bhutan for rec-
reation were added to the 100,000 international visitors, 205,575 was the official
number of tourists recorded by the Tourism Council of Bhutan in 2016. The visitor
cap is to ensure that tourism is controlled and the principles set out in the govern-
ment’s tourism policy are adhered to. In essence, the policy means that Bhutan has
a sense of exclusivity and attracts high-yield tourists (based on the visa tariff sys-
tem) rather than long-term or budget travellers. The visa tariff system is unique to
Bhutan and an ideology for tourism sustainability. Unfortunately, the weather con-
ditions in Bhutan are not consistent year-round; therefore the majority of tourists
visit in the summer months when the weather is warmer and when the main festivals
110 P. Strickland
120,000 105,407
100,000
100,000
Number of international vistor
80,000
60,000
arrivals
40,873
40,000
20,000 13,626
6,393
0
2000 2005 2010 2015 2020
Year
Fig. 7.1 International visitor arrivals in Bhutan (2001–2020) (Source: Tourism Council of Bhutan
(2016a))
take place. The challenge for Bhutan is to attract visitors in the off-peak months and
in winter (Strickland, 2012).
7.3 T
ourism and Hospitality as a Contributor to Gross
Domestic Product
Tourism is a major contributing industry to Bhutan’s GDP. In fact, tourism repre-

sents the third largest sector contributing to the GDP of Bhutan (see ‘services’ in
Fig. 7.2). Tourism is also the leading source of royalties providing approximately
75% of government royalties in 2016–2016, exceeding the royalties gained from
mines (15%), hydropower (6%) and forestry (3.5%) (Ministry of Finance, Royal
Government of Bhutan, 2017). This shows the importance of tourism to the nation’s
economy and to employment in Bhutan.
It is important to understand the international tourism markets for Bhutan in
order to know where to target promotional and advertising campaigns (Fuchs,
2017). In 2015–2016, Chinese nationals were the largest market of international
visitors, followed by the USA, Japan, Thailand, the UK, Singapore, Germany,
Malaysia, Australia, Taiwan, France, Vietnam, Canada and Switzerland (Ministry of
Finance, Royal Government of Bhutan, 2017). Indian nationals make up the largest
number of visitors to Bhutan but are excluded from these results as they are consid-
ered regional tourists and do not require a visa if their stay is less than 7 days.
Consequently, many Bhutanese guides specialise in international languages such as
German, Japanese, Thai, Spanish and Mandarin in order to cater to non-English-
speaking tourists.
In 2015–2016, 68% of international visitors were part of packaged tours, and
85% were on holiday. Most visitors travelled with other family members, and only
6% were travelling to Bhutan for business. The report also highlighted that most
Composition of Sectorial Revenue

1.9%
2.6%
Primary Manufacturing
Trade 25%
37.9% Hydro-electricity
9%
Finance
Services 23.7%
Fig. 7.2 Composition of sectorial revenue of Bhutan (Source: Ministry of Finance, Royal
Government of Bhutan (2017))
Table 7.1 Details of total Amount in $US

earnings from international Type of revenue (millions)
tourists to Bhutan in 2016
Gross earnings 73.74
Royalties 20.28
Visa fees from tourists 2.15
Visa fees from family tourists 0.04
Two percent tax deduction at source 1.02
Tour operator’s net 49.75
Source: Tourism Council of Bhutan (2016a, b)
people travelled to Bhutan at a time that suited their own work and personal com-
mitments and 25% chose the timing of their visit based on advice from family and
friends who had previously visited Bhutan (Ministry of Finance, Royal Government
of Bhutan, 2017).
Although Bhutan’s GDP is relatively low compared to other developed coun-
tries, the contribution from the tourism sector is significant. Table 7.1 shows the
particulars of the total earnings from international visitors to Bhutan in 2016. This
is further evidence that the tourism sector is vital for the long-term sustainability of
the Bhutanese economy and an area that has the potential to expand even further in
the future.
Employment in the tourism sector is highly valued as it pays more than the tradi-
tional agriculture sector (Strickland, 2012). The government is acutely aware of the
112 P. Strickland
shift in preferred employment opportunities in each industry sector, especially for

the younger generation. This generation is drawn to the perceived improved life-
style gained by residing in the expanding cities and towns. Social activities such as
ten-pin bowling, public swimming pool, pubs, nightclubs, restaurants and super-
markets, among others, are available in the capital, Thimphu, and are appealing to
the youth. Additionally, most tourists stay at least one night in this city; therefore,
occupancy in Thimphu in the peak months is high, which creates more employment
opportunities.
7.4 G
overnment Response to the Tourism and Hospitality
Sector
The government of Bhutan is very aware of the country’s world renown for unique
tourism experiences. Today, the Tourism Council of Bhutan’s vision is ‘to promote
Bhutan as an exclusive travel destination based on (GNH) values’ (2016a, b, p. 3).
The Tourism Council of Bhutan’s mission is to develop and promote high-value,
low-impact tourism, to create an enabling environment for a vibrant tourism indus-
try, to promote Bhutan as a year-round destination and to foster the regional spread
of tourism. The Tourism Council of Bhutan’s mandate is to develop and promote the
tourism industry; formulate tourism policies, plans and programmes; and imple-
ment relevant policies, laws, regulations and programmes (Tourism Council of
Bhutan, 2016b).
The government is committed to the long-term sustainability of tourism and to
the attraction of international visitors. The foreword to the 2016 Bhutan Tourism
Monitor by the director of the Tourism Council, Chhimmy Pem (Tourism Council
of Bhutan, 2016a, p. 1), highlighted the continuing government support for the
sector:
Bhutan continues to gain impetus in the international tourism community as a developing
tourism destination that is evident from the growing popularity resulting in increasing arriv-
als annually. While the growth in visitor arrivals present opportunities for further growth
and benefits, it also requires us to work on proper visitor management and related interven-
tions that would enhance visitor experience and promote greater spread of visitation and
benefits across regions and seasons. As a destination with emphasis on sustainability at the
core of its development agenda, it is important that appropriate interventions are put in
place to further sustainable growth and development of tourism.
To this end, it is only imperative that we continue to make concerted efforts to develop and
promote sustainable tourism in Bhutan for greater benefits. For this, emphasis will be
placed on better visitor management to enhance visitor experiences and spread tourism
benefits to wider sections of the population through innovation, service excellence, strong
and diversified product portfolio.
The tourism policies are based on the current economic conditions of Bhutan and
are expected to continue; however, tourism policy has been developed over time. It
was in 1982 that the fully government-funded Bhutan Tourism Corporation (BTC)
was formed, which was 8 years after the first arrival of official tourists (Ritchie,
2008). The BTC was responsible for all travel arrangements including guides, visas,
transport, tours, etc. In 1991, the BTC was privatised and became known as the
Bhutan Tourism Corporation Limited with 33 private travel providers. Further
changes saw the regulating body become the Tourism Authority of Bhutan and then
the Department of Tourism in 1991 (Ritchie, 2008). Currently the Tourism Council
of Bhutan is positioned within the Ministry of Trade and Industry portfolio with
over 400 licensed travel providers.
With so many licences issued, the Tourism Council of Bhutan enforces a mini-
mum hotel standard of three stars. For example, to combat the lack of standards
regarding facilities, Bhutan created a national star rating system from 1–5 stars that
specifically details what is required at each star level and classifies accommodation
into four distinct categories: farmstays, homestays (guesthouses), hotels and resorts.
Hotels and resorts must offer a minimum of three stars to international visitors,
including a bedroom, separate bathroom, television, the Internet, room service, fit-
ness centre and restaurant. Homestays have a slightly different rating system but
include a separate bedroom and a home-cooked meal. Farmstays have no minimum
accommodation standard but must provide a home-cooked meal and are generally
located away from large cities and towns. Failure to comply with these strict stan-
dards and policies usually meant the cancellation of the travel provider licence, and
from 2011 the unlicensed provider could no longer accept international visitor
bookings until minimum standards were achieved and the licence was reinstated.
These compulsory standards forced large financial investments by the private sector
and hotel owners to upgrade their facilities. Subsequently, these investments
improved the overall experience reported by international visitors, with a satisfac-
tion rate for accommodation in 2016 of 76.44%, which is the highest ever and up
from 30.52% in 2000 (Tourism Council of Bhutan, 2000, 2016a). The government
continues to monitor accommodation facilities to make sure standards are adhered
to, guided by the national star rating system. This is essential for Bhutan’s interna-
tional reputation and for new and repeat visitation. Having hotel standards that can
be benchmarked through a rating system also assists in service standards that are
expected by international tourists and justifies having educational programmes in
the hotel and tourism sector in Bhutan.
Although the standards regarding accommodation facilities have improved, the
first exit polls exposed major concerns in service standards in the tourism sector in
general. This included the process of booking trips, itinerary creation, visa pro-
cesses, tour guides’ knowledge, levels of English and service standards in hotels and
restaurants. The first tourism education programme created in response was the
Middle Management Programme currently offered at the Royal Institute for Tourism
and Hospitality (RITH) (see section ‘Current Programmes Offered at the Royal
Institute for Tourism and Hospitality’). However, the programme content was first
delivered in 2008 and operated out of the Royal Institute of Management (RIM)
until RITH was established. Prior to this, there were no formal tourism and hospital-
ity qualifications for employees’ in Bhutan. Staff were simply trained on the prem-
ises, therefore having no real understanding of international service standards in a
114 P. Strickland
hotel or tour guide expectations. The more senior management of Bhutanese hotels
may have studied abroad to receive a formal qualification, and often the general
managers of hotels were recruited from other countries due to the lack of qualified
talent in Bhutan.
7.5 C
reation of the Royal Institute of Tourism
and Hospitality
The Royal Institute for Tourism and Hospitality (RITH) was established to bridge
the gap between the service standards and expectations of foreign countries and
Bhutan. RITH’s campus offers a boarding house for students, a training school for
chefs and housekeeping, a hotel, banquet hall and a library. RITH is perceived as a
solution to the lack of formal qualifications in a rapidly advancing tourist economy
(Guillaumont, 2017). The RITH website describes the campus as:
A modern tourism and hotel management institute jointly funded by the governments of
Austria and Bhutan. It is situated in one of the best campus in Thimphu. It is located in
Upper Motithang, Thimphu, and has a beautiful and serene environment befitting for learn-
ing activities. It has modern state-of-art facilities and aspires to be the regional centre of
excellence where tourism and hospitality studies are concerned (RITH, 2017a, ‘Home’,
para. 1).
The facilities are state-of-the-art in hospitality management, hotel, tour and spa
management operations. As this is the first dedicated training facility for the tourism
and hospitality sector in Bhutan, the campus is very proud to boast a training
kitchen, restaurant, banqueting hall, climate-controlled teaching rooms, simulated
travel agency and a library with Internet access. Although these are standard mini-
mum requirements in other training institutions, for Bhutan, this is very modern. As
a comparison, the Royal Institute of Management has no climate control or reliable
Internet access. During winter, it is extremely cold, and classes were often cancelled
due to impending weather conditions that would impede students walking home
safely.
The study programmes are designed to prepare students for a long-term career in
the field of their choice and offer management progression over time. After com-
pleting entry-level qualifications, students may continue on to middle management
training at RITH. Currently, students who wish to study an undergraduate degree in
hospitality or tourism must travel abroad to an international institution. Students
that study an undergraduate degree are generally sponsored by universities, by non-
government organisations or through government scholarships in a variety of coun-
tries including Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Canada, China and Australia
(Sinha, 2009).
7.6 C
urrent Programmes Offered at the Royal Institute
for Tourism and Hospitality
The Royal Institute for Tourism and Hospitality (RITH) offers two distinct courses
that apply to the tourism and hotel sector. Firstly, RITH offers students a Diploma
in Hotel Management or a Diploma in Tourism Management. Both are 2-year pro-
grammes offering foundation subjects that combine practical training with theoreti-
cal content based on the most important aspects of the tourism and hospitality
industry. The first two terms include foundation theory, global concepts and practi-
cal training in the on-site restaurant, kitchen and banquette hall. Some students will
also experience the laundry and spa divisions.
After completing the foundation subjects, students are required to specialise in a
specific field, being either Hotel or Tourism Management. The reason for this is to
make sure that graduates enter the two different sectors with their associated differ-
ing employment opportunities but also to target the career directions of individuals.
Students that select Hotel Management will operate hospitality businesses such as
hotels, restaurants and guesthouses. The skills students will have developed include
communication and language, food and beverage management, human resources,
accounting and eTourism concepts. Students that choose Tourism Management as a
career path have options in travel and ticketing, tour guiding, itinerary creation,
group bookings, finance and sustainability concepts including encouraging visita-
tion in off-peak times.
Once a Diploma in Tourism Management or Hotel Management is completed, up
to 30 applicants can be accepted for the Middle Management Programme. This is a
unique programme designed solely for tourism and hospitality employees working
in Bhutan.
This course is intended for thirty young male and female Bhutanese who have already
gained some work experiences in the tourism and hospitality industry and are currently
employed. The participating hotels recognize that these employees have the potential to
move up to managerial positions in midlevel positions in their hotels. This opens the door
to a promising future for these young Bhutanese and helps the country to develop. (RITH,
2017b, ‘For Whom is this Program Intended?’, para. 1)
Through foreign tourist exit surveys that started in the year 2000 and were autho-
rised by the Bhutanese government, it was identified that ‘many employees in the
hotel industry lack proper training and education to meet the increasing demand of
today’s tourism industry’ (RITH, 2017b, ‘Middle Management Training’, para. 7).
These quantitative surveys were conducted in English at Bhutan’s only international
airport; participants were asked to rate their experience on a variety of topics related
to their visit. The information gleaned from the visitor surveys was deemed critical
by the Bhutanese government, as tourism is one of the country’s main sources of
income. The concept of RITH was entrenched as a way to improve visitors’
experiences.
116 P. Strickland
The Middle Management Programme was started in 2008 with funding from a
variety of sources including the Bhutanese government and donations from interna-
tional foundations. Funding is provided in 10-year cycles to secure the programme’s
longevity and provide security to its staff and future students. A Board of Directors
moderates the programme to ensure its quality and that standards are being met.
Classes are held in the tourism low season to allow students to leave their place of
employment and study full time for 2 months twice a year. Employers still pay stu-
dents a percentage of their wage and provide lunch, which offsets some of the costs
associated with the programme. After 2 years, qualified students will be awarded
with a ‘Diploma in Advanced Studies in Hotel Management’ certified by both the
HWZ University of Applied Sciences based in Zurich, Switzerland, and the Bhutan
Royal Institute of Tourism and Hospitality. The lecturers, teachers and mentors
associated with the programme come from a variety of sectors and locations. In
each programme cycle, the staff include up to nine international lecturers from
western countries; nine local teachers of specialist subjects such as English, infor-
mation technology and facility management; and six Bhutanese mentors from the
hospitality and tourism industry. These talents, combined, write and deliver the
intensive programmes. This is a cost-effective method with the majority of the
teaching staff volunteering their time and expertise in return for reimbursement of
all their expenses. Visiting teachers are also asked to donate books to the RITH
library to save on purchasing and shipping costs.
As there are a limited numbers accepted into the Middle Management Programme,
other alternatives have emerged. These include short courses of training in tourism
and hospitality offered by The Service Division Under the Tourism Council of
Bhutan or via a private education provider titled the Bhutan International School of
Tourism and Hospitality (BISTH). The BISTH was created in 2010 by the Wangchuk
Group, which owns three hotels in Bhutan and had also identified shortcomings in
the skills of their employees. The Wangchuk Group, in collaboration with the
Hospitality Institute IAM in Kolkata, offers certificate and diploma programmes.
The courses offered by BISTH are summarised in Table 7.2.
Table 7.2 Bhutan Type and length of course Programme title

International School of
Certificate – 2 ½ months Cultural Tourist Guide Course
Tourism and Hospitality
qualifications and length of Certificate – 6 months Bakery
time to complete each course Food and Beverage
(BISTH, 2017) Front Office
Food Production
House Keeping
Spa Management
Diploma – 2 years Diploma in Culinary Skills
Diploma in Travel and Tourism
Diploma in Hotel Management
Diploma in Restaurant Operation
To give some perspective regarding the number of students, in 2017, 179 RITH
students graduated with a Diploma in Tourism and Hospitality, and all 30 students
enrolled in Middle Management Training are expected to graduate in 2018.
Conversely, BISTH has a significantly less number of students enrolled perhaps due
to the cost, whereas the programmes at RITH are heavily subsidised by external
foundations or the hotels at which the students are employed. This allows Bhutanese
hospitality and tourism sector employees the opportunity to obtain formal qualifica-
tions in Bhutan.
7.7 T
eaching Tourism and Hospitality in Bhutan: A Personal
Reflection
The first international academics and specialists were recruited in 2008 to teach on
a 2-year course initially titled Bhutan Hotel Middle Management Programme. The
programme accepted 30 students and was funded by nongovernment organisations
being the Jacobs Foundation, Hochschule für Wirtschaft Zürich in Switzerland and
the Elysium Foundation in California. Academics from around the globe were
invited to submit their résumés, and the successful applicants were selected based
on their particular tourism and hospitality expertise. The recruitment process con-
sidered the overall course structure and the applicant’s availability, preferred dates
teaching in Bhutan, teaching experience, expertise and formal education. After suc-
cessfully obtaining a position, the finer details of the programme were released.
Academics teaching on the programme were required to create all lecture content,
assessment tasks and final exams, provide assessment feedback for students and
administer results; afterwards, they were required to surrender all intellectual prop-
erty to the programme director for use on future courses. Funding was provided for
7 years with the anticipation that the academics would train local Bhutanese staff to
eventually take over the teaching of the programme, so as to not rely solely on inter-
national funding. The RITH website (2017b, ‘Type of Studies’, para. 4) states,
‘local course lecturers are trained by international experts working side by side.
International experts are working “pro bono”, implying travel costs and accommo-
dation are paid by the project’. This still occurs, and most of the international aca-
demics decide to stay longer as tourists to travel the countryside at their own
expense.
I first started teaching into the Bhutanese Hotel Middle Management Programme
(BHMMP) at RIM in 2012. The BHMMP programme was delivered in the off-
peak tourist season. I was scheduled to teach in January, during Bhutan’s winter
months. Temperatures varied between 5 and 15 degrees centigrade but immedi-
ately plummeted around 3:00 pm when the sun moved behind the mountains. As
most students walked vast distances to get to RIM, students were released from
classes at 2:00 pm to be able to walk home before the chilling cold set in. Students
were required to continue their classes at home with homework set by the teacher.
118 P. Strickland
Fig. 7.3 Classroom at the Royal Institute of Management (RIM) (Source: Paul Strickland)
Additionally, RIM had no heating, so inside the classrooms was almost as cold as
outside; however, the classrooms were well insulated and not being exposed to the
wind helped the staff and students to remain warm. The teaching areas were basic,
and the academic staff provided their own laptops to plug into the data projector.
Classes were supposed to be from 9 to 12 am and 1 to 4 pm with a 1-hour lunch
break. This did not always occur as the weather had a strong influence on travelling
to and from the campus. Lunch was generally provided by the hotels in which the
students were employed, and hot food could be purchased on campus for a reason-
able price. Figure 7.3 shows a classroom in RIM, and Fig. 7.4 depicts the lawn
where the students enjoyed their lunch in the sunshine. After the early classroom
departures, students were encouraged to continue to practise their English and
complete any homework to be assessed when they returned the following day.
The students varied in age from 18 years to nearly 50. Students were selected for
the programme based on their current position in a hotel and promotion potential.
All students had full-time employment in a hotel that subsidised their student fees
and food and continued to pay their wages during their study periods. The philoso-
phy behind this seemingly generous gesture by hotel management was that the stu-
dent would learn from leading academics and then return to their place of
employment to apply the knowledge gained and teach other entry-level employees.
It was envisaged that, over time, employee and customer satisfaction rates would
increase and the hotels rewarded with higher revenues and lower customer dissatis-
faction rates encouraging repeat business and positive word of mouth.
The BHMMP (now referred to as Middle Management Training) was relocated
from RIM to RITH, and the funding arrangements changed in 2014. Since the pro-
gramme’s inception, only 30 students have been accepted, which is still the case.
Fig. 7.4 Female students having lunch (Source: Paul Strickland)
This enrolment cap is due to budget and staffing capacities as well as limitations in
the overall campus construction, which has not yet been fully realised. Figure 7.5
depicts the students who were the 2012 Bhutan Hotel Middle Management pro-
gramme intake at RIM, whilst Fig. 7.6 highlights the Middle Management Training
at RITH in 2014. Both pictures show sunshine; however, Fig. 7.5 was photographed
during Bhutan’s winter, and Fig. 7.6 was taken in Bhutan’s summer. As can be seen,
there is no difference in the traditional Bhutanese clothing worn during school hours
in summer and winter, although warm coats were worn after lessons were finished
for the day. From a decree by the fourth king, Bhutan’s government enforces that
traditional clothing must be worn within certain sectors such as education, tourism
and services, finance and government roles. This is to ensure the longevity of
Bhutan’s traditional textile industry and to maintain cultural continuity (Strickland,
2014).
From the beginning, most of the teaching staff were global hospitality scholars
or high-achieving hotel professionals with little exposure to Bhutan. This meant
customs, traditions, religions and daily interactions had to be learnt, respected and
incorporated into the syllabus. Concepts such as preservation of the environment,
cultural diversity and Gross National Happiness were encouraged. Gross National
Happiness considers more than financial prosperity to include lifestyle and environ-
mental and spiritual philosophies as collectively making individuals more happy
120 P. Strickland
Fig. 7.5 Students studying at the Royal Institute of Management (RIM) in 2012 (Source: Paul
Strickland)
(Bates, 2009). It is a philosophy that must be incorporated into all levels of teaching
from primary school onwards.
The first challenge for visiting academics was to learn the first names of students.
Figure 7.7 depicts a classroom set up for Middle Management Training with each
student’s first name displayed facing the teaching staff at the front of the classroom.
Viewing the names assisted in identifying individuals without causing offence when
questions and answers were exchanged. As students accepted academics over time,
personal conversations regarding family and work-life emerged. After even more
time, further intimate discussions regarding personal upbringings, culture and spiri-
tuality occurred (Fig. 7.8).
The RITH campus is located near the top of a mountain and set in dense forest.
Access is limited to one road, and many students and teaching staff car pool as most
Bhutanese do not own vehicles due to the expensive purchasing and operating costs
of fuel and annual registration. Taxis are also available. Many locals choose to walk,
as trekking up and down mountains is common; the journey to the campus on foot
takes approximately an hour and a half from the bottom of the mountain. The impli-
cations of these transportation choices include students being late or not showing up
at all, personal cars used as a taxi service or long days due to travel on foot.
Additionally, every Tuesday is ‘environmental day’, meaning no cars are permitted
on the roads after 9:00 am except for taxis and cars used for tourism; therefore on
Tuesdays all students travelling by car must arrive early.
Fig. 7.6 Students studying at the Royal Institute for Tourism and Hospitality (RITH) in 2014
(Source: Paul Strickland)
7.8 F
uture Direction of Tourism and Hospitality Education
in Bhutan
In 2016, tourists reported 80% satisfaction with the service they received from
Bhutanese hotel and restaurant staff and 87% satisfaction with tour guides (Tourism
Council of Bhutan, 2016b), an increase from 35% to 58%, respectively, in 2013
(Tourism Council of Bhutan, 2013). This indicates that the tourism and hospitality
industry is improving, which can be attributed to the increase in education, training
and attitudes of the Bhutanese tourism and hospitality employees. RITH was cre-
ated to bridge the shortfall in tourism and hospitality skills and formal qualifica-
tions. RITH will continue to offer tourism and hospitality courses, and it is
anticipated that most, if not all, future employees will receive some kind of formal
training through the various programmes offered at RITH by the government and
other private providers. Although international teaching staff are still required in the
programmes, eventually Bhutanese nationals will be the primary providers of tour-
ism and hospitality education. Continuous funding is not guaranteed from interna-
tional organisations, although current funding is offered in 10-year cycles so that
RITH will have some warning if funding is to cease. Because of the possibility of
funding being withdrawn, RITH has constructed a hotel, spa centre and function
rooms for paying guests to generate additional income. These are in operation and
122 P. Strickland
Fig. 7.7 Classroom at RITH (Source: Paul Strickland)
international visitors and locals can make reservations. It is also a training environ-
ment for students that will continue to grow in occupancy and ideally become a
financially viable facility.
The challenge for Bhutanese tourism and hospitality education is the capacity of
RITH as there are more applicants than places available. This is partly due to
employment in the tourism and hospitality sector earning a greater wage than tradi-
tional farming work and the influx of young Bhutanese citizens moving to cities and
larger towns in search of employment and the desire for a better standard of living.
There is also the possibility that formally trained Bhutanese could move interna-
tionally in search of employment, different experiences and greater wages, which is
not the intent of RITH.
The future of the tourism and hospitality sector is financially strong and will
continue to grow. Government policy will continue to dictate the number of visitor
arrivals with the option of increasing the visitor tariff to yield an even greater con-
tribution to Bhutan’s GDP. It will be interesting to see how many more hotels will
be permitted to be established in the future, especially in remote locations. However,
this will be determined based on regional accessibility, as creating and maintaining
roads is a major cost to the Bhutanese government. The demand for tourism and
hospitality education in Bhutan will continue to grow. There will be a stronger
appeal for industry to hire qualified employees, and this can only be achieved
through formal qualifications.
Fig. 7.8 Main entrance at RITH (Source: Paul Strickland)
This chapter has examined the creation of RITH and the tourism and hospitality
education programmes offered in Bhutan. The need for local tourism and hospitality
education was highlighted by evidence-based research commissioned by the
Bhutanese government regarding the expectations of international visitors. The
findings resulted in the introduction of a star rating system for hotels and subsequent
service standards for Bhutanese employees. This initiated the construction of a des-
ignated tourism and hospitality education facility, RITH. To ensure education
quality and international standards, programmes were designed based on western
visitor expectations and consequent required qualification levels. Although funding
for RITH is currently through a combination of the Bhutanese government and for-
eign investment, eventually RITH will be self-sufficient.
This case study adds to the overall literature on Asian tourism and hospitality
education cementing the need for formal qualifications in developing countries.
Bhutan is a small country with inherent unique concepts such as Gross National
Happiness and tourism tariff systems for international tourists. Future research
should focus on the expansion of RITH and the development of an undergraduate
hospitality and tourism programme for senior management. This may entice gradu-
ates to remain in Bhutan and accept senior management roles in hotels, travel agen-
cies and tour companies.
124 P. Strickland
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Chapter 8
Tourism Education in Vietnam
Erwin Losekoot, Earney Lasten, and Tran Phu Cuong
Abstract This chapter outlines the political history of Vietnam and the importance
of tourism and hospitality to its continued development. It describes the growth of
tourism and hospitality education provision and how that fits in with the develop-
ment of a thriving tourism sector of the economy. Vietnam’s control economy has
impacted on the ability of the tourism and hospitality industry to respond to cus-
tomer demands. Many parents felt there was no choice but to send their children
overseas for a quality tertiary education, but that is changing with an increasing
number of high-quality providers based in Vietnam. Challenges remain in terms of
finding enough qualified staff to teach, finding sufficient resources to pay those staff
and ensuring that unscrupulous and sub-standard education providers are not
allowed to proliferate and damage the reputation of Vietnam’s tourism and hospital-
ity education providers. Students also need to be exposed to current industry stan-
dards and experiences and be allowed to develop soft skills which are increasingly
important for future development of the industry.
Keywords Vietnam · Education · Tourism · Hospitality · Challenges ·

Employment
8.1 Introduction
Vietnam is a country which is often associated with war and refugees but also with
awesome tourism experiences. This chapter provides a brief history of the country
and its education system before going on to explain the importance that tourism can
play in the development of communities and the role of tourism education to make
that happen.
E. Losekoot (*) · E. Lasten

RMIT University Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
e-mail: erwin.losekoot@rmit.edu.vn; earney.lasten@rmit.edu.vn
T. P. Cuong
Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, Hanoi, Vietnam
e-mail: cuongvnat@vietnamtourism.gov.vn

126 E. Losekoot et al.
Vietnam is officially called the ‘Socialist Republic of Vietnam’ and was part of
China for over 1000 years before being a French colony in the nineteenth century.
In the twenty-first century, it has developed at an extremely rapid pace, moving
from an agricultural economy to one where manufacturing and the service economy
dominate. Tourism has become increasingly important to the country, and a number
of major government-led projects are underway. Many international hotel compa-
nies are also seeking to expand within Vietnam, not just in the main cities of Hanoi
in the north and Ho Chi Minh City in the south.
In 2017, Vietnam welcomed 12.9 million international visitors (a 29% increase
on 2016), with 84% arriving by air. Neighbouring Asian countries accounted for
75% of those visitors and Europe 15%, with the remaining 10% from other coun-
tries. Largest individual source countries were (in order of size) China, Korea,
Japan, Taiwan, the USA and Russia (Vietnam National Administration of Tourism
[VNAT], 2018a, 2018b). People come to Vietnam to see sights such as the natural
beauty of Ha Long Bay, the Thien Mu Pagoda in Hue, Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi,
the fishing village of Hoi An, the beaches of Phu Quoc, the much photographed Sa
Pa Terraces and the Cu Chi Tunnels used by the Viet Cong (Chinese supported)
army during the war against the American-backed South Vietnamese army. Domestic
tourism in 2017 stood at 62 million, an 8.8% increase on 2016. As a result, it is
perhaps not surprising that tourism and hospitality education in Vietnam has long
been of concern to scholars. The December 1992 issue of Tourism Management
carries a conference notice by Kaye Chon (then based at the University of Nevada –
Las Vegas) promoting a conference in Da Nang that focused on:
a broad range of topics that are related to tourism and hotel industry development opportu-
nities in Vietnam, including: Growth potential of tourism in Vietnam; Education and
Training Needs Assessment; and other topics related to the potential impact of tourism.
(Tourism Management, 1992)
Hobson (1994) noted that any successful tourist attraction was dependent on a
steady pool of ‘skilled and trained manpower’ (p. 154) if the destination was to see
long-term development in a sustainable manner. He warned that the number of hotel
and tourism projects was outstripping the number of places available for tourism
and hospitality training. By 2018, VNAT (2018b) identified 156 tourism and hospi-
tality training providers in Vietnam, including 48 universities, 43 colleges, 40 voca-
tional schools and 25 training companies.
Back at the start of the millennium, there were a number of notable scholars
interested in and writing about tourism education. Smith (2002) suggested that tour-
ism’s education origins stem from anthropology and that “anthropology with its
emphasis on cross-cultural assessments and specific interests in ethnicity and heri-
tage should be integral in all hospitality curricula …” (p. 47), a view supported more
recently by Cohen and Cohen (2012). Smith argued it should make us ask questions
about our qualities as hosts, the values and motivations of our guests and how we
can best serve both parties. This became particularly important as the arrival of jet
aircraft made travel quicker, cheaper and therefore more accessible. It also meant
that a wider variety of people could become tourists (Smith, 2002). Vietnam is a
8 Tourism Education in Vietnam 127
country about which relatively little is known. Because of this, it attracts many
young people eager to visit somewhere ‘different’, or a little bit ‘off the beaten
track’. That was fine when getting to Vietnam was a challenge, but with modern,
relatively cheap travel options with budget airlines and plentiful information online,
as well as the availability of online visa applications, many more people are coming.
Not all of these are necessarily well-prepared independent travellers, although the
backpackers’ district in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 1 shows many are
self-sufficient.
Tribe (2002) made the point that tourism education was gaining credibility at this
time, evidenced by the appearance of three specialist journals in the field of tourism
education. Tribe identified that historic tourism education (largely from the USA)
was very vocational but that there were signs of an increasing level of maturity,
sophistication and conceptualisation. He noted the importance of broadening the
conversation and the field of study to include academics and industry from ‘devel-
oping countries’ and to move from what to teach to consider how to teach tourism.
The significance of this book is that it comes at a time when Vietnam is starting
to realise that, while the industry certainly needs people with food and beverage and
customer service skills on the front line, it will also increasingly need supervisory,
management and strategic staff who can plan and co-ordinate the tourism offering
in Vietnam. In a one-party, top-down hierarchical and planned economy, tourism
and hospitality organisations will be looking for empowered staff who can co-create
memorable experiences for their guests. Such staff will need to be well-educated
independent thinkers with the confidence to make decisions in the best interest of
tourists.
This chapter in the book sets out the history of education and tourism education
in Vietnam and identifies some of the reasons why Vietnamese tourism and hospital-
ity education is what it is today. Following on from a brief introduction to the coun-
try of Vietnam, it reviews the history of tourism education in Vietnam, considers the
current key players and proposes some future opportunities.
8.2 Background on Vietnam
Vietnam is a country at the centre of Asia. It borders China, Laos and Cambodia and
has a long s-shaped coastline along the Pacific Ocean and a surface area of 331,000
sq. km (Nguyen & Nguyen, 2008). While Vietnamese are the majority, Vietnam is
host to 54 different ethnic groups. According to Countrymeters (2018), Vietnam’s
population is 96,446,271, of which 49.4% are male and 50.6% are female; 33% of
the population live in urban areas while 44% of the country is forested. Life expec-
tancy in Vietnam is 72.2 years (69.7 for men and 74.9 for women). The economy is
growing at an annual average GDP growth rate of 6.8%. Adult literacy is 97%, with
95.5% of the population completing primary school while 49.2% of the tertiary
level students are female (United Nations, 2013). These statistics hold their own
against many other countries and provide an excellent base for developing a highly
Fig. 8.1 Vietnam in South East Asia
skilled and productive tourism sector. This suggests that tourism educators are
building on a strong foundation of literate students of both genders. Lattman (2013)
claimed that the first university in Vietnam, known as ‘The Temple of Literature’,
was constructed in 1070, so Vietnam really does have a long history of tertiary edu-
cation (Fig. 8.1).
8.3 Tourism Employment in Vietnam
The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) is part of the Vietnamese

Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Tourism is seen as an important area for
employment in Vietnam and has been studied by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids
and Social Affairs. There is a recognition by the authorities that human resources
working in the area of tourism need to acquire the right knowledge and skills,
Table 8.1 Hotel Number of Number of

accommodation in Vietnam Hotel rating hotels rooms
in 2017. (VNAT, 2018b)
5 star 118 34,400
4 star 262 34,400
3 star 490 34,200
2 star 1264 46,000
1 star 3649 67,000
including foreign languages (in addition to English) and information technology,

but also need the spirit of attentive service and be ready to serve guests. VNAT also
identifies a requirement for tourism planning and brand management expertise and
that tourism has great potential for improving the quality of life of Vietnamese fami-
lies and the community they live and work in. The 2018 Vietnam Tourism Annual
Report (VNAT, 2018b) records 25,600 tourist accommodation providers in
December 2017. Table 8.1 shows the breakdown of hotels of different star ratings.
This is an excellent base from which to prepare Vietnam for a tourism boom.
Companies such as Accor and IHG are already well-established in Vietnam, and the
merger in 2016 of Sheraton and Marriott hotels has given the combined group sev-
eral properties in key destinations, with more being planned. Five-star hotels have
fewer hotels but the same number of rooms as four and three-star hotels, suggesting
that five-star hotels are larger, with more rooms and therefore able to offer more
facilities in terms of food and beverage and leisure services. The report identifies a
further 84,039 rooms in 7113 establishments ranging from campsites and home-
stays to cruise ships and tourism villages. Promoting these facilities and creating
demand for them are 1600 travel agencies, 52 international airlines and 4 domestic
airlines.
The Vietnamese government has worked hard to develop Vietnam’s labour force
to meet the demands of the tourism industry. VNAT (2018b) estimates that there are
2.25 million people in the tourism workforce in Vietnam, of whom 750,000 are
directly employed. Total direct and indirect tourism employment is forecast to rise
to 3,850,000 by 2020, leading to a number of development plans (Vietnam Tourism
Development Strategy 2020; Vision 2030; and Development Plan for Vietnam’s
Tourism Labour Force 2011–2020). The government ran a National Conference on
Tourism Development in August 2016, at which a number of targets were set and
challenges identified. In the annual tourism report (VNAT, 2018b), hotel staff made
up 44% of the working population in Vietnam’s tourism industry, 12% were in tour
operations and 36% were in sales and marketing and other support services, with
the remainder in government management. University graduates made up over 65%
of tour guides, marketing staff and reception staff. Tourism employers claim 60% of
staff have some foreign language skills, English being the most popular followed by
Chinese and French. The report also identifies that 68% of the tourism workforce
have computer skills (VNAT, 2018b). While the report suggests that there is prog-
ress in meeting the skill needs of the tourism industry and that there is considerable
interest from the Vietnamese people to work in the tourism industry, there are still a
number of challenges. These were identified as a lack of foreign language skills,
ICT skills, communication and other soft skills and a general lack of confidence in
dealing with international visitors. The report recommended closer ties between
training centres and tourism companies (VNAT, 2018b). Improved educational
resources and support for management development was considered essential, in
particular a need for management experience in larger, international companies.
8.4 Historical Background of Tourism Education in Vietnam
Several authors (e.g. Cooper, 1997; Lattman, 2013; Van Binh & Van Minh, 1997)
discuss the history of education in Vietnam. They all acknowledge the impact of
Confucianism. This belief system or political ideology focuses on the importance of
a number of aspects of society – family relationships, respect, the importance of
rituals and ceremonies, the value of restraint and a strong belief in the power and
benefits of education as way to improve oneself. Some have described it as being
about ‘humanism’ and about the greatest good for the greatest number of people.
Both rulers and teachers are expected to conduct themselves morally and ethically
and are seen as important role models for the day-to-day way in which people live.
Respect and worship of ancestors is also highly valued. Confucianism believes that
those who have the opportunity to study should then seek to use that knowledge to
help the community they came from. This should resonate with all those who see
tourism development as a tool for regional development – a claim that Cohen and
Cohen (2012) appear to be somewhat sceptical about.
The arrival of the French as a colonial power (mid-nineteenth to twentieth centu-
ries) led to the creation of three universities, but most of the population still had no
access to education. This changed in 1945 when Vietnam gained its independence
from France and its new President, Ho Chi Minh, used the slogan ‘an illiterate
nation is a powerless one’ (Lattman, 2013, p. 2) and recruited 96,000 teachers to
tackle the literacy problem. The Vietnam War (or ‘American War’ as it is often
referred to in this region) ran from 1955 to 1975, with the North being supported by
the former Soviet Union and China and the South by the United States, South Korea,
Thailand, Australia and France. After the surrender and reunification in 1975 fol-
lowing the fall of Saigon, Russian influence led to Vietnam adopting some of the
Soviet approaches to education. London (2011) suggests that creating an education
system compliant with a Leninist political system is challenging if the aim of educa-
tion is to prepare the population to be productive members of a market economy and
for social mobility. Furthermore, he argues that ‘Vietnam’s education system may
be thought of as a vast social field in which aspirations and constraints collide’
(p. 3). Tourism is arguably at the forefront of this, or ‘where the rubber hits the
road’, and this is precisely why this is an interesting and suitable topic for academic
discussion. Figure 8.2, below, demonstrates the history of education in Vietnam.
Fig. 8.2 Brief history of Vietnam. (Source: https://www.slideshare.net/vietnam1234/

vietnam-2409279)
The impact of the ‘Doi Moi Reform’ on education has been significant (Cooper,
1997; Lattman, 2013; Van Binh & Van Minh, 1997). To explain, in the 10 years after
reunification, the economy suffered from centralisation of decision-making, high
inflation and low levels of exports, so by 1986 a period of ‘renovation’ or ‘recon-
struction’ (the usual translation of ‘Doi Moi’) was announced. This aimed to retain
the socialist goals of the nation but to allow a more market-led economy to develop.
Trines (2017) describes this process as moving from a command-style economy to
a more open system – but without relaxing political control. The result is a very
vibrant and innovative group of individuals operating with an extremely rigid
bureaucracy, resulting in many complaints, frustrations and accusations of corrup-
tion and nepotism, as government officials are required to sanction everything (e.g.
delegates attending an international conference in Vietnam must submit a biography
demonstrating they are an expert in their field). However, as Trines (2017) points
out, this change to a more open economy has moved the country from ‘an impover-
ished, war-ravaged country’ to ‘one of the most dynamic economies in the world’
(Trines, 2017, p. 1). He claims Vietnam’s GDP grew 3.3% between 1990 and 2016
(second only to China). Van Binh and Van Minh suggest that this change, together
with the lifting of US sanctions and the increase in demand for travel globally led to
unprecedented opportunities in Vietnamese tourism. One major impact of this

change was more funding for education and the opportunity to operate privatised
educational establishments, especially in vocational subjects (Nguyen & Nguyen,
2008). This was seen as one way of addressing the shortage in trained personnel for
the Vietnamese tourism and hospitality industry.
In a report for the World Education Service’s World Education News and Reviews
publication, Kelly provides an overview of the Vietnamese higher education system
as it was at the start of the year 2000. Kelly (2000) reported that 25% of the
Vietnamese population is either teaching or being taught and therefore claimed that
‘education is an important part of the society. It is a major preoccupation of govern-
ment and is a highly valued and respected activity in Vietnamese society’ (p. 1),
with almost 18 million students and 500,000 teachers and instructors. She claims
this shows a serious commitment to education compared to the situation under
French colonial rule when only the elite had the opportunity to study. However, she
did warn that, while this is the case in larger conurbations such as Ho Chi Minh City
and Hanoi, there are differences in regions and mountainous provinces, where
women and ethnic minorities are under-represented in the school-going
population.
In Vietnam’s tertiary education system, government regulation changes have
encouraged the private sector to deliver education, particularly in pre-school, voca-
tional and tertiary education, and suggests the creation of a single ministry (the
Ministry of Education and Training – MOET) in 1990 led to more co-ordination in
the education sector, although there was still relatively little linkage between
research and teaching (Kelly, 2000). Moving from a centrally planned economy
means that graduates are no longer guaranteed employment, even with a tertiary
qualification, and this has led to a more general education rather than job-specific
training. There is criticism that the requirement to include Marxist-Leninist content
alienates students and does little to provide graduates with relevant skills in the
workplace (Trines, 2017). MOET has also reorganised existing institutions as shown
by the following list (Clark, 2014; Kelly, 2000):
• Vietnam National University, Hanoi, was formed in 1993 from three different
local institutions.
• Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City (originally the Ho Chi Minh
City National University), was founded in 1995 from nine different universities
and technical training colleges.
• Da Nang University (1994) was formed from a combination of four older
institutions.
• Hue University and Thai Nguyen University were both formed in 1994.
This list suggests that for over 20 years, Vietnam has been organising and reor-
ganising its tertiary education offering in order to better match the provision of
education with the needs of the market. A 2014 report (Clark, 2014) noted that
enrolment at tertiary level has seen significant increases from 10% in 2000 to 16%
in 2005 and 25% in 2013. It quotes 2014 statistics that compulsory education lasts
for 9 years and that at the time of the Clark (2014) study, there were 419 universities
and colleges (185 at university and 234 at college level), with over 2 million stu-
dents in tertiary education. Diplomas take up to 2.5 years of study, associate degrees
up to 3.5 years and bachelor degrees up to 4–6 years of study to achieve 180–320
credits, depending on the combinations of subjects taken. A ‘credit’ is considered to
require 15 hours of classroom instruction, or 45–60 hours of research and writing.
Often there is a foundation of general education (3–4 semesters) followed by a spe-
cialisation of 4–8 semesters. These descriptions should be familiar to readers with
experience in educational systems in the USA, Europe, Hong Kong and Australia or
New Zealand and perhaps explain why Vietnamese students studying overseas gen-
erally seem to do well academically.
In Vietnam, postgraduate courses are still relatively rare, with doctorates initially
only available from the University of Hanoi. A significant number of students
(106,000 according to Clark, 2014) chose to study abroad in 2012, mostly through
their own finances (Clark, 2014 estimates 90%). Scholarships from the Vietnamese
Ministry of Education predominantly supported students choosing to study in
Russia (Trines, 2017). Of these international students, 36% study in the USA, and
Asia accounts for 34%. This indicates a change from 2000 and reflects the price
sensitivity of students and improved offerings and recruitment from Asian countries
such as Singapore and Taiwan. By 2016, Vietnamese students made up 10% of
international student enrolments to US universities. Vietnamese studying in the
USA tend to choose business or engineering courses, perhaps because these are
established disciplines that students (and their parents) can see lead to a clear career
path. Clark (2014) suggests that this exodus will continue as 1.8 million candidates
registered for the Vietnamese centralised university entrance exam in 2012, when
the places available were less than 600,000. Students take three examinations in one
of five groups, depending on the subjects they wish to specialise in. Tourism and
hospitality fall into one of the following two (Clark, 2014, p. 9):
• Group C: history, geography and literature (for specialisation in humanities and
social sciences)
• Group D: foreign languages, literature, mathematics (for specialisation in for-
eign languages and foreign trade)
This is perhaps one of the challenges that tourism education faces in Vietnam –
where does it best fit? Having said that, in the West, tourism and hospitality are
often moved between business schools and arts, humanities or social science facul-
ties, so perhaps Vietnam’s situation is no different. What is perhaps different is the
rigid, centralised university entrance examination system, whereas in many other
countries students complete a generic first year of tertiary studies before then
choosing their specialisation(s).
8.5 Current Situation in Tourism Education
Vietnam’s higher education system is succinctly described by Trines (2017) who

explains that ‘it includes an intermediate college degree, a four-year standard bach-
elor’s degree and a two-year master’s degree followed by a terminal research doc-
torate’ (p. 21). In more detail, the system offers qualifications in four categories.
Associate degrees/diplomas take 2–3 years, are usually 90 credits and are focused
on applied subjects with large practical components. Associate degrees can be used
as cross-credits into bachelor’s degrees and therefore need to be academically rigor-
ous as well as industry relevant. Bachelor degrees are normally 4 years (although
some engineering degrees are 5 years). They comprise 120–140 credits and usually
require students to have achieved a GPA over 2.0 to graduate. In Vietnam, they are
often made up of general education subjects plus specialisations and at the latter end
often include a thesis, project or internship as a capstone course. Some bachelor
degrees are increasingly being offered in a part-time format to allow students to fit
their education around their family or work commitments. Master’s degrees require
a bachelor’s degree as a prerequisite, as well as an entrance examination. They can
take 2–3 years, can be taken part-time and usually require a thesis. For a doctorate
(PhD), students need to hold a master’s degree; it requires an entrance examination
and takes 2–3 years but, like in other countries, can take longer. Most doctorates in
Vietnam have a coursework and a research dissertation component (Trines, 2017)
(Table 8.2).
8.6 Issues in Tourism Education in Vietnam
A lack of qualified staff is blamed for the shortage of places for students on tourism
and hospitality courses in Vietnam, although according to Clark (2014), the govern-
ment has also started to question the need for so many university graduates. One
reason is that Vietnamese postgraduates holding higher qualifications from overseas
universities are not coming back to Vietnam to teach because of the poor employ-
ment conditions in domestic universities. There is also a lack of focus on research
and little opportunity to conduct research and publish in academic journals for those
returning to the Vietnamese tertiary education sector. As of 2012, the private sector
provided 15% of total enrolments at tertiary level, but Clark (2014) warns that ‘gen-
erally speaking, private higher education is perceived to be of a lower quality than
that offered at public institutions’ (p. 10).
Vietnam’s workforce needs more service sector education as an estimated one
million agricultural workers leave that sector each year (Trines, 2017). A 2005 gov-
ernment directive called ‘Comprehensive Reform of Higher Education in Vietnam,
2006–2020’ aims to address this through greater enrolment in higher education.
Initiatives include requiring instructors in this sector to hold master’s degrees or
doctorates by 2020. English language teaching is being promoted through
Table 8.2 Colleges and universities in Vietnam with a tourism and hospitality component (HCMC,
Ho Chi Minh City)
Location/
College or university founded Concentrations (info mostly about undergraduates)
Industrial University Go Vap Mechanical, technology, engineering, electronics,
of Ho Chi Minh City District, automobile, fashion, accounting, politics, banking,
HCMC science and trade and tourism
Founded:
2004
National Economics Hanoi Eight majors in economics, management and business
University Founded: administration with 45 minors. Department of Tourism
1956 and Hospitality
University of District 3, Economics, management, international business with
Economics Ho Chi HCMC marketing, public finance, banking, accounting,
Minh City Founded: statistics, information technology, political theory, law,
1976 state management, foreign languages economics,
Institute of Tourism, physical education
Ho chi Minh City Binh Thanh Social sciences and humanities, law, tourism and
University of District hospitality, bio-food technology and environment,
Technology Founded: vocational training, foreign language, civil engineering,
(HUTECH) 1995 architecture and arts, mechanical, electrical and
electronic engineering, accounting, finance and banking
Ho Chi Minh City District 1 Social science and behaviour, humanities, science
University of Social HCMC education and teacher training, press information,
Sciences and Founded: business and management, social sciences, hotel,
Humanities 1955 tourism, sports and personal services
Vietnam University of Hanoi Faculties: post-graduation, international training,
Commerce Cau Giay / in-service training, business administration, hospitality
Phu Ly, Ha (tourism) (was public cuisine), marketing, accounting
Nam (auditing), international trade and economics, economics
Founded: (law), finance (banking), economic information system
1960 and E-commerce, English, human resource management,
political theory
Hanoi University of Bac Tu Faculties: Mechanical engineering, chemical technology,
Industry Liem, Minh automobile technology, information technology,
Khai Bac Tu, electrical engineering technology, electronics
Hanoi engineering technology, accounting (auditing), foreign
Founded: languages, garment technology and fashion design,
1898 fundamental sciences, law and political science, tourism,
physical education
RMIT University District 7 Economics and finance, international business, logistics
Vietnam HCMC and and supply chain management, management, tourism
Hanoi and hospitality management, digital marketing, design
(Australian studies, design (digital media), fashion (merchandise
brand) management), professional communication, languages,
Founded: information technology, electrical and electronic
2000 engineering (Honours), robotics and mechatronics
engineering (Honours), software engineering (honours),
MBA/MIB/EMBA, PhD
(continued)
Location/
University of Finance District 7, Business administration, banking and finance,
and HCMC accounting, marketing, valuation, real estate trading,
Marketing(directly Founded: international business, hospitality management,
under the Ministry of 1976 management information system, business English, etc.
Finance) Students:
±20,000
Hanoi University Thanh Xuan, Information technology, business administration,
Hanoi accountant, finance (banking), international studies,
Founded: corporate communications. Associated foreign
1959 programmes:
Students: Administration in Finance and Marketing (La Trobe
±29,000 University, Australia)
Travel and tourism management (IMC KREMS,
Austria)
Applied accounting (Oxford University, UK)
Economics (Sannio University, Italy)
Vinh University Nghe An National defence, Vietnamese, accounting, finance and
Province banking, business administration, economics,
Founded: agricultural economics, electrical and electronic
1959 techniques, electronic and communication techniques,
electronic and automation techniques, construction
techniques, traffic work building techniques, food
processing techniques, chemical technique technology,
information technology, agronomy, aquaculture,
environmental science, natural resource and
environmental management, land management,
agricultural extension, political science, culture
management, tourism, education management, social
work, journalism, law, education, English language, etc.
Ho Chi Minh City District 10, Foreign languages, information technology, oriental
University of Foreign HCMC languages and culture, international business, tourism
Languages and Founded: management, international relations, secondary
Information 1994 education, political theory, economics (finance), law
Technology
Dong Thap University Dong Thap Political education and social work, literature, history,
of Education Province geography, physical education and defence security,
Founded: education department (kindergarten), mathematics and
2003 informatics, chemistry, biology, state audit, education
management and educational psychology, economics
and business administration, arts, resources and
environmental sciences, foreign languages, culture
(tourism)
(continued)
Location/
Da nang University of Ngu Hanh Accounting, business administration, commerce and
Economics Son, Da tourism, finance and banking, economics, statistics and
Nang informatics, political economics
Founded:
1975
College of Foreign Phu Nhuan, Import-export business, international logistics, business
Economic Relation HCMC administration, petroleum BA, commercial marketing,
District 5, 9 hospitality business administration, E-commerce
Binh Thuy business, management informatics, corporate
District, Can accounting, corporate finance, business English
Tho City
Founded:
1997
Ho Chi Minh City Tan Phu, Chemistry, business administration and tourism,
University of Food HCMC engineering technology, electrical and electronics,
Industry Founded: biotechnology and environmental engineering, finance
1982 (accounting), information technology, fisheries, garment
technology (footwear and fashion design), food service
Source: Authors’ compilation of internet sources, April 2018
p artnerships with Australia, France, the USA, Japan and Germany. Study abroad
programmes are strongly encouraged and financially supported by the government
and between 1999 and 2016 grew by 680% (China’s growth was 549% and India’s
360% in the same period). While this could be seen as a good thing, Trines (2017)
argues that one reason for this increase in the number of students choosing to study
overseas is actually widespread dissatisfaction with an education system “character-
ised by international isolation, a lack of high-quality universities, inadequate for-
eign language training, bureaucratic obstacles, and curricula that do not prepare
students for entry into the labor force” (p. 4). This quote succinctly addresses the
concerns of the authors of this chapter, and while much is being done to address
these, others have made similar comments. London (2011) speaks of ‘entrenched
interest, bureaucratic rigidities and ideological factionalism [that] seem only to pro-
mote continued organizational inertia’ (p. 3).
Another issue that arises regularly in any discussion around Vietnam is corrup-
tion. Trines (2017) makes the point that in the Transparency International 2016
Global Corruption Perceptions Index, Vietnam was ranked as the 33rd most cor-
rupted out of 176 countries. He suggests this is due to a number of factors including
the extremely rapid economic development, a considerable amount of ineffective
and inefficient bureaucracy and a very poorly paid public sector. Foreign companies
regularly cite corruption as a challenging issue when operating in Vietnam.
Furthermore, in Trines (2017), after the police, education is cited as the most cor-
rupted sector, leading to accusations of plagiarism, fraudulent degree certificates
and ‘leakage’ from budgets, particularly in the public sector. The Vietnamese gov-
ernment is attempting to address this issue, and their action has included the use of
the death penalty on at least one occasion, so it is being taken very seriously, but
overseas institutions contemplating a move to Vietnam should consider this issue
carefully. While well-known international education providers may see this situa-
tion as an advantage for them, bringing a highly reputed education brand to Vietnam,
others may be put off by the fact that their presence in a country so high up on the
Global Corruption Perceptions Index may tarnish their image.
8.7 Transnational Education in Vietnam
Private universities have been a feature of Vietnam’s tertiary education sector since
1988, when the first ‘private’ university to open in 1988 in Vietnam was Thang Long
University, Hanoi. Private for-profit educational institutions were not permitted
until 2005, although by 2015 there were as many as 88 private providers of higher
education. The establishment of foreign universities in Vietnam is known as
‘Transnational Education’. Nguyen and Nguyen (2008, p. 153) state,
In response to the Vietnamese Government’s policies, a relatively large number of foreign
partners have stepped in to Vietnam to establish 100% foreign-funded education institutions
or to co-operate with Vietnamese counterpart institutions on undergraduate training, voca-
tional training, distance education, short-term training courses, etc.
This has been heralded as an opportunity for Vietnamese students to gain an

overseas education without leaving Vietnam, clearly a very valuable asset in the
tourism and hospitality field. However, the government is conscious of avoiding
dubious institutions or ‘diploma mills’ setting up in Vietnam, and there have been
examples of foreign institutions offering qualifications in Vietnam that they were
not licenced to deliver in their own country. The government has therefore announced
that foreign education establishments require a minimum investment of US$45m,
presumably on the assumption that only the best and most credible would be able to
commit to such an investment (Nguyen & Nguyen, 2008). One example of such a
foreign education establishment is RMIT University Vietnam. Trines (2017, p. 6)
reports that
Australia’s RMIT University is among the few foreign-owned universities in Vietnam.
Other foreign-backed universities include the Vietnamese-German University, Vietnam-
Japan University, and the Fulbright University Vietnam, a non-profit university recently set
up by Harvard University.
RMIT University offers a Bachelor of Tourism and Hospitality Management

degree from July 2017 from two campuses – in Ho Chi Minh City and in Hanoi. It
is regarded by many as the most prestigious tourism and hospitality management
course in Vietnam. Tourism and Hospitality Management students study within the
School of Business and Management for the first year before choosing specialist
tourism and hospitality subjects such as Rooms Division Management, Facilities
Development and Management, Tourism Planning and Sustainability for Tourism
and Hospitality.
Other recent developments have included the Vin Group of companies (property
developers and operators of hospitals, primary and secondary schools and a medical
college) partnering with Cornell University of the USA to develop a tourism and
hospitality offering in Hanoi through Vin University, with enrolments scheduled to
start in 2020.
The Ho Chi Minh University of Technology (HUTECH) claims to be the first
university with approval from the Ministry Of Education and Training (MOET) to
run a master’s programme in Tourism Service and Travel Management. They have
been offering hospitality management and tourism service and travel management
since 1999, but in May 2015, they were given authority to run a master’s programme
(HUTECH, 2016).
Nguyen Tat Thanh University (with the NTT Institute of International Education)
offers a Bachelor in Hospitality Management (top-up) degree to those students who
already have a Diploma in Hospitality Management. This is offered in association
with the University of Gloucester, UK, and is a 1-year top-up qualification. Students
are offered the opportunity to complete an internship in Ho Chi Minh City,
Singapore, Malaysia or Thailand. Graduates will be awarded a bachelor degree in
Strategic Hospitality Management.
The Imperial International Hotel School (IIHS) launched its hotel management
programme in November 2017 in the city of Vung Tau under the Dean, Prof. Dr. Karl
D Brandmeir, in association with Niagara University in New York, USA. They have
already run a number of short courses in Hospitality English and Housekeeping and
run an exchange programme for students of their two establishments (IIHS, 2018).
At the time of writing, Hoa Sen University has just announced it is launching an
assessment centre for ‘Vietnamese Tourism Occupational Skills Standards’ in asso-
ciation with the Vietnamese Tourism Certification Board (VTCB) in December
2017. It is a collaboration with Institute Vatel and offers the ‘Bachelor Vatel –
International Hotel Management (State Level II degree)’. Its stated aim for the
assessment centre is to develop human resources for the tourism sector with four
courses addressing industry protocol, restaurant service, tour management and
travel agencies, with the VTCB responsible for assessment and certification of suc-
cessful students. This was offered along with the Vatel Saigon Restaurant and
Lounge facility (Vatel Hotel and Tourism Business School, n.d.). This appears to be
an attempt to create a facility for training operational staff in front-line tourism and
hospitality roles within an existing higher education provider.
A final example of a hospitality provider is the Saigontourist Hospitality College
(STHC) which was formed in 1989 with support from the Saigon Tourism Holding
Company and which became a nationally recognised tourism school in 1997, with
financial support from a number of European governments. It has links with hospi-
tality and tourism colleges in China and Canada and currently offers certificate short
courses and a 2-year diploma in tourism and hospitality. It has up to 3500 students
enrolled at any one time (Saigontourist Hospitality College, 2016).
The above half a dozen examples demonstrate that there is certainly a great deal
happening in the tourism and hospitality education space within Vietnam. Each of
these establishments have been developed with financial or pedagogical support
from players external to Vietnam, showing that the government recognises that there
is much work to be done to bring Vietnam’s tourism and hospitality industry up to
an international standard. International standards enable the industry to consistently
give tourists memorable experiences, which will encourage them to come back and
tell others what a great place Vietnam is to visit.
8.8 Future Developments
Nguyen and Nguyen (2008) warn that at the time of their study for the World Bank,
Vietnam still had issues such as examples of low educational quality and efficiency
leading some to call for further educational reforms. They further highlight that,
‘Universities and research institutes have lacked close linkages with reality; training
quality and efficiency have been poor; teaching and learning methods have been out
of date; resources have been very limited and resource utilization has been ineffi-
cient’ (p. 139).
VNAT (2018b) reports that the tourism education network in Vietnam has seen
many improvements and developments, including both full-time and part-time
offerings and that it is increasingly spread across the country. The Ministry of
Education and Training has launched a ‘National Action for Tourism’ strategy
resulting in 22,000 students entering tourism training each year in Vietnam (a 22%
increase on 2010). The report estimates that 80% of students graduating from tourist
colleges or universities find suitable work in the tourism sector. VNAT also claims
to now have 2000 lecturers, teachers and management staff in tourism education at
all levels, of which 29% are under 30 years of age and 60% are 31–50 years old.
There are two full professors, 36 hold doctorates and 210 hold master’s degree
qualifications. While no definitive statistics were found for comparison, this seems
a small number for a country with 90 million people and over 12 million tourists.
However, they also point out the challenge Vietnam faces in trying to deliver
higher-quality education at a time of increasing student numbers but declining
resources. Wages and salaries for tourism educators continue to be a reason for the
best staff to move out of the sector or overseas. This is a problem that higher educa-
tion institutions across the world will be familiar with. The Vietnamese government
has sought to address this by signing educational partnerships with over 60 coun-
tries, as well as increasing scholarships both for international students to study in
Vietnam and for Vietnamese students to experience overseas education. International
aid budgets have assisted in this (VNAT, 2018a).
VNAT (2018b)) notes that particularly vocational education is still not evenly
available across the country, meaning that where education and training is needed
most, it is least likely to be available. The increase in foreign businesses operating
in Vietnam has increased the need for qualified staff, and the current education sys-
tem is not keeping up with demand from tourism businesses for qualified staff.
Khoung (2015) observes that international tourism to Vietnam is growing strongly,
particularly from China, South Korea, Japan and the USA. However, she suggests
that ‘the tourism sector lacks an adequate workforce of professionally skilled, glob-
ally literate and interculturally competent staff’ (p. xiv).
While Vietnam has several excellent building blocks and a strongly developing
tourism industry creating a welcome demand for qualified staff, there are some
issues the authors believe need to be addressed as a matter of urgency. Existing
government education providers need to have the space and flexibility in their cur-
ricula to create courses that will be intellectually stimulating and teach both the soft
and hard skills that the industry requires. Industry needs to work more closely with
education providers to support learning with site visits, case studies, data for proj-
ects, etc. Institutions should seek accreditation from internationally recognised cen-
tres of excellence such as the UK’s Institute of Hospitality (IoH). Industry needs to
take a longer-term view and seek to develop Vietnamese staff for management posi-
tions instead of relying on expatriate staff to fill the skills gap. Finally, Vietnam
needs to have a clear strategy for dealing with transnational education providers –
are they a stop-gap solution until the Vietnamese tourism and hospitality manage-
ment higher education providers can take over, or are they seen as long-term
partners?
It should also be noted that a limitation of this chapter is that it was written by
three people actively involved in education and tourism at a senior level in Vietnam
but that time did not allow for primary research, and therefore much of this chapter
relied on secondary data, both from academic and industry sources. It would be very
useful to gather primary data from hotel and tourism operators to identify their
human resources challenges and requirements, from educators in the public and
private sectors covering both domestic and international providers and also to give
a voice to students and recent graduates to evaluate their experiences of tourism and
hospitality education in Vietnam in 2018.
In conclusion, this chapter has provided an overview of Vietnam, its history and
current situation, its tourism and hospitality sector, its education sector and some of
the key players in it. While its socialist history and ideology perhaps make it an
unusual educational environment compared to many Western countries with a more
capitalist approach, many of the issues raised by the authors in this chapter will be
familiar to tourism and hospitality management academics the world over – recruit-
ing students to a career that parents are dubious about compared to more established
professions, making sure that education providers are academically rigorous and
industry relevant, developing soft as well as hard skills, finding the right quality and
quantity of academic staff to support qualifications and ensuring that industry
understand that what they are receiving are individuals with the enthusiasm to suc-
ceed but with a need for mentoring, support and lifelong learning opportunities if
they are to develop into valued senior management material.
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Chapter 9
The Institutional Context for Experiential
Learning Investment in Hospitality
Education: A Case Study from Thailand
Karl Basil Dicen, Chachaya Yodsuwan, Ken Butcher,

and Nantaporn Mingkwan
Abstract Forecasts for travel to and from South East Asia in the next 20 years
indicate large growth in tourists and hotel infrastructure but a shortage of skilled
personnel. Fast-track training solutions together with competences to handle digital
economies and global mobilities are required. This chapter attempts to understand
the institutional context for university investment in hospitality experiential learn-
ing by developing a theoretical framework of the decision-making process. An anal-
ysis of literature, university documents and selected interviews with key stakeholders
were undertaken. The study draws from institutional theory and the isomorphic
behaviour of institutional members. This framework encompasses the many forms
of experiential learning, including fully captive hospitality facilities; limited service
on-campus facilities; internships, work-based placements; simulations and case
studies. A typology has been developed that depicts four main approaches to expe-
riential learning investment. The results suggest that South East Asian countries,
such as Thailand, may adopt isomorphic behaviours to fit the global institutional
context or could stand firm on their approach to experiential learning. The frame-
work further provides a benchmark for future studies to compare current activities
with other regions, best practice suggestions and future timeframes within an insti-
tutional context.
Keywords Hospitality education · Experiential learning · Training centres ·

Institutional theory
K. B. Dicen · C. Yodsuwan (*) · N. Mingkwan

School of Management, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai, Thailand
e-mail: chachaya@mfu.ac.th; nantaporn.min@mfu.ac.th
K. Butcher
Department of Tourism, Sport and Hotel Management, Griffith Business School, Griffith
University, Gold Coast, Australia
e-mail: k.butcher@griffith.edu.au

144 K. B. Dicen et al.
9.1 Introduction
Given the expected growth in travel and associated new hotel projects, to accom-
modate a rise in tourist numbers within South East Asia, the World Travel and
Tourism Council (WTTC, 2015) forecasts that the hotel industry faces serious risk
from human capital issues over the next decade. In some countries, such as Thailand,
a fast-growing hospitality industry faces significant challenges in recruiting quali-
fied employees to provide the required standard of service (Chaisawat, 2008). These
growth trends exacerbate the current long-standing industry difficulty in attracting,
motivating and retaining quality employees in hospitality.
In previous decades, higher education institutions have responded to market
forces. At the same time, as travel and tourism growth has accelerated, so has the
demand for and supply of tourism- and hospitality-related courses within the higher
education sector, especially in Asian countries (Hsu, 2014). Indeed, in many coun-
tries the proliferation of tourism and hospitality courses has been substantial. In the
Australian context, Patiar, Ma, Kensbock, and Cox (2017) reported that at the time
of publication, over 300 tourism- and hospitality-related courses were offered by
institutions nationally. Similarly, there are also large numbers of courses being
developed in China. Drivers of such growth are often supported by government
incentives or the relaxation of constraints. Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia
have been flagged as tourism education hubs by their respective governments (Hsu,
2014). Likewise, hospitality/tourism programmes have been fast growing in the
Thai higher education sector for a decade (Chaisawat, 2008). Such growth in stu-
dent numbers corresponds with substantial growth in international hotel brands that
have expanded in Thailand and require a large, qualified and ready-for-work
employment pool (Hsu, 2005).
Despite a well-established history of hospitality education at universities, there
is scepticism from industry stakeholders about the efficacy of many training pro-
grammes. Numerous scholars over the past two decades have highlighted deficien-
cies in the ability of hospitality training to meet industry needs and expectations.
Likewise, the higher hospitality and tourism education sector in Thailand has
expanded rapidly, but some programmes were established in haste, and curriculum
design did not align with practical demands from the industry (Chaisawat, 2008).
Consequently, when hospitality operations acquire new employees trained at uni-
versities, often these formally educated graduates come fundamentally equipped
with inert knowledge (i.e. definitions, principles and concepts) about the hospitality
industry (Feinstein & Mann, 1998). This long-standing issue remains a core prob-
lem requiring attention. Indeed, Dredge, Airey, and Gross, (2014) acknowledge that
for many in the industry, there should be a ‘paradigm shift’ in the way tourism/
hospitality education is delivered that places more attention on the mix between
vocational skill building and ‘higher-order’ thinking. However, these authors take
an even broader view that multiple paradigms should be explored to fully under-
stand the educational opportunities available in tourism and hospitality education.
9 The Institutional Context for Experiential Learning Investment in Hospitality… 145
A core problem for universities resides in the fundamental issue of what should
be taught, or even more fundamentally, what can be taught at a university. This divi-
sion of theory and practice in hospitality training preoccupies academic thinking on
appropriate course work structures (Lin, Kim, Qiu, & Ren, 2017; Ruhanen, 2005).
Most scholars agree on certain aspects: hospitality programmes should meet indus-
try needs, provide a balance between practical and theoretical perspectives and be
contemporary. To fulfil these objectives, most universities offer some form of expe-
riential training as part of a hospitality degree programme. What is not clear is what
level or intensity of practical training should be provided that aligns with core insti-
tutional values, goals and objectives. This chapter explores this issue and attempts
to understand the drivers of experiential learning in the higher education sector. It
aims to provide some theoretical grounding in ‘institutional theory’ as a starting
point for the analysis. An examination of the various approaches to an investment in
experiential learning is undertaken through an analysis of literature, university doc-
uments and selected interviews with key stakeholders. Key characteristics of par-
ticular categories are described, and this categorisation then provides the framework
for understanding the key roles of institutions.
9.2 Understanding Industry Needs for Hospitality Education
The institutional context for higher education has embraced the shift in training of
hospitality employees from on-the-job to specialised training institutions outside
the workplace. In turn, this institutional training has further evolved from vocational
or community-college-level education to higher education in the form of under-
graduate and postgraduate university degrees. Despite this training specialisation,
upgrading of training providers and the evolution of training content from purely
practical to theoretical, numerous scholars, such as Raybould and Wilkins (2005),
believe that most institutions aim to meet industry expectations for job-ready gradu-
ates. Universities recognise their primary role is to prepare students for workplace
entry. Furthermore, authors, such as Dale and Robinson (2001), assert that an indus-
try focus is still the dominant aspect of the tourism and hospitality curriculum in
general. In recent times, employability has become an even more crucial issue for
many educational institutions and their perceived competitiveness in the market
place. Accordingly, universities appear to seek to understand the needs of industry
as a key stakeholder group. Various studies have been undertaken to determine
industry needs in tourism and hospitality, what students need to learn and the kinds
of knowledge and skills they should acquire (e.g. Dopson & Tas, 2004; Oktadiana
& Chon, 2017; Pearce, 1993).
The notion of what constitutes ‘employability’ is a contested issue. The idea
includes the gaining of entry-level employment, together with the ability to stay in
employment with either the same or a new employer. Employability also includes
the capacity for self-employment at some stage of a person’s career. The debate
about curriculum content to deliver salient competences for employability is an
enduring one (Oktadiana & Chon, 2017). Competency is the ability of the employee
to perform a job and is perceived as the skills that a student must acquire to get a job.
Employers expect fundamental knowledge and skills from their newly hired gradu-
ates (Wang & Tsai, 2014). According to Kay and Russette (2000), the fundamental
competencies for hospitality graduates include food and beverage (F&B), front desk
and sales. Similarly, Patiar et al. (2017, p. 3) argue that ‘on-campus practical train-
ing is still essential to help students build a comprehensive understanding of the
industry’. Corresponding to this notion of practical training is the term ‘vocational
training’. Over decades, vocational training has been associated with trade, techni-
cal or professional training (e.g. accountancy, engineering, nursing) and largely
been viewed as part of the post-secondary or lower end of the higher education sec-
tor. Such training is specifically designed to deliver job-ready graduates for specific
vocations.
However, Munar and Montaño (2009) argue that generic competencies are also
relevant for most organisations and that tourism/hospitality graduates generally
must have such soft skills to meet the overall expectations of employers. Rimmington
(1999) identified the generic skills of communication, problem solving, teamwork,
personal values and creativity as the most important. Often these desired competen-
cies are articulated by educational institutions in a normative manner, rather than by
employers. For many scholars, the idea of a liberal education is also critical for a
well-rounded graduate. A liberal education is a more holistic approach to preparing
students to deal with a range of issues, but not necessarily in a specific discipline
area. Higher education should provide students with a theoretical base and critical
inquiry skills (Dredge et al., 2014). Furthermore, Dredge et al. (2012) state that
required competencies bridge vocational and professional knowledge and skills and
provide a balance between specific business requirements and the wider world of
work. A fourth set of generic skills is directed at the student’s potential management
capacity, and skills identified include recognising customer problems, portraying
enthusiasm, maintaining professional and ethical standards, cultivating a climate of
trust and adapting creatively to change (Oktadiana & Chon, 2017). Thus, a combi-
nation of skill sets is viewed as desirable by many scholars. For instance, Gursoy,
Rahman, and Swanger (2012) proposed three sets of skills should be delivered –
hospitality industry knowledge, operational processes and behavioural and manage-
rial skills. Similarly, Choy and Sappa (2010) suggested four learning conceptions
should be delivered moving from lower-order to higher-order skills. As such, Busby
and Gibson (2010) argued that hospitality programmes have traditionally included
practical aspects, business knowledge and soft skills to deliver professional, produc-
tively trained employees and potential managers (Wang & Tsai, 2014).
Frequently, however, such aspirations of providing a balance between practical,
business knowledge, soft skills, wider liberal knowledge and managerial skills are
not achieved. Industry criticisms often focus on the lack of generic skills and practi-
cal skills. Industry reports of employer dissatisfaction with Australian tertiary grad-
uates noted graduate skill deficiencies in the practice of work-related skills or actual
work experience (Wardle, 2012). Two decades ago, scholars recognised that com-
mon curriculum requirements in hospitality provide students with a good
u nderstanding of the formal techniques associated with business concepts (Feinstein

& Mann, 1998; Knutson & Patton, 1992) but were not effective in job preparation.
Consequently, action to bridge the gap between deficient hospitality education and
the rapidly increasing need for industry labour and talents is required (Hsu, 2005).
Yet, today, the student experience remains inadequate in preparing graduates to deal
effectively with the many situations they will encounter on the job (Valenzuela
et al., 2017). More specifically, Diplari and Dimou (2010) suggest that curricula still
lack practical components to meet industry expectations and, furthermore, ‘the
existing curriculum seems to be detached from the reality of the labor market’
(Kachniewska & Para, 2017, p. 18). After an extensive review of the literature,
Stergiou and Airey (2017) concluded that a tourism or hospitality degree offers no
guarantee of a job because of a deep and widespread mismatch between industry
and universities in the perceived requirements for skills and knowledge.
9.3 Experiential Learning in Hospitality Education
Experiential learning is, for many institutions, the solution to bridging any industry
gap. Experiential learning (EL) has been described as ‘the process whereby knowl-
edge is created through the transformation of experience. Knowledge results from
the combination of grasping and transforming experience’ (Kolb, 1984, p. 41). The
essential notion of experiential learning is that we learn more from doing work
activities than reading about them. Furthermore, in this mode of learning, the
essence of repetition or practice is implicit. Thus, in a continuum of experiential
learning activities, exposure to a workplace activity is no substitute for carrying out
the work, and, again, this brief real-world activity is no substitute for doing more of
the work. The implication for experiential learning is that a work-based mode of
learning at one end of the continuum is substantially different from a text-based,
classroom setting at the opposite end. However, experiential learning is a broad field
of activities, and classroom role-play activities have been found to be a valuable
method of bridging the divide between academic knowledge and practical skills.
Such approaches have been found to contribute towards deeper learning by enhanc-
ing students’ interest, motivation, participation, knowledge and skill (Ruhanen,
2005). Experiential programmes essentially comprise two aspects: identification of
requisite skills, theories or techniques and a delivery mode that mimics the work-
place environment and provides workplace authenticity, as far as possible.
Some experiential learning methods, with examples, are listed below.
• Industry placement – actual, specific employment (paid or unpaid):
–– Apprenticeship
–– Captive hotel or restaurant (teaching hotel or restaurant)
–– Internship experiences (externship)
• Industry placement – simulated employment as a balance between work activi-

ties and study:
–– Service learning experiences in the community
–– Volunteer experiences
–– Job shadowing
–– Laboratory settings where hospitality services are provided
–– Field work experiences
–– Practicum experiences (seminar, workshop plus work experience)
• Classroom-based activities:
–– Video
–– Industry guest speaker
–– Case study
–– Virtual environment
–– Simulation (e.g. HOTS)
Despite a growing consensus that experiential learning has substantial benefits
for hospitality education, not all universities seek to implement experiential learn-
ing programmes. Even for those that do, many universities offer limited versions of
experiential learning. Studies have indicated that the implementation of meaningful
experiential learning has several negatives. In pedagogical terms, Moscardo and
Pearce (2007) noted general weaknesses that included mismatching learning con-
tent with course objectives, poor skill acquisition and teaching inefficiencies.
Furthermore, Atkinson (2016) identified core issues that constrained successful out-
comes from the conduct of experiential learning activities, including work place-
ments. These issues included:
• Additional costs for all parties
• Lack of time or interest in developing or hosting programmes/students
• Ill-defined programme objectives and quality control
• Misunderstanding of aims
• Lack of understanding of industry constraints
The implications of these insights are that a genuine determination is required on
the part of universities to be involved in experiential learning. In turn, this involve-
ment needs to be strongest in activities that most closely mimic real-world hospital-
ity activities, such as captive hotel facilities. According to Pang, Wong, and Wong
(2013), running a ‘captive/teaching hotel’ has the advantage of better control of the
experiential element of the curriculum; however, there are not many programmes
operating with ‘captive’ hospitality facilities. The building and operation of such
expensive infrastructure is a bridge too far for most universities. Furthermore, stud-
ies have provided evidence that supports the views of administrators who seek to
reject the need for such facilities. In 1994, LeBruto and Murray reported that staff
and students did not rate captive training facilities as more important than non-
captive facilities for the delivery of required competencies. While the latter authors
did not compare the outcomes from captive versus non-captive training activities,
this study is an example of easy-to-find evidence for those administrators not fully
committed to experiential learning ideals.
9.4 Institutional Drivers of Experiential Learning
In this section, a synthesis of issues related to the application of experiential learn-

ing in hospitality is examined through the ‘lens’ of institutional theory. According
to institutional theory, social, political, and economic pressures influence firms’
strategies and organisational decision-making as firms seek to adopt legitimate
practices or legitimise their practices in the view of other stakeholders (Jennings &
Zandbergen, 1995). While various approaches – such as resource-based theory, eco-
logical theory or agency theory – have been used to understand organisations, insti-
tutional theory is arguably the dominant approach to understanding complex
organisations and their corresponding networks (Greenwood, Hinings, & Whetten,
2014). Organisational legitimacy relates to the level of cultural support from stake-
holders, such that perfect legitimacy would be 100% and no stakeholders would
have any serious issues to raise with the organisation’s values, activities or direction
(Meyer & Scott, 1983). Sources of legitimacy derive from internal and/or external
stakeholders who have the capacity to be aware of the organisations actions and
provide an assessment. Institutional theory derives from a deeper and more resilient
analysis of social structures and the processes by which rules, norms and routines
become established as authoritative guidelines for social behaviour. Thus, organisa-
tions are influenced by their institutional context. An institutional context relates to
the ‘rules, norms and ideologies of the wider society’ (Meyer & Rowan, 1977,
p. 84).
A key aspect of institutional theory is ‘imitation’. Firms mostly adapt to or con-
form to the institutionalised network of actors. This action is referred to as ‘isomor-
phic’ behaviour. Through isomorphic behaviour, organisations avoid social censure
and minimise demands for external accountability and, in general, improve their
standing in their institutional context. Three types of institutional isomorphism were
identified by DiMaggio and Powell (1991, p. 67):
1. Coercive – isomorphism that arises from the need to comply with legal rules,
such as standardisation, accreditation or government regulation.
2. Mimetic – isomorphism that results when organisations copy each other as a
coping mechanism for environmental uncertainty. It is safer for organisations to
mimic successful peers than attempt to undertake novel activities.
3. Normative – form of isomorphism arising as a need to reinterpret the rationale
for organisational practice that best fits the organisational posture. Hence, organ-
isational members redefine issues to suit their preconceived worldview. Provides
legitimisation of current worldviews from key stakeholders within the institu-
tional context.
Isomorphic behaviour is largely self-interested behaviour, such that isomorphic

actions are often largely ceremonial and disguise the actual behaviours within the
organisation (Greenwood et al., 2014). This separation of actual policies and prac-
tices from the ‘face’ of the organisation is referred to as ‘decoupling’. Hence, the
institutionalised context constitutes a high level of desired image formation, which
can be quite divorced from the realities of workplace activity. In practice, institu-
tional theory predicts that most members of the institutional network will exhibit
isomorphic behaviour arising from the need to avoid its behaviour being
questioned.
9.5 The Institutional Context of Higher Education
According to Austin and Jones (2015), universities seek to retain or enhance their
legitimacy by conforming to perceived pressures from the higher education environ-
ment and are driven to adopt policies and practices that can achieve such legitimacy
outcomes. Indeed, they assert that if universities are not meeting community stake-
holder expectations, then such legitimacy is at risk. One broadscale project exempli-
fies the issues faced by university managers. A project to map a national tourism,
hospitality and events undergraduate curriculum, paying attention to the balance
between professional/vocational education and liberal education, was initiated in
Australia. The project authors stated its core focus was on a ‘dynamic curriculum
space shaped by internal and external factors from global to local scales, a variety
of values and perspectives contributed by a range of stakeholders, and shifting phi-
losophies about education policy, pedagogy and teaching practice’ (Dredge et al.,
2014, p. 8). At stake in such reviews is configuring the institutional context. Who is
doing it right and who is not? To avoid being singled out, and/or censured, univer-
sity administrators are more likely to take an isomorphic approach defined by
Dimaggio and Powell (1991, p. 66) as a ‘constraining process that forces one unit in
a population to resemble other units that face the same set of environmental condi-
tions’. Hence, if the same set of environmental forces affects institutional members,
then organisations start to look alike (Orru, 1991). For instance, governments world-
wide have reduced public funding for universities. In addition, public administrators
have introduced greater legislative scrutiny with the goal of pressuring universities
into managing their resources more efficiently. Institutional theory predicts that uni-
versities will respond to such coercion by engaging in similar and visible activities,
such as restructuring and streamlining operations. Restructuring plans at universi-
ties mimic many of the visible actions already taken by many businesses during the
early part of the 1990s. Furthermore, Greenwood et al. (2014) argued that such
restructuring conformity will be emphasised in organisations whose outputs are
more abstract or difficult to evaluate. Thus, organisations, such as universities, are
more likely to respond in visible and rational ways to provide an appearance of
doing something.
Hospitality education delivery has been transforming as student growth increases

globally. In the main, hospitality education was delivered in vocational settings at
lower-level colleges for many decades. As the tourism/hospitality industry grew and
demand for well-trained hospitality labour increased, so did the clamour for univer-
sities to offer degrees in hospitality increase. In turn, regulatory forces required
universities to move away from vocational or practical training exercises in hospi-
tality in order to gain permission to offer university degrees (Oktadiana & Chon,
2017). Hence, coercive pressures were evident in the shift from diplomas, which
emphasised practical exercises, to degrees comprising theoretical concepts befitting
a university education. This transformation has further accelerated in the last two
decades. As more universities took on more hospitality training, the delivery evolved
too. No longer were teachers experienced industry persons but, rather, research-
oriented graduates of the university system. Institution pressures required faculty
managers to hire PhD-trained graduates. The profile of hospitality educators trans-
formed markedly. It is no surprise that such a pool of PhD-trained, research-oriented
educators taught what they knew best and elected to avoid teaching aspects they
knew least. Hence, the profile of hospitality educators tended to mimic the univer-
sity academic profile.
As profiles continued to evolve, universities replaced existing practical compo-
nents of courses or whole courses with theoretical alternatives (Dredge et al., 2012;
Robinson, Breakey, & Craig-Smith, 2010). In addition, courses were often selected
for their lower operational costs, and this policy reduced the numbers of hospitality
courses (King & Craig-Smith, 2010). New hospitality departments copied counter-
parts that they perceived as being successful. Newer institutions were more likely to
model their curriculum and faculty profile on the need to look like a research-
oriented university. This model attracts research funding and delivers academic
publications and associated academic rankings. If the university values academic
research standing at an international level, then academics will be recruited to
deliver on goals to achieve such international standing. For example, curricula in
Taiwan often replicate programmes from other countries that possess such academic
standing (Oktadiana & Chon, 2017). Hence, the upgrading of the hospitality educa-
tor profile has continued on a global level as university managers sought to upgrade
their university rankings through internationally recognised research outputs.
Indeed, Petrova (2014) argues that tourism and hospitality educators are now largely
out of touch with industry. This separation has been discussed widely in the litera-
ture but nonetheless has continued to grow.
A further contributing factor to a decline in the practical components of tourism/
hospitality degrees is a widespread belief held by university administrators that hos-
pitality programmes lack the academic clout of other occupational programmes
(Dredge et al., 2012). The difficulty in this position is that any perceived movement
towards more experiential training can be perceived as further diminishing the insti-
tution’s status as a university. In this case, hospitality educators are caught between
a rock and a hard place. The difficulty in institutionalising an experiential learning
programme was illustrated by Austin and Rust (2015). Success factors hinged on
making the time and effort required, including the building of centralised
a dministrative infrastructure. Such a step creates an organisational entity within the

university dedicated to experiential learning and not caught out with conflicts of
interest. In addition, numerous universities have moved to accelerate their pro-
grammes by offering trimesters and graduating students within 2 years. Thus, a stu-
dent may complete a 3-year undergraduate degree within 2 years. This shift towards
quick completion rates reduces the capacity for long-term experiential learning
projects. A two-semester internship/externship is just not feasible within such a pro-
gramme structure. At the same time as these tangible changes in education delivery
have been occurring, staff receive the psychological message that cost containment
and research outputs hold more value than attempting to build long-term relation-
ships with industry. This situation contrasts sharply with the institutional context
that existed when the first hospitality school was established in Lausanne,
Switzerland, in 1893 and the first modern hospitality school was opened at Cornell
University in 1922. These first schools were industry driven (Dredge et al., 2012)
and remain closely wedded to industry today, while others have drifted away.
This separation between industry and university of what constitutes a relevant
and appropriate hospitality degree creates a credibility gap with industry. Where a
large gap exists, industry will resist being recruited to support such university pro-
grammes. Where there is no gap and a close relationship exists, then industry and
university will be willing to collaborate. Furthermore, indistinct styles of education
among hospitality programmes create uncertainty for graduates and difficulty for
employers in discerning what potential competencies may have been delivered at
any one institution (Gu, Kavanaugh, & Cong, 2007). Again, the possible solution
for such criticism is standardisation in the delivery of course material, which sug-
gests normative isomorphic thinking where such action takes place. A more recent
trend affecting the credibility of global hospitality education by universities is the
unravelling of the worthiness of much-touted international research outputs. At the
centre of the international research publication model, which dictates university
rankings, is an insatiable academic journal market that publishes material mostly
irrelevant to nonuniversity communities in the institutional context. Industry seeks
practical and timely advice to improve their businesses and lives. Instead, academic
research tends to focus more on achieving statistical significance, not practical
significance.
Statistical significance hints that a probability of a relationship between two vari-
ables exists and relies upon sample size and sampling error. In contrast, practical
significance implies the existence of relationships between variables and real-world
scenarios. Problems with this academic approach are emerging in all scientific dis-
ciplines due to measurement error, model conceptualisation and ‘p-hacking’, where
model relationships are manipulated to meet desired probability significance levels
(Woodside, 2017). It is conceivable that much of the extant tourism/hospitality lit-
erature makes no meaningful contribution, which would largely affirm industry pre-
conceptions. The education of aspiring hospitality graduates within this model
inspires little confidence within industry. Until academic research proves its genu-
ine worth, industry collaboration is a moot point.
9.6 The Thai Institutional Context
In Thailand, the institutional context for universities providing hospitality pro-

grammes appears distinct from western-style educational contexts. Four key factors
appear to distinguish these institutional contexts. The first factor is the relationship
with industry, students and universities. It appears that Thai universities providing
hospitality programmes have a close relationship with employers and their students.
Thais afford a high level of respect to teachers at all levels and, in turn, respect their
work outcomes. This respect is provided without faculty holding doctoral qualifica-
tions or working for highly ranked universities. Esteem is given to the profession of
teaching. Hence, staff feel no sense of urgency to achieve a different, research-
oriented status. University academics already hold high status within their impor-
tant communities. In 2016, the Thai government introduced legislation that requires
university academics to publish more research outcomes. To date, this mandate has
had little influence on Thai academic work, but such pronouncements may indicate
the beginning of a trend to western-style isomorphism.
The second factor is the academic standing of universities in Thailand and the
priorities attached to raising academic rankings at an international level. Academic
standings of universities in South East Asia are far lower than comparably sized
institutions in the West. To date, there has been no concerted effort to get on the
rankings treadmill. Most universities in Thailand are not held in high esteem inter-
nationally for their academic-oriented research activities. Through community-
oriented, practical projects, academics in Thailand deploy their expertise to directly
benefit the communities within which they interact. This model is sharply contrasted
with the high-volume ‘publication’ model that produces large amounts of interna-
tional journal material.
Third is the priority attached to community service for universities and, thus,
individual academics. The notion of community service is strongly embedded
within the Thai university system. Such service draws from the collective cultural
values Thais hold. Such cultural values contrast with the more self-centred, indi-
vidualistic approach of western-oriented academics.
Fourth is the structure of degree programmes in Thailand. The programme struc-
ture for undergraduate degrees in Thailand provides greater scope for experiential
learning activities. An eight-semester degree programme over 4 years allows univer-
sity administrators to embed internships and more intensive practical activities into
the curriculum more readily. In contrast to the shortening of many western hospital-
ity programmes, the mandating of a 4-year curriculum for public universities by the
Hong Kong government (degrees were previously 3 years long) has benefited stu-
dents by extending the scope for innovative experiential learning (Tse, 2014).
Litigation in western legal systems and duty of care factors discourage intensive
internship programmes where supervision is difficult. Litigation of criticism of
unsatisfactory employer-student arrangements makes such activities problematic.
Even field trips require extensive documentation of ‘risk’ factors for many western
universities. This bureaucracy limits opportunities for experiential activities directly
and indirectly by discouraging staff from proposing such activities. However, in

Thailand the legal system and duty of care regulations are more flexible. There do
not appear to be any constraints around experiential learning activities.
A further constraint evident in many western countries relates to the undergradu-
ate student profile. As western governments decreased public university funding,
university administrators turned to the international market. For this reason, many
western hospitality programmes have substantial numbers of international students,
especially Chinese, whose native language is not the same as the host university.
Cultural and language issues provide further obstacles for large-scale work-
placement programmes. In contrast, the student profile in Thailand remains almost
wholly domestic. The student population is thus homogenous in nature, and core
Thai values of hierarchy suggest that students are willing to cooperate without ques-
tion in experiential learning programmes. In addition, Thai undergraduate students
tend to live in dormitories on campus or close by the university campus. Attendance
at university classes is mostly compulsory. Formal attendance in scheduled classes
could amount to 18 h per week. Furthermore, a high level of extracurricular activi-
ties on campus plus weekend formal curricular activities create a high level of
engagement with the university and bonding between peers and staff. This student
profile suits the implementation of intensive experiential learning activities far bet-
ter than many western-style counterparts.
9.7 Categories of Experiential Leadership
Differences in institutional contexts appear to have an influence on university

approaches to an experiential learning investment. These approaches to experiential
learning are categorised with their associated characteristics in the following list.
This typology includes four approaches to experiential learning investment, and
these are listed below, with their distinguishing characteristics.
1. Leadership
• Key distinguishing aspect is to ‘lead’ the whole industry sector, including
universities.
• Likely to be focused institutions, often at college level.
• Feelings of community obligation to provide industry-ready graduates.
• Historical roots likely to be from industry.
• Deep and long-standing relationships with industry.
• Longer degree programmes accommodate workplace-based activities.
• Higher numbers of work place hours ‘required’ for all students.
• High investment in administrative support for internship ‘job matching’.
2. Proactive
• Recognises experiential learning as an important investment.
• More likely to view student education in a more holistic manner.
• Faculty members have high levels of industry experience.

• Substantial number of workplace hours ‘required’.
3. Reactive
• Regulatory compliance and ceremonial visibility for appearance of experien-
tial learning.
• Superficial implementation.
• Views experiential learning as a cost.
• Minimal or notional numbers of ‘required’ work hours for smaller percentage
of students.
4. Avoidance
• Distinguished by universities with a strong historical research-oriented
position.
• Weak relationships with industry.
• Faculty members have low levels of industry experience.
• Limited scope for workplace-based activities in programmes.
• Faculty staff priority is academic research outcomes.
• Negligible administrative support for experiential learning programmes.
Overall, the western institutional context tends to spread universities across all
four approaches, while in the Thai context, universities can be classified solely in
the leadership or proactive categories. All Thai universities offering hospitality pro-
grammes are committed to a substantial investment in experiential learning. In con-
trast, many western universities now fall into the lower categories of experiential
learning investment in hospitality. Many such western universities have closed their
training facilities, reduced their work-integrated learning programmes, reduced
required work experience hours and removed industry ‘liaison’ administration staff
or not attempted to build such facilities or practices. A normative isomorphic
response is evident in these circumstances. In the current study, website observa-
tions of universities that appear to eschew costly and time-consuming experiential
investments tend to emphasise the leadership attributes of their programmes and/or
development of managerial talent for industry in their promotional material.
Leadership in experiential learning investment is not just attributed to ‘college’
level or lower-ranked universities. The top-ranked university in Thailand in research
is also recognised as a leader in experiential learning activities. For example,
Mahidol University has invested substantially in captive hotel facilities. Likewise,
highly ranked, globally recognised universities can combine high levels of experi-
ential learning with research excellence, e.g. Cornell University and Hong Kong
Polytechnic University. In addition, many universities also attempt to deliver a bal-
anced curriculum with a strong focus on experiential learning outcomes, including
required workplace hours. In many cases, students are required to undertake over
1000 h of relevant work experience during their degree programme. In Thailand, all
universities provide internships as part of their 4-year undergraduate degree pro-
grammes. Most internships are for one semester but many programmes provide two
semesters of internship. In the case of Mahidol and Mae Fah Luang universities, the
on-campus hotel facilities provide experiential learning in one semester followed by
an externship at a hotel or related company in a subsequent semester. Hence, stu-
dents are receiving high levels of training to be job-ready for an external
internship.
Leading institutions are likely to have invested in substantial training infrastruc-
ture that provides a diversity of real-world training opportunities. For instance, at
Mahidol University, the four-star Salaya Pavilion Hotel and Training Centre is a
fully operational hotel with 43 guest rooms, 2 gourmet restaurants, guest bar, bakery
outlet and 5 function rooms. Likewise, the three-star, 60-room Wanasom wellness
resort at Mae Fah Luang University provides a range of spa, restaurant and meeting
room facilities for students to gain a wide range of experience. Such infrastructure
development mirrors facilities provided in other global centres of excellence; for
example, by the Hotel Icon for the Polytechnic University in Hong Kong. The dis-
tinguishing feature of leading institutions is the comprehensive nature of the expe-
riential training they offer. Students tend to be exposed first hand to multiple aspects
of a tourism/hospitality career during their degree programme.
Leadership appears to comprise an aspiration to showcase university-derived
hospitality knowledge to industry, not just meet industry best practice for students.
This behaviour mimics traditional faculty advisory services, such as agriculture and
health. That is, leaders, such as the Hong Kong Polytechnic, are keen to develop
best practices and then to advise industry about such best practice. To fulfil this
need, they allocate three rooms in the Hotel Icon for innovation, so that students and
industry participants can explore new options for room design and guest service. In
Thailand, there is an overall sense of obligation to develop higher standards within
the hospitality industry in general. Thus, institutions are in the business of educating
not just students but also existing business owners, on a large scale. To enable such
delivery requires confidence in faculty staff to have industry best-practice knowl-
edge and close relationships with industry.
A key facet of those institutions displaying experiential leadership or proactive
involvement appears to be the staff profile. At Hong Kong Polytechnic, real-life
managers from the Hotel Icon deliver ‘full’ courses to students, not just one guest
lecture. This high-level involvement of active executives is in contrast to the posi-
tion of universities that advertise high numbers of PhD-trained faculty in their pro-
motional materials – staff who have often been hired to meet business accreditation
standards. Likewise, in Thailand, hotel executives appear to be willing to offer their
services in a more involved way than just a one-off guest lecture. In one instance, a
five-star Dusit Hotel general manager in Thailand invited 200 students to visit his
hotel for a 3-day field excursion at substantial cost to the hotel. This action was seen
by the manager as being part of giving back to the community.
9.8 Conclusion
In a globalising world, the expectation is that individual institutions within an indi-

vidual country will exhibit isomorphic behaviour as they seek to join a global com-
munity of scholars. Scholars have acknowledged the shifting emphasis over decades
in many western contexts to a research-intensive focus with less resources allocated
to practical teaching. In turn, this shift has resulted in tensions between industry and
university perceptions of job requirements. A typology of characteristics of experi-
ential learning approaches was developed for this chapter that highlighted this dis-
tinction between practical versus research orientations. Four key approaches were
identified: leadership, proactive, reactive and avoidance. It is suggested that many
universities in western systems are aligned with the avoidance category for experi-
ential learning.
Furthermore, many institutional constraints at a national level were identified
that restrain global isomorphism for South East Asian university systems, such as
the ones existing in Thailand. It was highlighted that in the Thai institutional
context:
• Both teachers and academic practitioners are well respected.
• Degree programmes are longer.
• Community service requirements provide a constant bridge from academics to
industry and community needs.
• University students are largely domestic.
• There is no concerted effort to join the rankings competition.
If existing sociocultural factors are strong enough within an individual country
(or region), then global isomorphism of the role of experiential learning within the
university sector may well be delayed or not happen at all within that particular
country (or region). Indeed, the current situation suggests that resistance to global
isomorphism is growing. For instance, the level of scrutiny placed on global schol-
arly research outputs is increasing. It is possible that less value will be placed on
academic outputs in future and more value placed on industry-related outputs. That
is, the importance placed on the practical significance of hospitality-related research
outputs could move from its current subordinate position in western universities to
a more dominant role in scholarly work. If it is possible to put a brake on the statisti-
cally significant approach to scientific literature, then hospitality educators and
scholars in research-oriented universities may develop an increased focus on expe-
riential learning. Accordingly, predicted isomorphic behaviour for developing coun-
tries, such as Thailand, may be less attractive. Many universities in Asian countries
already focus on the practical significance of their research efforts.
Furthermore, the global community of scholars may turn their attention to other
community aspects, such as those currently valued in Thailand and SE Asia. It is
possible that a shift to a more practical and relevant body of literature may result in
a system that mimics the Thai situation, rather than vice versa. In turn, the role of
experiential learning may develop further as an important community service from
the higher education sector. Such an outcome could be possible if national and
regional university administrations recognise the value inherent in their systems.
One could imagine a future where Thai universities are lauded for their hospitality
education by emulating the Swiss model, i.e. global rankings of universities tend to
include several Swiss hospitality schools at the top, even though their research out-
puts may be low.
Future research could examine a number of themes related to investment in hos-
pitality experiential learning. These could include further exploratory work to
develop frameworks, as depicted in this Chapter, together with the testing of such
frameworks. Industry needs and university executive motives relating to experien-
tial learning investment should be more closely investigated. The use of technology
to enhance learning and reduce costs would likely be a fruitful area of research.
Finally, Asian-style systems of experiential learning should be more closely inves-
tigated across multiple contexts within Asia.
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0c374262bc951226a6618201.ashx
Part III
Tourism Education of Asian Students
Abroad
Chapter 10
Outcomes and Challenges of a Cooperative
and Intercultural Learning Project:
A Critical Analysis
Anya Diekmann, Martin Vincent, and Jyotsna Patwardhan
Abstract Tourism per se is about interactions and relationships with other cultures.
Service quality perceptions vary from one culture to another, and cross-cultural
host-tourist interactions shape experiences on both sides and inform the develop-
ment of emerging markets and products. Encountering another culture through
social interaction can contribute significantly to cross-cultural understanding and
the development of adapted tourism provision. India and Belgium are historically
not countries with close ties. However, India is attempting to increase the number of
international visitors to the country, and Belgium aims to attract more Indian visi-
tors. In that context, two universities, one from Mumbai in India and the other from
Brussels in Belgium, decided to collaborate and develop a joint project aimed at
fostering cross-cultural exchanges between their tourism management students. The
aim was to sensitise future tourism practitioners, reduce cultural stereotypes and
develop adapted, sustainable and responsible tourism products. The programme
was initiated in 2014. It consisted of a joint course focussed on profiling the partner
universities as well as the development of specifically adapted itineraries. The
course was based on direct virtual interactions between the students on a regular
basis for a 4-month period. During that time, students interacted through a simula-
tion in which they played, alternately, the roles of tourists and hosts. This chapter
will look critically into this joint course experience over recent years. After high-
lighting the tourism context, the contents of the course and its implementation will
be analysed. The learning outcomes and the key challenges of intercultural learning
projects are tackled.
A. Diekmann (*)
Research Centre LIToTeS (Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire, Tourisme, Territoires, Sociétés),
Université Libre de Bruxelles, Bruxelles, Belgium
e-mail: anya.diekmann@ulb.ac.be
M. Vincent
LIToTeS, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Bruxelles, Belgium
e-mail: marvince@ulb.ac.be
J. Patwardhan
Garware Institute of Career Education and Development, University of Mumbai,
Mumbai, India

164 A. Diekmann et al.
Keywords Tourism education · Experiential learning · Intercultural education ·

Belgium · India
10.1 Introduction
The tourism sector is per se international, and receiving international visitors is one
of the core features and challenges when developing tourism in a country. Service
quality perceptions vary from one culture to the other, and cross-cultural host-tourist
interactions shape experiences on both sides and inform the development (or not) of
markets and products. The intercultural interactions intrinsic to international tour-
ism mean the sector needs graduates with inter- and multicultural skills – people
who are able to deal with the needs and demands of visitors from other cultures.
Academic tourism programmes need to take responsibility for developing such
skills in their students in a reflective manner (Inui, Wheeler, & Lankford, 2006).
One way of doing this is to go beyond the classroom through virtual experiential-
learning initiatives. In that context, in 2014 a ‘joint course’ was launched by two
universities, one from Belgium and the other from India. Multicultural groups, com-
posed of postgraduate and master’s students in tourism management programmes
from both partner universities, were requested to complete a virtual role-play
assignment to share knowledge, know-how, ideas and points of view. The following
chapter first outlines the concept and reason behind the project, followed by the
method and a description of the assignment. It then examines the students’ percep-
tion of the joint course for their professional and personal curriculum. A critical
analysis of the outcomes determined by teaching evaluations is also provided, and
key challenges in the implementation of new forms of pedagogy and how the latter
contributes to tourism education programmes in general are discussed.
10.2.1 Tourism and Intercultural Experience
Beginning in the second half of the twentieth century, tourism has gradually become
a globalised industry and is now one of the contexts in which most people are facing
intercultural communication experiences, exceeding even work or migration con-
texts (Argyle, 1982). The tourism sector is then deeply connected to intercultural
issues. Opportunities for intercultural experiences abound for tourists as culture is
expressed in many facets of society, such as architecture, food, education, gover-
nance and religion (Reisinger & Turner, 1998). A meal in a restaurant, a public
transport trip, a visit to the temple and a discussion with locals are all potential occa-
sions at which to experience the local culture. Furthermore, the frequency of these
intercultural interactions between tourists and hosts at a global level has been
steadily increasing for decades, a trend which should continue as statistics show
10 Outcomes and Challenges of a Cooperative and Intercultural Learning Project… 165
continued growth in global international tourist arrivals. The total number of inter-
national tourists grew from 500 million in 1995 to 1235 million in 2016 (United
Nations World Tourism Organisation [UNWTO], 2017).
Tourist experiences of cultural differences on the one hand and cultural differ-
ences in consumption behaviours on the other hand have both been explored in the
tourism field since the 1960s. From the tourist-experience perspective, several con-
cepts such as ‘culture shock’ (Oberg, 1960) or more recently ‘culture confusion’
(Hottola, 2004) have been used to describe the cultural adaptation process affecting
travellers arriving in a new cultural environment. This process is known for causing
periods of stress, anxiety and unpleasant feelings in visitors, and understanding and
managing this phenomenon are therefore an important issue for destinations’ man-
agers and service suppliers aiming at providing a satisfying tourism experience.
Differences between the hosts’ and the tourists’ cultures play a significant role
(Reisinger & Turner, 1998, p. 84):
The greater the differences, the greater the probability that encounters will lead to friction
and misunderstanding (Sutton, 1967) because the more likely they will distort the meaning
of each other’s behaviour (Triandis, 1977). Indeed, the behaviour that is regarded as desir-
able in one culture may be regarded as inappropriate in another culture. (Brislin, 1981)
Studies of the cultural differences in consumption behaviours further increase

comprehension of the needs and expectations of tourists from specific regions of the
world. These studies have shown how tourist’s cultural affiliations influence them at
all stages of their tourism experience. While the following examples are not exhaus-
tive, cultural differences have been identified in:
• Motivations (Crompton, 1979; Kim & Lee, 2000)
• Expectations (Armstrong, Mok, Go, & Chan, 1997)
• Destination risk perceptions (Fuchs & Reichel, 2004; Reisinger & Mavondo,
2006)
• The quest for tourist information (Ortega & Rodriguez, 2007)
• Satisfaction and service quality perceptions (Kozak, 2001; Reisinger & Turner,
1998; Tsaur, Lin, & Wu, 2005)
These findings imply that tourism professionals and tourism students, as future
active stakeholders in the sector, must acquire adequate knowledge about the cul-
tural behaviours of their guests – as well as those of their partnering practitioners in
other countries. Moreover, tourism is both a major agent of change at a destination
as well as being subject to change itself in terms of its practices, both of these in a
rather continuous way. From that perspective, tourism education needs to be
rethought and reengineered constantly (Sheldon, Fesenmaier, & Tribe, 2011).
Future tourism practitioners need to have practical skills, but, at the same time, they
need cooperative and cultural competences that go beyond their own culture.
10.2.2 Intercultural Experiential Learning
A way to learn practical skills has been found in experiential learning. This method
involves role plays that allow participants to immerse themselves in a learning envi-
ronment. Students act out the role of a character or part in a simulated scenario and
can practice behaving as they would be expected to if the circumstances were real
(Ruhanen, 2005). The method motivates students as they play an active part in the
assignment. The role-play learning experiences are enriching because ‘they repli-
cate a real-life situation as closely as desired; wherein the students have to assume
roles as they analyse situations and make decisions’ (Tiwari, Nafees, & Krishnan,
2014, p. 261). This type of learning is beneficial for deep learning and allows stu-
dents to better assimilate knowledge and its future applications (Gannon, Rodrigo,
& Santomà, 2016). It helps students to develop creative and critical thinking skills
in addition to improving their interpersonal skills and self-confidence (Papamarcos,
2002; Ruhanen, 2005).
Furthermore, cultural competences need to be developed to operate in the
increasingly international environment, particularly in the tourism sector composed
of a large number of different cultures. Training in cultural competence teaches
students to analyse people as distinct and multifaceted individuals and moves
beyond natural stereotyping and clichés (Gannon et al., 2016, p. 20). The aim of the
training is to escape stereotypes and reduce prejudice (if existing) and to teach stu-
dents to understand individuals as unique, complex combinations of visible and
invisible dimensions1 (Egan & Benedik, 2008). In summary, the project wishes to
go beyond cultural general representations and to provide students with a deeper
insight into cultural characteristics, such as lifestyle, traditions, social habits and
‘dos and don’ts’, and to understand the underlying reasons for these behaviours. It
should, however, be underlined that most intercultural projects are part of business
and management courses, with only a few examples in hospitality studies (Gannon
et al., 2016); to our knowledge, none exist in tourism studies.
One core feature of the development of intercultural skills is the ability to actively
collaborate within a multicultural group. The project, therefore, forms groups com-
prised of a mix of students from both countries tasked with delivering a common
presentation. While multicultural group work gives students an opportunity to
assess, process and react to unfamiliar values and ideas, research has shown that the
skills and knowledge required for collaboration between diverse cultures within a
group are not self-evident but must be learned (Cotton, George, & Joyner, 2013;
Levin, 2005). Indeed, in the context of receiving students from other cultures, local
students may be ill-prepared for the internationalisation agenda. Intercultural con-
tact can only be successful if both parties put in conscious efforts (Cotton et al.,
2013) and contest representations of the other culture based on stereotypes and
1
Dimensions include the demographic characteristics (e.g. race/ethnicity, gender, age, disability)
and the ‘invisible’ dimensions of diversity (professional background, multiple intelligences,
employers’ corporate cultures) (Egan & Benedik, 2008, p. 391).
clichés that are often conveyed by social media. These difficulties are equally
observed when students from different countries are asked to form one group.
10.3 C
ase Study: Indian and Belgium Students
in a Cooperative and Intercultural Learning Project
India and Belgium are two countries that aim to increase their numbers of interna-
tional visitors. So far, both countries reached around 8 million Foreign Tourism
Arrivals in 2015 (Ministry of Tourism, 2016; UNWTO, 2017). For both countries,
these results leave them behind their direct neighbours and regional competitors
with, for example, 15 million visitors in the Netherlands and around 30 million in
Thailand in the same year (UNWTO, 2017). Both countries, particularly India,
present a growing outgoing market with 20 million Indians travelling (Ministry of
Tourism, 2016). With Europe as one of the first destinations in the world, the poten-
tial to attract Indian visitors to Belgium is high due to direct flight connections
between Brussels and India.2 Belgium nationals also increasingly choose long-haul
trips. The total number of long-haul trips to Asia undertaken by Belgians for holiday
purposes have more than doubled in the last decade, from 83,000 in 2006 to
205,000 in 2015 (Statbel, 2017). Belgian tourists constitute an increasing potential
for India. Yet both countries have a distinct cultural background and generate
numerous stereotypes and clichés about the other country.
In that context, the tourism departments of a Belgian and an Indian university
chose to set up a cross-cultural experiential-learning experience with their master’s
students, the future tourism stakeholders of both countries. As it was not possible to
relocate students, communications were based on interactive tools such as Skype,
Facebook and WhatsApp. The first ‘joint course’ started in September 2014 and, by
the time of writing, has entered its fourth iteration. Averages of 80 students (40 from
each country) participate each year in the experience, supervised by 4 academic
staff. Every repetition of the course is followed by an individual evaluation by the
students. In Belgium, it is a compulsory course during the second year of their mas-
ter’s degree studies; however, in 2015/2016 ‘first-year’ students could choose the
course voluntarily. This year was the most ‘successful’ year in terms of student
numbers and learning outcomes, as students were highly motivated. In India, the
course is a compulsory part of the senior post-graduate module.
2
Until March 2016, the European Hub of the Indian airline Jet Airways was in Brussels. Since
March 2017, Brussels Airlines offers direct flights from Brussels to Mumbai.
10.3.1 Study Method
The joint course is designed, through multicultural teamwork, to facilitate intercul-

tural exchange between students in tourism management, to sensitise future tourism
practitioners and to counter stereotyping of the other culture. The learning objec-
tives are for students to achieve effective collaboration and obtain innovative results
as well as being able to apply the experience in a professional environment. Students
are organised in groups comprising people from both cultures and asked to com-
plete a progressive assignment. Every group is composed of two national sub-
groups – one from each country. The course is set up as a role play and includes the
following components:
• An introduction on the theory and practice of cross-cultural collaboration
• A presentation on effective group collaboration, including communications tools
• Several hours of presentation of information about the partner country (its his-
tory, society, culture and tourism)
• A 2-hour virtual meeting of all participants (students and supervisors) during an
online presentation session
• A final 3-hour virtual presentation of developed products by all students
• Regular, virtual group meetings
• Regular follow-up by supervisors with national subgroups, followed by an
exchange and discussions between the supervisors to enhance communication
In addition to the course, readings about theoretical concepts such as tourism
destination (Saraniemi & Kylänen, 2011), cross-cultural behaviours (Reisinger &
Turner, 2003) and service quality perception (Furrer, Liu, & Sudharshan, 2000) are
suggested.
As aforementioned, to improve the experience and learning outcomes, every par-
ticipating student has to evaluate and report several times during the course on com-
munication, content and any other issues that have arisen. In addition, a short online
survey to assess students’ learning outcomes is sent out to the students directly after
the course has been completed.
10.3.1.1 Course Content and Assignments
The core idea is that the group members from each partner university form two
subgroups that each develop an adapted tourism product for their home city
(Mumbai or Brussels) based on the needs and expectations of the ‘consumers’, who
are the students from the partner university (the other subgroup). During the role
play, a first step is the profiling of the clients. Each national subgroup explains their
travel habits. They express what they like doing on holiday in general and their
preferences and fears for the trip to the partner country – and suggests an innovative
city trip and a 1-day excursion of 72 h (3 days and 2 nights) including all facilities,
such as transport, attractions, visits, accommodation and restaurants, i.e. to Belgium
or India. According to the established profile, each subgroup designs a tour while
also considering sustainability aspects in developing the products. The Indian stu-
dents design the product for Mumbai and the Belgium students for Brussels. One
challenge is to make the product attractive and to design a quality product that dif-
fers from more traditional trips, which means students are invited to be creative.
Table 10.1 details the tasks involved in the product development. Each national
subgroup must play two concurrent ‘roles’ in order to perform the tasks:
(a) As the incoming agency of a destination, the local subgroup has to prepare a trip
to their city for their counterparts in the partner country.
(b) In their concurrent role as consumers (clients), each subgroup has to reflect on
their wishes, needs and expectations for a trip to the partner country.
Attention is drawn to the fact that it is of the highest importance and a condition
of the success of the project that, at all stages, Indian and Belgium students collabo-
rate. Moreover, supervisors have to insist that the project is not a competition but,
rather, aims at allowing students to better understand and appreciate the needs and
expectations of potential consumers and allows the development of adapted, attrac-
tive, high-quality products.
Table 10.1 The project tasks

No. Task Content of task
1. Profiling Role play: students are consumers (outgoing) and tour operators (incoming)
at the same time. They pay particular attention to cultural specificities in
the development of the tourism product in both cities. Students are invited
to consider and debate within the joint group meetings to reflect on
differences as well as on commonalities in consumption and visiting
practices, expectations and needs. That collaborative process will lead to
the profiling of the clients, allowing the development of an adapted and
innovative tour in tasks 2 and 3
2. Product Role play: as an incoming tour operator and based on the profile of their
development clients, each national subgroup will design a trip to their local city,
including all services and facilities, starting with the arrival at the airport in
either Brussels or Mumbai. Students are invited to be creative and
innovative in their suggestions and to design a heterogeneous programme
3. Final product After receiving feedback from the teaching staff and agreeing on the tour
with the partner group, students from both countries have to develop the
final product including marketing tools such as videos, brochures or slide
shows according to their preference. The final product is presented by
students to the partner group and teaching staff during a video conference
that takes place at the end of the course
10.3.2 Learning Outcomes of the Joint Course
This section gives a critical analysis of the outcomes resulting from the teaching
evaluation of the last two times the course has been run at the time of writing (2015
and 2016) and discusses key challenges in the implementation of new forms of
pedagogy. The teaching evaluation aimed at improving and reflecting on methods
and assessing if the course objectives had been achieved. It was based on individual
written evaluations by the student participants, on the short online survey sent to all
students and on direct feedback given by student participants during classes. Course
coordinators and teaching assistants also contributed to the evaluation through
group discussion and through direct observation. Since it was first introduced, the
course has generated positive feedback from students who have enjoyed the direct
contact with students from another culture and the innovative approach employed
by both universities.
The project is a very innovative project and I found it very exciting from starting. We learn
a lot while communicating with Belgium students, we share information about our cultures
with each other and all that I found out is very unique and new for me. (Indian student)
One reason is clearly the experiential learning, as a lot of students considered it

‘rewarding to work on something concrete, together with another culture’ (Belgian
student).
The fact that we had ‘real’ clients with their wishes and expectations gave us certainly more
motivation and perhaps more involvement than if it had been purely theoretical. Indeed, we
wanted our Indian partners to be glad of the trip we designed for them. (Belgian student)
Another positively felt aspect of the experience was the group work. Indeed,
many participants appreciated the teamwork and the complementarities found
within their teams. In contrast to other group work, they felt better engagement and
motivation from all participants (none of the ‘free-rider’ complaints generated by
other group assignments). One reason might be that students meet another culture
they hardly know, which means their curiosity is higher than in local/national group
work. There was general positive feedback about the human aspect of the project.
The social exchanges (some continuing after the project had finished) with students
from a different country were considered to be extremely positive. The distance
between the two countries and the fact that almost no student from either side had
ever visited the partner country might have increased this feeling. It is questionable
if a similar project with a neighbouring country would have generated the same
enthusiasm.
Students mentioned that they not only developed the skills to understand another
culture, but they also reassessed their own culture. The evaluation from both univer-
sities showed that the profiling of the ‘clients’ and the preparation of an itinerary not
only contributed to improved intercultural learning and encounters but also helped
students to get to know their own environment better, an aspect that was emphati-
cally deemed positive by most participants.
Another outcome was the overcoming of stereotypes and clichés, often in oppo-
sition to each other, that come from media and other narratives of the partner coun-
try (Fig. 10.1). A recurrent example is that Europe is perceived as safe and, in
opposition, India as unsafe. These clichés are integrated by most students, indepen-
dent of their nationality. Indeed, the Indian and Belgian students had similar stereo-
types of one country and tended to over-/underestimate the generalised stereotypes
and prejudices of the other country. In the first phase of profiling, both sides were
convinced of certain general cultural behavioural attitudes of the partners, but the
exercise of ‘profiling’ changed their perceptions significantly. Students determined
differences and similarities, notably due to the personal contact and exchange that
allowed not only a better understanding of the partners’ visible and invisible char-
acteristics (Egan & Benedik, 2008) but also a better grasp of the personality of the
partner. The results (Fig. 10.1) of the online survey in 2016 show that most of the 54
respondents (30 from Belgium and 24 from India) declared that the project has
changed their perception of the stereotypes of the partner country: 19 students
declared that their perception of the country had changed ‘significantly’; 32 stu-
dents reported change ‘to a certain extent’, in opposition to only 3 out of 54 who
declared that their perception had changed ‘very little’ or ‘not at all’.
10.3.2.1 Key Challenges
However, difficulties do exist. Group work as such, particularly in a multicultural

environment, can be complex. Due to the diverse cultural backgrounds and educa-
tional experiences of participants, the learning attitudes and expectations can
Fig. 10.1 Change of perception of partner country (online survey 2016)

sometimes be challenging, and negative perceptions are not uncommon within such
groups (Woods, Barker, & Hibbins, 2011).
The major issue between the Indian and Belgium students was one of communi-
cation. Non-responsiveness, lack of engagement and feeling of non-listening were
the core problems highlighted at the beginning of each exercise. Exchanges between
subgroups were often limited to one or two members of the partner group. Some
reasons were related to organisational issues: the time difference between Belgium
and India and the various geographical locations of the students. Moreover, some
students were doing internships at the time of the project and had difficulty joining
group members during the day. Other reasons were related to language skills, per-
sonality and contrasting cultural learning styles. None of the participants had
English as their first language. Moreover, Indian and Belgian English accents some-
times constituted a challenge to the language comprehension of the partner group.
Depending on fluency and personality, some conscientious and introverted people
were perhaps less willing to publicly express themselves (Caligiuri, 2006, p. 222).
Shy personalities might prefer to leave the communication tasks to others, prevent-
ing themselves from having direct contact with another culture.
Personality is indeed a key feature in intercultural group work. Woods et al.
(2011, p. 3) include personality attributes in the multicultural context ‘such as: emo-
tional stability, extraversion, agreeableness, openness to experience and conscien-
tiousness; cultural empathy, open-mindedness, emotional stability, social initiative
and flexibility; and patience’. In almost all groups, some members with stronger
personalities imposed themselves as leaders of the group and managed the discus-
sions. One-to-one relationships, however, developed in parallel through exchanges
on personal matters, such as families, life expectations, hobbies and travel
experiences.
In addition, contrasting cultural learning styles can lead to different learning atti-
tudes, misunderstandings and false expectations. Related to this, differing cultural
expectations of group-work outcomes and processes (including ‘social loafing’) can
also be problematic (Park, 2002).
There also are some things that disappointed me. They also have a different way of working
and so it was complicated. (Belgian student)
Furthermore, the intense use of technologies in an academic framework was

challenging. Most students were familiar with the use of instant messaging such as
WhatsApp, Skype or Facebook in informal contexts. Consequently, some of the
students from both countries tended to discuss irrelevant topics instead of focussing
on the assignment. It was necessary to remind them that the project was part of their
curriculum. This reinforces observations made by Liburd, Hjalager and Christensen
(2011) highlighting the need to be clear with students about the distinction between
the use of social media in academic and informal contexts. In addition, technical
factors, such as the compatibility of communication systems between the two uni-
versities, played a key role at the time of using technologies. In this respect, the
project faced several difficulties. Poor sound quality or repeated connection failure
during a video conference clearly led to frustration, particularly when the prepared
work could not be shared due to technical issues.
Finally, this type of pedagogy was new for most of the teachers, and it was the
first time that they had had discussions with teachers from another culture on courses
objectives, methods and evaluations. This pedagogical approach lead to negotia-
tions to find a compromise as teaching habits and institutional contexts were differ-
ent in India and Belgium. For example, teaching periods are not divided the same
way in Belgium and India, which meant the project was started a few weeks earlier
in India. Hierarchical relationships between coordinators, teaching assistants and
students were also subject to adaptation as the role of status in interpersonal com-
munication varies from one culture to another. Regular meetings and exchange of
emails before and during the project were necessary to ensure the successful con-
duct of the project and to avoid misunderstandings.
10.4 Conclusion
Given the current growth of international tourist arrivals at global level and the
emergence of new tourism markets such as India and China (UNWTO, 2017), there
is a growing need for the acquisition of intercultural skills among tourism students.
The intercultural dimension is indeed a key factor in the tourist experience as it may
lead to failures such as misunderstanding and disappointment. Moreover, tourism
education and higher education, as a whole, are coping with a transition period
where traditional methods and the roles of students and teachers are being ques-
tioned. The omnipresence of the use of new technologies disrupts traditional teach-
ing methods by giving new forms of learning opportunities. In addition, the often
passive role played by students is challenged by emergent active teaching methods
that sometimes turn out to be better alternatives (Sivan, Leung, Woon, & Kember,
2000). In that context, the experience of the joint project shared in this chapter pro-
poses an innovative group approach with the combination of experiential teaching
methods, requirements for creativity and a significant use of communication and
technologies. As mentioned above, the joint project aims at providing students with
strong intercultural skills that will enable them to reproduce successful exchanges
in professional contexts marked by the presence of other cultures.
With regard to the outcomes, the supportive and globally positive feedback given
by students from both Belgium and India for this teaching format should be high-
lighted. The students appreciated the experiential learning as an effective way to
simulate concrete cases that might be useful for their future working life. They
argued the joint project allowed them to challenge the stereotypes and clichés they
had held about the partner country. The groups’ dynamics seem to have played a
significant role in the successful execution of the assignments as it facilitated
exchanges inside national groups and between international partners. In this respect,
students have directly benefited from the internationalisation of their respective
tourism programmes. As not all students can travel, such an experience can, at least
partially, provide intercultural encounters that will contribute to increasing the

offering of customised tourism products and lead to greater consumer and provider
satisfaction. As international tourism becomes a major lever for development in
Asian countries such as India, the improvement of intercultural skills is a central
issue.
Key challenges related to the implementation of such an intercultural learning
project have also been addressed in the chapter. The main difficulties and problems
encountered by students and teachers during the project include dealing with com-
munication, the use of technologies and cultural differences in teaching practices.
Personality and relational aspects played a significant role in the functioning of
groups and needed to be managed by supervisors. As mentioned in the learning
outcomes of the joint project, the analysis is based on students’ answers to a short
survey and on direct observations made by teachers during the project. This teach-
ing evaluation process has some limitations within which the results must be inter-
preted. The analysis cannot be generalised to other similar projects. It aims rather at
sharing with a larger audience the learning outcomes and challenges from a specific
experience.
As each year the project is evaluated by the students, every new iteration of the
course is reviewed to improve the experience and learning outcomes. Another out-
come, not fully part of the project, is that some students become friends and, to date,
on average two or three Belgian students travel to India each year as a consequence.
Up to now, due to financial reasons, Indian students have not visited Belgium.
However, actively looking for funding schemes, we hope that in the near future
Indian students will also get the opportunity to travel to Belgium.
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Chapter 11
Career Goals of Chinese International
Tourism and Hospitality Students
in Australia
Katrine Sonnenschein
Abstract Research on the career aspirations of university students has typically

focused on general career expectations rather than specific goals such as job posi-
tions and salaries. In particular, there is a lack in the body of knowledge regarding
the career goals of Chinese international students studying tourism and hospitality.
In Australia, hospitality management was the sixth most popular degree among
Chinese international university students within business and commerce in 2016.
Due to the popularity of the tourism and hospitality programmes among Chinese
international students and the booming tourism and hospitality job market in China,
it is necessary to undertake research into the career goals of these students. Evidence
from 15 semi-structured interviews with Chinese international students enrolled in
an Australian tourism and hospitality degree is presented. The findings demonstrate
that most students changed their career goals during their studies. Some students
also developed clearer career aspirations during their enrolment. The study has
found that in order to provide students with more realistic insights into work require-
ments in the tourism and hospitality industry, a strong collaboration between uni-
versity and industry is crucial. Finally, the findings show that academics play an
important role in assisting students to develop realistic expectations about their
future careers and to discover where their genuine interests lie.
Keywords Career goals · Career aspirations · Tourism and hospitality manage-

ment education · Chinese international students · Generation Y · Work-integrated
learning
K. Sonnenschein (*)
Department of Learning and Philosophy, Aalborg University, Nathan, Australia
e-mail: katrine.sonnenschein@griffithuni.edu.au

178 K. Sonnenschein
11.1 Introduction
The transition from school to work is a crucial milestone in a young person’s life,
and it plays an important role in the development of their future career (Ng Yin-ling,
2016). Most of the career literature in hospitality focuses on students’ general atti-
tudes towards working in the industry (Wan, King, Wong, & Kong, 2014). While
research on the career goals and expectations of university students has typically
explored general career expectations, specific expectations (e.g. job positions and
salaries) are rarely explored (Lu & Adler, 2009). In particular, there is a scarcity of
research on the career goals of Chinese students studying tourism and hospitality
anywhere (Lu & Adler, 2009).
According to Zhang and Wu (2004), there are many human resource challenges
facing China’s hospitality industry. The main problems are the lack of qualified
employees, high staff-turnover rates, lack of interest among university graduates in
entering the industry and the gap between the curriculum of the educational provid-
ers and the realities of the industry itself. Tourism and hospitality graduates often do
not have realistic expectations of the job market, which often leads to graduate disil-
lusionment in their employment (Kokt & Strydom, 2014; Nachmias & Walmsley,
2015).
In general, organisational commitment in tourism and hospitality is particularly
low, and the turnover rate is higher among Generation Y employees when compared
to previous generations (Brown, Thomas, & Bosselman, 2015). According to Solnet
and Hood (2008), members of Generation Y (people born between 1979 and 1994)
wish to work for managers who will empower them and grant them flexibility. On
the one hand, it is crucial for employers to understand the career goals and expecta-
tions of their future workforce (Generation Y) in order to recruit and retain qualified
staff in the current competitive labour market (Lu & Adler, 2009). Employers will
then be able to develop successful human resource strategies and gain a competitive
advantage (Baum, 2007). On the other hand, it is crucial for students to have work
experience during their studies in order to develop more realistic expectations about
their future careers (Robinson, Ruhanen, & Breakey, 2016).
Since the early 2000s, Australia has been a major destination of choice for
Chinese international students (Davis & Mackintosh, 2011). Hospitality manage-
ment was the sixth most popular degree among Chinese international students
within business and commerce in Australian higher education in 2016 (Australian
Government Department of Education and Training, 2016). Davidson and King
(2008) claim that Chinese international students pursuing a tourism and hospitality
degree in Australia generally consider the tourism and hospitality industry as a sec-
tor offering dynamic employment opportunities. In particular, the number of hotels
in China has increased in recent years (B. Chan & Yeung, 2009; D. Chan, Ye, & Xu,
2016). The number of Chinese graduates returning to China has rapidly grown in
recent years because of significant job opportunities in a booming economy
(“Georgia on their mind”, 2015). According to The Economist (“Georgia on their
mind”, 2015), more than 350,000 Chinese graduates returned in 2013, compared
11 Career Goals of Chinese International Tourism and Hospitality Students in Australia 179
with 20,000 only 10 years earlier. Given the number of Chinese students enrolled in
tourism and hospitality programmes in Australia, the booming tourism and hospital-
ity job market in China (Saurine, 2013) and the high number of returning Chinese
international students, it seems timely to undertake research into the career goals of
Chinese international students enrolled in Australian tourism and hospitality
programmes.
11.2 Purpose of the Study
The study seeks to investigate Chinese international students’ change of career

goals during their studies and the reasons behind these changes. There are three
research questions, as follows:
1. To what extent do Chinese international students change their career goals within
the hospitality industry?
2. To what extent do Chinese international students change their career goals out-
side the hospitality industry?
3. What are the reasons behind the changes?
Because of the explorative nature of the research, this study included an analysis
of 15 semi-structured interviews with Chinese international students all enrolled at
one university in south-east Queensland. The participants were second-year (N = 9)
and third-year students (N = 6) enrolled in a Bachelor of Business (International
Tourism and Hotel Management and Hotel Management) programme.
11.3.1 Career Expectations of Generation Y
A generation is defined by Kupperschmidt (2000) as “an identifiable group (cohorts)

that shares birth years, age location and significant life events at critical develop-
mental stages (times), divided by 5–7 years in the first wave, core group and last
wave” (p. 66). As Solnet and Hood (2008) argued, the work-related characteristics
of Generation Y are worthy of consideration, because this generation is now reach-
ing adulthood and will become the leaders, managers and consumers of tourism by
2020 (Cairncross & Buultjens, 2010). Their work ethic and attitudes are very differ-
ent from those of previous generations (David, Rune Todnem, & Kate, 2007). Solnet
and Hood (2008) claim that Generation Y may be motivated by the ability to dem-
onstrate initiative in their work rather than by constantly following directions from
a manager. According to Martin (2005), members of Generation Y are entrepreneur-
ial, and they appreciate challenging work and creative expression. Barron, Maxwell,
180 K. Sonnenschein
Broadbridge and Ogden (2007) add that some students are inspired to start their
own business due to their experiences of management in the hospitality industry,
gained during part-time jobs. Generation Y members also desire jobs that provide
fair compensation, positive company culture and training (Morton, 2002). However,
Brown et al. (2015) claim that students lack a realistic understanding of careers in
the tourism and hospitality industry in relation to salary and working conditions.
The authors add that academic staff need to teach students about the realities of
careers in this industry by using current examples in the classroom.
Not much research has been located on Generation Y in relation to the Chinese
context. However, in Lynton and Thøgersen’s (2010) study, Generation Y in China is
characterised “as ambitious and demanding, hypersensitive, and almost allergic to
criticism” (p. 1). The authors argue that Generation Y does not accept hierarchical
rules as well as the previous generation did, which may cause conflicts between
young employees and their managers. Managers in China thus need to find new
strategies for managing Generation Y employees (Lynton & Thøgersen, 2010).
Evidently, China’s Generation Y expects immediate promotion; even though they are
willing to start at a lower level, they expect to advance quickly (Zhao & Liu, 2008).
11.3.2 The Influence of Internships on Students’ Career Goals
Research shows that students who have worked during their tourism and hospitality
studies have more realistic expectations than those who have not. According to
Robinson et al. (2016), many students enrol in a tourism and hospitality programme
without having clear career aspirations about the work they would like to pursue in
the industry. The authors explain this by the fact that tourism and hospitality degrees
are often not students’ first preferences (Robinson et al., 2016). Therefore, to better
manage the career expectations of students, university and industry need to collabo-
rate more closely to inform potential students about the opportunities and employ-
ment conditions they can expect after graduating; this could potentially be achieved
through open days, information sessions with the industry and internships (Robinson
et al., 2016).
Work-integrated learning (WIL) has been identified as a way to equip graduates
with attributes that make them work ready by developing their generic skills
(Crebert, Bates, Bell, Patrick, & Cragnolini, 2004; Mutereko & Wedekind, 2015). It
includes initiatives such as internships, practicums, field work, cooperative projects
operated through industry and/or community connections and simulations (Smith,
2012; Wardle, 2014). For consistency, this study uses WIL interchangeably with
internships.
According to Ko (2008), internship experiences may help students benefit more
in future careers. Wan et al. (2014) agree that students working part-time or under-
taking internships in the hospitality industry are considerably more inclined to con-
tinue to work in the industry upon graduation. D. Chang and Chu (2009), S. Chang
and Tse (2015), Seyitoğlu and Yirik (2015) and Li and Li (2013) also highlight the
critical importance of internships in preparing students to join the hospitality indus-

try and in developing their motivation to stay in the industry. However, some research
has demonstrated that students might change their career goals following their work
experience (Robinson et al., 2016). For example, some students who undertake work
experience are more inclined to decide not to work in the tourism and hospitality
industry (Richardson, 2008). Others claim that most changes in students’ career
aspirations relate to a change of direction within the industry (Kim, 2014; Robinson
et al., 2016). For example, some students might wish to change to establishing a
career in tourism instead of a career in hospitality (Robinson et al., 2016).
Wardle (2014) argues that even though there is increasing awareness of the
importance of WIL in Australian university education, there is still a lack of an
effective framework to incorporate it into the curriculum so that it benefits a maxi-
mum of students, industries and universities. Policies and procedures should be
developed by the university together with other stakeholders regarding the criteria
for host organisations, selection processes and external funding (Zopiatis &
Constanti, 2012). Many international students have high expectations of gaining
professional employment in the host country during their studies (Lawrence, 2014).
However, they often do not gain relevant work experience during their overseas
studies (Jackson, 2017). One reason is that some employers do not accept interna-
tional students because there is a limited return on investment in offering interna-
tional students workplace training and supervision when they are unlikely to remain
in Australia after graduation. Other reasons are the students’ poor English language
skills and lack of knowledge of the Australian workplace culture, their lack of con-
nections and their visa restrictions (Gribble, 2014; Mackaway, Winchester-Seeto, &
Carter, 2014; Patrick et al., 2008). Mackaway et al. (2014) recommend special sup-
port for international students seeking internships, given their difficulties gaining
positions in companies in their host country.
There is a lack of research regarding the specific career aspirations of students,
including Chinese students studying tourism and hospitality (Lu & Adler, 2009).
Furthermore, there is not much research on Generation Y’s job expectations in the
Chinese work context (Lynton & Thøgersen, 2010). While a considerable amount of
research has been undertaken regarding the benefits of internships for students’
development of their career aspirations (D. Chang & Chu, 2009; S. Chang & Tse,
2015; Robinson et al., 2016; Seyitoğlu & Yirik, 2015), research also demonstrates
that international students face particular challenges finding internships in their host
countries.
11.4 Methodology
This study used a qualitative interpretative methodology. Researchers using an

interpretive paradigm tend to rely on respondents’ views of the phenomenon being
studied (Mackenzie & Knipe, 2006). The essence of the interpretive paradigm is “to
understand the subjective world of human experience” (Cohen & Manion, 1994,
182 K. Sonnenschein
p. 36). This research relies on the perceptions of the interviewees in relation to
changes in their career goals during their studies. A social constructionist episte-
mology has been applied. Social constructionism refers to the mode of meaning
generation, where one’s culture teaches one how to view phenomena. Social con-
structionism emphasises that culture has an influence on the way people perceive
the world (Crotty, 1998).
The overall sampling strategy of the research was a combination of purposive
and snowball sampling. The study included an analysis of 15 semi-structured inter-
views with Chinese international students, all enrolled at one university in south-
east Queensland. They were second-year (N = 9) and third-year students (N = 6)
enrolled in the Bachelor of Business programme (International Tourism and Hotel
Management and Hotel Management). Five were male and ten were female. The
students were between 18 and 31 years of age; however, exact ages of all the inter-
viewees were not available as the interview guide grouped the ages into categories,
such as 18–25 and 26–31. This was done to avoid being too intrusive. Sometimes
the interviewees mentioned their age voluntarily, in which case it was recorded. The
interviews were conducted on campus in English and audio-recorded. All inter-
views were transcribed verbatim.
Coding was used as a method of data reduction (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). Open
codes were developed at the beginning of the data analysis. After the open coding,
the same characteristics were regrouped into categories that represented more
abstract concepts (i.e. axial coding). After both open and axial codes were grouped
and labelled, the categories were integrated into a core category through selective
coding. Selective codes use the same principles as axial coding, but the integration
of categories is made at a higher level of abstraction (Strauss & Corbin, 1998). The
coding process was undertaken with NVivo10 software. This program enables the
importation of transcriptions and coding of selected quotes. A thematic analysis of
the interview data was undertaken, and, through it, repeated “patterns of meaning”
in the data were examined (Braun & Clarke, 2006, p. 86). The researcher identified
themes in an inductive way, which means that the “themes identified were strongly
linked to the data themselves” and not coloured by theory (Braun & Clarke, 2006,
p. 83). The thematic analysis was undertaken when all data had been coded. The
various codes were analysed and collated into an overarching theme at a higher level
of abstraction.
In Table 11.1, a summary of the open, axial and selective codes and central theme
is provided. The central theme “Career goals of Chinese international tourism and
hospitality students” was developed inductively by connecting selective codes. In
turn, these selective codes were formed inductively from various axial codes, which
were developed from several open codes that emerged in the interview data (see
Table 11.1). This chapter will only discuss the two selective codes “Change of
career goals during studies” and “Reasons for change of career goals”, since most
students had changed their career goals (N = 10) during their studies. Only four
students did not change their career goals, and one student did not express any
goals. Abbreviations of the students’ names (e.g., SKE) are used after quotes from
Table 11.1 Summary of open, axial and selective codes and central theme according to the career
goals of Chinese international tourism and hospitality students
Central theme: Career goals of Chinese international tourism and hospitality students
Selective codes Axial codes Open codes
Change of career goals Career change within the tourism From food and beverage manager
during studies and hospitality industry to general manager
From HR manager to general
manager
From department manager to
general manager
From owner of a coffee shop to
human resources in a hotel
Students gaining a clear idea of From no career goals to
their career goals becoming a food and beverage
manager
From no clear idea to opening a
hotel or tourism agency
From no career goal to opening
own restaurant
From no clear ideas to
developing a vegetarian
restaurant
Career change outside the tourism From working in a travel agency
and hospitality industry to becoming an accountant
From working in a hotel to
becoming a salesperson for a big
brand
Reasons for change of External factors Lecturers/courses
career goals Work experience/lack of work
experience
Parents/friends
Religion
Internal factors Maturity
Exposure to Australia
No change of career Own business Take over father’s hotel
goals during studies Open own hotel
Employee Advertising manager in the
tourism and hotel industry
Hotel manager
184 K. Sonnenschein
respondents to protect their anonymity. Furthermore, original expressions by the

respondents have been retained in this chapter.
11.5 Findings
11.5.1 C
hange of Career Goals During Studies
and the Reasons Behind These Changes
Ten of the interviewees claimed that they had changed their career goals during their
overseas studies. Each of their responses are detailed below. First are responses
from four students who modified their career goals from one position in the hospi-
tality industry to another. Second are those from four students who went from hav-
ing no clear career aspirations to developing clear career goals. Third are responses
from two students who changed from wanting a career within the hospitality indus-
try to one outside this industry altogether.
11.5.2 Career Change Within the Hospitality Industry
Four students (SR, SKE, SA, SKI) developed higher career goals within the tourism
and hospitality industry during their overseas studies in Australia, with all of them
expressing their desire to become general managers in the long term. SR explained
how he had developed more confidence during his studies. In the beginning, he had
wanted to become a food and beverage manager, but later he became more ambi-
tious due to a course he undertook on how to run a restaurant. He also gained work
experience in a hotel in Australia during his studies:
Okay, it’s very simple because for this semester we are studying like we’re going to study
how to run a restaurant, how to run a hotel. And I have read some overviews of the course,
and I think I got a little bit ambitious like I may be the general manager because you have
to like … just I want to be more challenged like that. (SR)
Similarly, SKE had become inspired to be a general manager through the courses
she had completed during her degree. She worked as a housekeeper, waitress and
cashier during her studies, which might have helped her gain knowledge about the
industry and to develop her ambitions about becoming a general manager:
Maybe because my course, my courses. Just, you know, my course is getting like harder to
me and I will know more professional knowledge in the hotel industry. I find that really
interesting to study the knowledge. I really enjoy that. (SKE)
SA explained that he had matured and learnt that he needed to work his way up
the hierarchy in the hotel industry. He understood that he could not realistically
expect a high-level position at the beginning of his career. Furthermore, he had
completed some work experience during his studies, which might have helped him
better understand the industry:
Yeah, [my opinion] changed a little bit because before I started my university, that time I
was young and I was expected to like higher positions. But now I understand I have to start
from a low position and step by step, yeah, do the work, get promoted, do the work. (SA)
I had some work experience, a part-time job in a restaurant. So when I just had that job, I
totally don’t understand anything. And I have to learn I think, learn how to, you know, set
the table, how to serve, serve dishes, take orders, I have to learn it. (SA)
One student (SKI) had changed career goals from wanting to own a coffee shop
to working with human resources in a hotel. She reported that her career goals had
changed due to being inspired by her tutor in the Human Resource Management
teaching unit. The tutor was also working as a human resource manager in a com-
pany. She was further motivated to pursue this line of work because she had per-
formed well in this course:
Her job [the tutor’s] is HR manager but she said something about like her experience from
the HR. And I think this is one thing that changed my career goals. Other thing is according
to my grades … So the other course, the HR, the course from HR, I got distinction, high
distinction or something like this. (SKI)
11.5.3 Students Gaining a Clear Idea of Their Career Goals
Four students (SJA, SJE, SHE, SEL) explained that they did not have any clear
career goals before starting their overseas studies in Australia but that they had
developed career goals as they progressed in their studies. One student (SJE)
explained that his original career goal of becoming a clothing designer, like his
father, could not be fulfilled once his twin brother had chosen that path. Therefore,
he chose tourism and hospitality management instead. Now he is interested in open-
ing a hotel or tourism agency.
Before I started, I just want to [do the] same [as] my father, his job, just design the clothes
… My father is just doing design. But my family just twins, I am twins and my brother is
just doing design and my father just told me doing the other job. (SJE)
SJE’s career goals had become clearer during his overseas studies through
courses that he found interesting. In particular, he enjoyed a course about sustain-
ability, which made him aware of the problem of pollution in China.
Another student (SHE) explained how she had developed clearer career goals
during her overseas studies. She felt that she had matured during her stay overseas
through the people she had met and the environment she was in.
I think I have grown up a lot in Australia. [It] is the people that I meet in Australia and actu-
ally the environment that influenced me a lot. (SHE)
186 K. Sonnenschein
A third student (SJA) claimed that her career goals about opening a vegetarian
restaurant had developed through her work experience. She explained:
The first job, part-time job, like I said, working in the vegetarian restaurant opening [in] the
[Fortitude] Valley, I get very good experiences there. And the owners of the restaurants are
[a] couple. They are all vegetarian. Their families are vegetarian. (SJA)
Before I come here it’s not that clear. But after I come here, it is more clear, like in vegetar-
ian, yeah. (SJA)
She added that she had gained a deeper understanding of the Buddhist religion,
which had helped her understand what she wanted to do in her career:
Yeah, because I’m a Buddhist. And I become a Buddhist after I studied abroad actually
although I have this religion before. But I studied abroad by myself so I get more like under-
stand about the religion more and then getting more clear about what I really want to do.
(SJA)
11.5.4 Career Change Outside the Hospitality Industry
Two students (SAL, SJO) initially wanted to work in the tourism and hospitality indus-
try but had changed their career goals to another industry during their overseas studies.
One student explained that she was not sure anymore if she wanted to work in a travel
agency. Through her accounting lecturer at the Australian university, she had gained an
interest in accounting and was inspired to potentially change her career path:
And I really liked the teacher. And she explained everything very clearly and I was inter-
ested in accounting so I think, oh, maybe I can choose accounting as my minor. (SAL)
Another student found out after studying tourism and hospitality in Australia that
she preferred working in sales for a large luxury brand company. One reason for her
change of career goals was her friends’ negative work experience in the industry.
Another reason was that she had had trouble becoming familiar with the industry
herself during her studies, due to the lack of internship opportunities.
I know some friends who have experience in the work in the hotel because I know some
friends here. They’ve been here a long time and also they did a job like part-time, full-time
in the hotel. They told me hotel is really tight … They should wake up 4:30, 5 o’clock,
really tight. And the pay is not really high compared to others. (SJO)
Also I tried to find an internship. I found hotel internship is really hard to find. (SJO)
11.6 Discussion
The findings demonstrate that most of the students (N = 8) changed career goals
within the tourism and hospitality industry or developed clearer career aspirations
during their studies. Kim (2014) agrees that the changes in the students’ career
goals mostly relate to a change of direction within the industry. Four of the students
in the current study had changed career goals from a lower to a higher level (general
manager) within the hotel industry. These findings correspond with the literature on
Generation Y that states it is ambitious (Lynton & Thøgersen, 2010). The students
explained that their goal of becoming a general manager was a long-term one and
that they were aware of the need to work their way up a company. None of the stu-
dents interviewed claimed that they wanted a quick promotion. This is contrary to
Zhao and Liu (2008), who claimed that even though Generation Y know they have
to start at a lower level, they expect to advance quickly. One reason for the more
realistic expectations held by the students in the current study may be that they had
matured during their studies in Australia, as explained by the student (SA). Another
reason could be that they all had hotel work experience during their overseas stud-
ies, which might have provided them with more accurate ideas about the industry.
This concurs with Robinson et al. (2016), who argue that students who have had
work experience during their studies normally develop more realistic expectations
than those who have not. In order to assist Chinese international students to develop
more accurate ideas about their future career, universities should provide them with
more assistance in gaining internship opportunities (Jackson, 2017). These students
often encounter difficulties in finding an internship in Australia due to employers’
perceptions of their poor English language skills and lack of knowledge of the
Australian workplace culture (Gribble, 2014; Mackaway et al., 2014; Patrick et al.,
2008).
Four students changed from having no clear career aspirations to having clear
ideas about what future positions they would like to hold in the tourism and hospi-
tality industry. According to Robinson et al. (2016), many students enrol in a tour-
ism and hospitality programme without having well-defined career goals for
working within the industry and offering no commitment. This can be explained by
the fact that tourism and hospitality degrees are often not students’ preferred choice
(Robinson et al., 2016). Therefore, to better manage the career expectations of stu-
dents, universities and industry need to collaborate better to inform students about
opportunities in the tourism and hospitality job market (Robinson et al., 2016).
Interestingly, some of the students in the current study formed entrepreneurial
career aspirations after beginning their studies, in that they wished to start their own
restaurant/hotel. Martin (2005) has also argued that entrepreneurship is a character-
istic of Generation Y. The entrepreneurial aspirations of the students in the current
study had developed due to their work experience and the general maturity they had
gained during their overseas studies. Similarly, in a study by Barron et al. (2007),
several students expressed their desire to start their own business after their work
experience.
Only two students had changed their minds from initially wanting to work in the
tourism and hospitality industry to a position in another industry. One student
claimed that she had gained a particular interest in accounting since she had started
her studies because of her inspirational accounting lecturer. Previously, she had
wanted to work in a travel agency. Another student expressed her preference to work
within sales in a large luxury brand company instead of tourism and hospitality after
188 K. Sonnenschein
having started her studies. One important reason for this change of career goal was
her failure to secure an internship in the industry, which might have given her rele-
vant insights. This statement corresponds with Wan et al. (2014) and S. Chang and
Tse (2015) who claim that students who are prepared for the industry through work
experience during their studies are more inclined to look for a position in the indus-
try after graduation.
11.7 Conclusions
The data demonstrate that most of the Chinese international students interviewed in
the current study modified their career goals during their overseas studies. Four
students changed career goals within the hospitality industry, and four students
changed from having no clear career aspirations to having clear ideas about what
future positions they would like to hold in the tourism and hospitality industry. Two
students had changed their minds from initially wanting to work in the tourism and
hospitality industry to wanting a position in another industry. Only two students did
not change career goals during their studies. The reasons for changes in the stu-
dents’ career goals were external factors, such as lecturers’ and parents’ influence,
and lack of work experience. Also, the maturity that the students had developed
during their studies overseas had helped them become more aware of their career
goals.
Some of the students interviewed had changed their career goals through being
inspired by their tutors/lecturers. Therefore, academics need to spend more time
with their students to assist them in better understanding the industry and helping
them develop realistic expectations about salary and working conditions.
Furthermore, in order to help students develop their career goals, universities and
industry need to cooperate better to inform students about the work available, for
example, through WIL. WIL needs an effective framework through which it can be
incorporated into the university curriculum so that a maximum number of interna-
tional students can use it to develop more realistic expectations about their future
careers.
This study adds to the body of knowledge by exploring specific career goals of
university students instead of the more general investigations on the topic.
Furthermore, there is a lack of research into the career goals of Chinese interna-
tional students enrolled in Australian tourism and hospitality programmes. Since the
tourism and hospitality industry in China is booming and a large number of Chinese
international students are returning to their home country, research into this particu-
lar topic is pertinent. For future research, it is relevant to investigate how Chinese
international students are different from their western counterparts in choosing
career goals.
11.8 Limitations
One limitation of the study is its sampling method. This study cannot claim to be
representative of Chinese international students in all the tourism and hospitality
degree programmes in Australia, as it only focuses on in-depth interviews of stu-
dents from one Australian university. Teichler (2000) claimed that there is a lack of
qualitative data in the literature on graduate employment, as most of it consists of
large-scale quantitative studies. Johnston (2003) added that qualitative data, such as
interviews, enable researchers to focus more in-depth on human perceptions com-
pared to large-scale quantitative data. Therefore, the relatively small sample used in
this study has still produced in-depth data.
Like the interviewees, English is not my first language. Language differences
might therefore increase the potential for the misinterpretation of interviews. By
ensuring that all respondents received transcriptions of their interviews and were
able to check for misunderstandings, I have sought to overcome these linguistic
limitations.
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Chapter 12
The Push-Pull Model of Motivation:
An Analysis of Chinese Polytechnic
Students’ Motivation to Pursue Degree
Completion in Canada
Eugene Thomlinson and Rebecca Wilson-Mah
Abstract This study applied a push-pull model of motivation to analyse push-pull

factors that support and encourage a student at a Chinese Polytechnic to continue
his or her studies in Canada at a Canadian university. Without first understanding
the push-pull factors that impact student motivations, institutions may find their
international twinning agreements are less successful than anticipated. A survey
was shared in-class, in Years 1, 2 and 3 in a Chinese Polytechnic, with 202 students
(100%) completing the survey. The study suggested that, at this Chinese Polytechnic,
the tourism and hospitality diploma students are not primarily motivated by applied
studies in tourism and hospitality; furthermore, only 10% of students reported a
desire to continue degree studies in China or Canada. These findings present signifi-
cant implications for the future viability of the twinning programme arrangement.
Student data on push-pull factors provide useful knowledge about motivational
influences that can, in turn, support decision-making and recruitment forecasting
between transnational higher education partners. In particular, this study contributes
to our understanding of the micro-level push-pull factors that affect student motiva-
tion to continue offshore studies in one specific agreement context.
Keywords Push-pull model · Higher education · Student motivation · China ·

Canada
E. Thomlinson (*) · R. Wilson-Mah

Royal Roads University, Victoria, BC, Canada
e-mail: Eugene.1thomlinson@royalroads.ca; Rebecca.wilsonmah@royalroads.ca

194 E. Thomlinson and R. Wilson-Mah
12.1 Introduction
Canadian public universities and colleges, faced with lower domestic enrolment and
declining government funding, are prioritising new programming for internation-
ally mobile students (Canadian Bureau for International Education [CBIE], 2015).
Propelled by economic, social, political and academic forces, internationally mobile
students have a range of opportunities for their education, both at home and abroad.
While the East Asia market may seem attractive to Canadian institutions looking to
internationalise or to attract new students, the localised characteristics associated
with a potential twinning institution are significant. Attracting an international stu-
dent segment with a twinning agreement necessitates careful analysis of student
motivation. While recognising the significance of the macro social and economic
policy reforms that are driving educational reform and participation in transnational
education in China (Yang, 2008), this study aims to understand the micro-level
push-pull factors that affect student motivation to continue offshore studies in one
specific agreement context. Without first understanding the push-pull factors that
impact student motivations, institutions may find student recruitment and the match-
ing of programmes to prospects is less successful than anticipated.
In 2014, students from East Asia represented 46% of the international student
population in Canada (CBIE, 2015), highlighting the importance of this region.
Within the broad significance of this market, this study takes a local, institutional
level perspective to examine Chinese students’ impressions of the push-pull factors
that inform their decisions to either pursue or not pursue degree studies with a part-
ner university in Canada. This study aims to provide insights to contribute to capac-
ity building at the local, institutional level and support further mutual cooperation
between the onshore and offshore partners.
The tourism and hospitality management school at a Canadian University (CU),
in the province of British Columbia, formalised a twinning programme agreement
in 2011 with a school of tourism in a Chinese Polytechnic (CP) in Zhejiang prov-
ince. The 3-plus-2-year twinning programme includes 21 new courses developed by
the CU for their 3-year diploma. Eleven of the 21 courses are taught in English by
visiting CU associate faculty in China with Chinese translation, and 10 courses are
taught by CP faculty in Chinese. On successful completion of the 3-year tourism
and hospitality diploma at the CP, students are eligible to apply to complete a 2-year
hotel management degree in Canada.
Between 2014 and 2016, upon completion of their tourism and hospitality man-
agement diplomas at the CP, only 3 students from a possible 262 had transferred to
the CU to pursue a degree in hospitality management; original targets had been set
at 10 students per year, representing a dramatic shortfall (one tenth of the target).
The lower-than-expected transfer to the Canadian twinning programme led to some
thoughtful discussion between the partners about potential causes and a desire to
investigate further.
To support the development and growth of the twinning agreement between the
international partners, the researchers chose to apply a push-pull model of motivation
12 The Push-Pull Model of Motivation: An Analysis of Chinese Polytechnic Students… 195
to better understand the factors that may influence a student’s choice to continue
degree studies in Canada. While the push-pull model is commonly connected to
other tourism topics such as destination choice, the findings and discussion demon-
strate the value of this model. However, before investigating the push-pull model
and its application for choosing higher education institutions, the concept of moti-
vation is explored.
12.2 Understanding Motivation and Push-Pull Factors
Examining motivation as an underlying foundation involves the exploration of

social psychology and the notion that motivation is an internal driver that stimulates
and directs a person’s behaviour (Murray, 1964). The stimuli from the surrounding
environment (economic, social and ecological) interact with the individual to
encourage a singular or series of activities. “Motivation is the need that drives an
individual to act in a certain way to achieve the desired satisfaction” (Beerli &
Martin, 2004, p. 626). Depending upon the outcome and resulting satisfaction, the
individual may or may not be inspired to continue to act.
Two motivational influencers, escape (push) and attract (pull), are important fac-
tors in determining the amount of satisfaction derived from the activity (Iso-Ahola,
1982). While their relative importance for the individual may vary, both factors are
worth exploring to explain the decisions made. Crompton (1979) identified nine
potential push motives for travel, including escape from a perceived mundane envi-
ronment, exploration and evaluation of self (self-discovery), relaxation, prestige,
regression (puerility, foolishness), enhancement of kinship relationships, facilita-
tion of social interaction, novelty (adventure, curiosity) and education. While it is
likely that not all of these elements apply, the choice of an international tourism or
hospitality school is not strictly based upon the desire for an education. Pull factors
are generally associated with the characteristics of the destination (or school)
attracting the visitor and relate to the perceived attributes and features of the loca-
tion such as the physiography, culture and history, activities, events and infrastruc-
ture (Ritchie & Crouch, 2003). In the case of an educational institution, these
“attractants” may comprise of the location, the school’s status, programmes offered,
class structure, campus activities, the reputation of instructors and cost of
instruction.
12.3 Choosing an Education or Career
Examining the question of choice for educational institutions and careers further
reveals that several elements have already been explored. Choi and Kim (2013)
identify four key areas of behavioural considerations, including cultural constructs,
learning motivations, academic achievement and self-efficacy. Kim, Jung and Wang
(2016) also note several similar driving factors for students choosing educational
and career paths, such as self-efficacy (self-determination), curiosity or interest in
the foreign country, a desire to learn languages and future job prospects. They dis-
covered that an interest in actually “studying” was one of the least important moti-
vations for students.
Understanding cultural differences can be a key foundation when looking at
career preparation behaviours and educational considerations. Individualism vs.
collectivism may help to explain some of the behaviours, motivations and expecta-
tions of students. Hartung, Fouad, Leong and Hardin (2010) note that individualism
and collectivism seem to be polar opposites in societies, with groups that are high
on one factor tending to be low on the other. People in collectivist societies are
inclined to be less autonomous and work more within and for the group; group
norms and traditions play a larger role in explaining individual behaviours. Even
within a collectivist-individualist perspective, however, those constructs can mean
different things in different societies (e.g. individualistic actions in the United States
are not necessarily the same as individualistic acts in Japan), motivating people (e.g.
students) towards certain academic and professional experiences.
Learning motivation can be guided either internally (intrinsic) or externally
(extrinsic) (Kim et al., 2016). Intrinsic motivation is rewarded by the fun or enjoy-
ment of the activity itself. Extrinsic motivation looks to achieve certain goals or
outcomes, often influenced by rewards, prompts or approvals, such as increased
salaries, opportunities for promotion and improved job security. Choi and Kim
(2013) suggest that while intrinsic motivation is important in academic decisions,
the importance of extrinsic rewards grows as students move to higher levels of edu-
cation; furthermore, students who prefer hierarchies tend to be more motivated by
extrinsic rewards.
The desire for academic achievement is also vital in explaining student behav-
iours. According to Choi and Kim (2013), it is important to determine the expected
and achieved level of education as a measure of success; the likelihood of attaining
the desired academic credential is a key consideration. Student decisions are, in
part, impacted by how well they feel that they have met or exceeded their goals.
Finally, self-efficacy, or belief in one’s ability to be successful, can drive educa-
tional or career choices (Choi & Kim, 2013). Self-efficacy can help to explain why
some people will take opportunities and challenge themselves, while others may
avoid actions that could result in negative outcomes. Recommendations from other
students can also impact the expectation for success, highlighting the role that word
of mouth can play in these educational decisions (Kim et al., 2016).
12.4 G
lobalisation and the Internationalisation of Higher
Education
In addition to understanding the micro-level motivations of students, it is also

important to recognise the current global trends in higher education. This research
focused specifically on transnational higher education (TNHE). TNHE agreements
are a specific internationalisation response that institutions pursue to adapt to glo-
balisation. These arrangements take time to nurture on an ongoing basis through
regular communications between partners with an emphasis on shared goals and
mutual trust (Smith, 2009). As well, processes are required to facilitate the smooth
transition of students between significantly different institutions and education
systems.
Since the mid-1980s, transnational higher education (TNHE), or cross-border
education, has developed rapidly in China (R. Yang, 2008). Canadian TNHE part-
nerships have also expanded over the same time period. In an Association of
Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) survey of Canadian universities in
2014, 81% of responding universities offered some kind of international programme
with international partners. Of those, 63% offered dual or double-degree pro-
grammes, and 45% offered joint degree programmes; 78% of the institutions offered
at least one of those types, a striking increase of over 48% compared with 2006
(AUCC, 2014, p. 16). Clearly, the implementation of TNHE through twinning
degree programmes is a significant strategic activity for Canadian and Chinese insti-
tutions and also arguably at the forefront of major change in higher education (Yang,
2007).
Altbach (2015) argues that in internationalising education, institutions should
respond to the educational needs and perspectives of all partners (Altbach, 2015).
This study gathered and analysed data that presents the interests and perspectives of
the students – who are arguably the most significant participants in twinning
programmes.
12.5 T
ransnational Higher Education and Student
Preferences
There are several studies that seek to understand what students’ rate as important
when they consider transnational education. This study offers an opportunity for
interdisciplinary perspectives, as push-pull factors are complex. The following sum-
mary provides a brief overview of the interdisciplinary perspectives that informed
the development of the push-pull factors for this study.
1. The Chinese context and cultural perspectives (R. Yang, 2008). Yang argues that
TNHE is “under-researched and often even misunderstood” (p. 272) and encour-
ages the development of a more comprehensive appreciation of the Chinese
c ontext for TNHE within the broader macro area of social and economic policy
and educational reforms. Yang’s study of factors that influence students from
mainland China to choose Australia as a study destination suggests that the most
important reasons for choosing to study in another country are to gain an inter-
nationally recognised qualification and to have access to continued education
(push factors). Additionally, 85% of respondents noted that they did not get
accepted into their university of choice in China (Yang, 2008).
2. Characteristics and preferences of Chinese students. Kim et al. (2016) suggest it
is necessary to understand Chinese hospitality and tourism students’ motivations
and the cross-national educational differences between home and host institu-
tions. Furthermore, Choi and Kim (2013) argue that a positive career disposition
for hospitality and tourism (push factors) is a foundation for successful educa-
tional outcomes and that this perspective necessitates a deeper intercultural
understanding of learning motivation, career motivation and academic
achievement.
3 . Motivation to study tourism and hospitality. Jamnia and Pan (2017) argue that
there is a dearth of research to investigate why Chinese students choose to major
in tourism and hospitality. If we use our western assumptions on student motiva-
tion to study hospitality and tourism, though, it is possible that we will misunder-
stand the perceptions, interests, motivations and goals of Chinese students
studying in western countries. A related question is the motivation to study
abroad (push factors); motivations may include personal development goals,
intercultural development goals, disciplinary development goals (M. Yang,
Webster, & Prosser, 2011) or vocational/career goals, with the literature suggest-
ing that there are also regional differences within China (Jung, Kim, & Schuckert,
2014). Students may be influenced by a wide range of push-pull factors, and it
was important to ensure the study design did not inappropriately place any limits
on them.
4 . International and institutional marketing. The international marketing of higher
education is a pull factor that may influence how Chinese students perceive off-
shore studies and, specifically, their studies in a particular western institution
(Chen, 2008). In a Canadian-based study, Chen (2008) suggests that twinning
programmes combine internationalisation with international marketing and gen-
erate a significant influence on undergraduate students’ choices. In Chen’s study,
internationalisation is reflected in undergraduates’ desire to learn a foreign lan-
guage and also their perception that work experience abroad is connected to
improved job prospects.
12.6 U
nderstanding Push-Pull Factors of Students at a
Chinese Polytechnic
The complex layers that are inherent in this inquiry were assessed by discovering
and analysing the push-pull factors (Mazzarol & Soutar, 2002) that support and
encourage a Chinese student at the CP to continue his or her studies in Canada. The
push factors originate in the home country, China, the Chinese institution and in the
student; the pull factors originate in Canada and at the Canadian institution. Push
factors relate to various macro (economic, social and political) and micro forces
(student interest in career opportunities, family pressures, etc.). Additionally, pull
factors are macro and micro factors that make the twinning programme in Canada
attractive to students from the CP (Mazzarol & Soutar, 2002). The push-pull factors
were categorised beyond simply micro and macro distinctions to develop a more
refined and context-specific analysis. This development of a more refined push-pull
analytical framework specifically focused on student perceptions. It is anticipated
that understanding the views of students in mainland China, and specifically
Zhejiang province, contributes a deeper and more accurate insight into student con-
siderations on push-pull factors.
12.6.1 Methods
12.6.1.1 Research Questions
This research developed and applied an analytical lens to understand the push-pull
factors that influence the student perspective on offshore twinning arrangements.
This study investigated the following questions:
1. What are the push-pull factors that influence a Chinese hospitality and tourism
diploma student’s perception of offshore studies in Canada?
2. How do these push-pull factors affect students’ decision-making steps and their
choices?
3. What can institutions do to positively impact the push-pull motivations of stu-
dents in their decision-making to potentially increase their likelihood for contin-
ued study in Canada?
The students in this study were at different stages in their tourism and hospitality
diploma programme (Year 1, Year 2 and Year 3) at the CP. One significant consider-
ation is the mindful engagement to ensure this study is culturally informed
(Liamputtong, 2010). The researchers were cultural outsiders to the political, socio-
cultural and economic context of mainland China. It was necessary to work closely
with a faculty member from the CP to ensure the research methods for the study
were culturally sensitive and that data interpretations were culturally accurate
(Liamputtong, 2010). Navigating these questions necessitated the mentorship and
guidance of an insider to the Chinese education system and culture and mindful
intercultural communication.
This study contributes a Chinese student perspective (from Zhejiang province,
mainland China) on push-pull factors that may impede or promote twinning aca-
demic programmes in Canada. Our understanding of the factors that influence stu-
dent decision-making may enable partner institutions to proactively discuss pushes
and pulls to student participation and to make any necessary interventions and
adjustments informed by student needs and perceptions.
12.6.1.2 Survey Design
To better understand why the twinning partnership was not attracting students as
originally anticipated, the researchers focused on the push-pull factors of offshore
transfers from a student perspective. The survey design was descriptive (Cohen,
Manion, & Morrison, 2007) providing choice options of interest that were informed
by the literature review. These factors related to and included:
• The reputation of the Canadian University and the specific school
• Student career aspirations
• Family expectations
• Level of knowledge regarding the pathway to degree studies at the University
• Previous travel abroad
• Self-perception of English language proficiency
• Word of mouth from other students who have studied abroad
• Awareness of Canada and Canadian culture
• Perception of Canadian teaching approaches
• Perception regarding the level of difficulty for degree completion studies
• Perception of the cost of studies
• Associated living expenses and personal safety in Canada
• Emotional attachment to family and friends
The survey design included a combination of Likert-type scales, dichotomous
questions and open-ended questions. The open-ended questions were included to
ensure the survey design explored push-pull factors that might be revealed when
students were given the opportunity to share their personal comments (Cohen et al.,
2007). Demographic information was not gathered as it was not deemed relevant to
the study. However, the students were all Chinese Polytechnic students, in Years 1,
2 and 3 of their programmes.
12.6.1.3 Data Collection
CP administrators were consulted regarding the goals of the research, and data col-
lection was coordinated with the CP. The CP administrators translated the survey
and consent letter into Chinese, and then these were tested with a sample of
students. It was anticipated that a pen-and-paper survey would be more universally

accessible to the group and that an in-class opportunity to complete the survey
would increase participation rates. Furthermore, all the students completed the sur-
vey in the same week of classes, thus increasing the consistency of the completion
date. The survey was handed out in class to 202 Polytechnic tourism and hospitality
diploma students in Years 1, 2 and 3. The classroom administration of the pen/paper
survey resulted in a 100% completion rate by the students. The high response rate is
attributable to the in-class distribution. The data was later entered into Lime Survey
in Canada for analysis.
12.6.2 Findings
The students revealed several push-pull factors that seemed to have affected their
choice of career, CP diploma and pursuit of a degree with the CU twinning
partner.
12.6.2.1 Push Factors
The study first sought to understand the students’ initial motivation to pursue a tour-
ism and hospitality diploma in China. Grouping the various elements into the differ-
ent categories would suggest that “prestige” is one of the key push motivators for
these students, especially at the diploma level. As seen in Table 12.1, in seeking to
understand why the students chose the CP for their diploma studies, the responses
suggest that while approximately 40% believed that it was “Very important” to
complete their diploma at CP, only 21% felt it was “Very important” in developing
hotel/tourism management skills. This suggests that the applied diploma studies in
tourism and hospitality management is not the push factor expected; in fact, the
Table 12.1 Push and pull motivations for pursuing the hospitality/tourism diploma
“Very likely” outcome from diploma
“Very important” to the decision (push) (pull)
40% able to complete a diploma at CP 43% improved English
27% able to gain global awareness 43% hotel/tourism management skills
and knowledge
24% opportunity to improve English 25% improved global awareness
21% opportunity to develop hotel/tourism management 18% job in hospitality/tourism industry
skills and knowledge
17% interest in pursuing a career in tourism/hospitality 15% job in industry other than
hospitality/tourism
14% wanting to meet family expectations 10% complete degree from Chinese
university
8% opportunity to pursue degree at CU
students seemed to be more interested in attaining a diploma, period, and less inter-
ested in the actual focus of study. This finding is further supported by the student’s
career interests: only 17% were interested in pursuing a career in tourism/hospital-
ity. The “novelty” of gaining global awareness was considered “Very important” by
27% of the students, indicating a moderately strong desire to understand more about
the world around them. This was almost matched by the 24% who considered the
diploma as an important opportunity to learn English. This factor likely has ele-
ments of both education and prestige, as students in China often find understanding
English to be a career advantage. Meeting family expectations was one of the least
important factors driving their choice of the CP for the diploma, with only 14%
concerned about this obligation.
12.6.2.2 Pull Factors
The relative importance of some factors shifted when considering them as pull fac-
tors, motivating them to complete their diplomas, instead of push factors urging
them to begin their studies. Table 12.1 shows that both improving English and gain-
ing hotel/tourism management skills were seen as “Very likely” outcomes for 43%
of the students. This might suggest that their expected satisfaction with those moti-
vations would be high, with the anticipated outcomes rated higher than their level of
importance. The perceived results for other motivating aspects tended to be close to
the identified importance, implying an equal level of expected satisfaction. For
example, 18% expected (“Very likely”) a job in hospitality/tourism, and 17% chose
the CP because they were interested in pursuing a job in hospitality/tourism.
Interestingly, 15% expected a job in an industry other than tourism/hospitality. This
further supported the observation that the field (tourism/hospitality) appears to be
less important than the academic achievement of completing a diploma. Improved
global awareness was expected (“Very likely”) by 25% of the students, compared
with 27% being “Very interested” in it. Ten percent or less of the students expected
to complete some type of degree after their diploma (10% from a Chinese university
and 8% from the CU), demonstrating the limited perceived value of this higher
accomplishment for these students at that time.
12.6.2.3 Sources and Timing of Information
The research explored ways of changing the conversation or expectations of the

students by examining when students would like to learn more about their degree
options and their preferred methods of communication. These possible “pulls”
towards the university could potentially be turned into “pushes” if carefully crafted
and delivered at the optimum time. Students felt that conversations with either CP
faculty (39% “Very useful”) or CU faculty (34%) would be most effective, closely
followed by an information session at the CP (31%). Other forms of communication
included a personalised letter (22%) or information on a website (20%). Only 12%
thought that a brochure for the family would be “Very useful”. This apparent lack of
consideration for family concerns was validated by respondents reporting 70%
parental support for a tourism/hospitality career, as well as the earlier noted motiva-
tion regarding meeting parental expectations. These channels were most desired in
Year 1 of their diploma – chosen by 41% of the students. Year 2 (26%) or before the
CP diploma programme (23%) was the next desired time, followed by Year 3 (11%).
It would seem that the option of obtaining a degree from the CU partner would not
be an important pull for students to go to the CP diploma programme, since most
did not feel the need for this information before choosing the CP. This also supports
the observation that completion of a degree was not a high priority for these students
at the time of the survey.
12.6.2.4 Motivation Towards Degree Completion
Connected to the students’ various push factors, driving them towards their educa-
tional pursuits, the research found many elements that might pull the students
towards the degree programme at the CU. The most important pull motivation for
these students was the opportunity to improve their English skills (prestige/educa-
tion), with approximately 44% believing that this was a “Very important” reason for
proceeding to the CU for a degree. Social aspects were the next two most important
drivers, with 36% of students rating experiencing a multicultural environment as
“Very important” and 32% rating having the opportunity to meet new people as
“Very important”. After these three factors, educational elements were rated the
next most important, including receiving excellent teaching (31%) and studying in
Canada in general (30%). It is important to note that these factors are more about the
general experience of the education than the education itself – the interest was in the
journey and not the destination. Having the opportunity to travel was considered
“Very important” for 29% of the students. Least important for these students was
actually completing the bachelor’s degree (27%). Again, the academic outcome was
not the top motivator for these students.
Students were asked about various services that might pull them towards con-
tinuing their studies at the CU. Supporting the importance of language, 84% of the
students were interested in English assistance. Potentially reflecting their noted con-
cerns over Canadian teaching styles and academics (mentioned earlier), 78% were
hoping for friendly instructors, 58% wanted guidance on assignment requirements,
53% looked for helpful staff and 46% desired a student counsellor. All of these ele-
ments could ease their academic experience at the CU and increase their level of
satisfaction with their decision. Also assisting their academic achievement while
facilitating a multicultural environment, 66% desired a student “buddy” to help
them. Socialisation could be further supported by homestay families, which was of
interest to 71% of the students. To round out their time at the CU and satisfy their
adventure seeking, students wanted to explore the area (51%) and take part in cul-
tural (50%) and recreational (50%) activities.
12.6.2.5 Demotivation Towards Degree Completion
When asked about possible demotivators (anti-pulls) for pursuing the bachelor’s
degree at the CU, financial considerations topped the list. Students regarded course
fees (58% “Very large concern”) and living costs (50%) as the largest deterrents.
Language problems were the next most important issue, identified by 42% of the
students. This is particularly noteworthy since improving English is critical for
them. Security concerns were very large for 36%, pointing towards the importance
of safety and the potential influence of news media and other sources. Missing fam-
ily/friends and distance from home were both seen as significant issues for 31%,
demonstrating the value of social ties. Almost a quarter of the students rated differ-
ences in Canadian teaching styles and culture as “Very large concerns” (24% and
21%, respectively). With 31% hoping for excellent teaching (noted above), the over-
all educational process is a key area of focus for these students. An unexpected
observation was that while experiencing a multicultural environment and meeting
new people may be important for some, 16% of the students felt that studying with
students from other countries was a “Very large concern”. Clearly, some students
are hesitant about this part of the process.
Open-ended responses centred on many of the key themes identified in other
areas of the research, including:
• Concerns about the difficulty in graduating or difficulty of courses
• Costs, scholarships, and tuition fees
• Safety and security of the campus and country
• Courses involved/covered
• Transportation, accommodation, and size of the school
• Friendliness of classmates/instructors
• Job opportunities afterwards
New concerns or areas of interest did not arise through the open-ended questions,
providing a degree of confidence that the research had adequately covered the topics
of importance for the students.
12.6.2.6 Key Observations
Through this work, the researchers noted some discoveries regarding the CP stu-
dents, their pursuit of a diploma at CP and their possible quests for a degree with the
CU. Possibly most important for the twinning relationship was the realisation that a
career in tourism/hospitality or even a bachelor’s degree were not strong motivators
for these students. As such, information regarding professional opportunities in
tourism/hospitality or the distinction of obtaining a degree would not likely be
strong motivators for these students. Similar to Kim et al. (2016), the academic
prestige associated with degree completion did not seem to be an important “pull”
to the CU. Prestige at the diploma level, however, did appear to be an important
motivator, although it was directed more at the academic achievement (i.e.
obtaining a diploma) than the field of study (i.e. tourism and hospitality). The quest
for a degree may come later in their career, but other pull factors were more impor-
tant in propelling these students towards higher levels of education. As suggested
earlier, pull factors could be aspects such as the Canadian university’s location, the
school’s status, campus activities, the reputation of instructors, and the cost of
instruction; although, contrary to Chen (2008), the connection to the CU did not
appear to be a significant motivating (pull) factor. Further qualitative research may
deepen our understanding of these pull factors and the relationship between the pull
factors and student choice.
Not surprising was the consistent interest and importance placed on English lan-
guage. Kim et al. (2016) highlighted the desire to learn languages, and, throughout
the research, students expressed an interest in learning English, a desire to improve
their English and a need for assistance with their English. Choi and Kim (2013) also
noted the importance of self-efficacy, and students strongly believed that they would
improve their English, adding to their motivation towards the diploma. Not only
does this suggest the strong need for English resources at the CU, but it also sug-
gests that messaging should emphasise the level of support available for students
and the high success rate of students.
The list of potential services and assistance desired by the students is moderately
long and reflects many of the “pushes” that are motivating them. While not all of
these requests would need to be fulfilled, it does indicate the level of commitment
and resources required by any institution chasing after this international market, as
offered by Smith (2009). Given the importance of socialisation in motivating the
students, though, the CU (and other institutions) should consider directing resources
to promoting and facilitating opportunities for multicultural interaction inside and
outside of classrooms.
12.6.2.7 Future Considerations
After completion of the survey data analysis, the results will be used to plan the
further development of this study with a particular emphasis on better understand-
ing students’ experiences and their motivations. For example, the researchers feel
the need to better understand the students’ perspectives on their studies, their per-
sonal circumstances, academic achievements, career interests, general goals, per-
ceptions of degree studies and perceptions of Canada and Canadian universities.
The research would involve qualitative group interviews, focusing on students from
each of the years. After consultation with the CP colleagues, this design may change;
however, the intention with this proposed format is to make students feel comfort-
able sharing their perspectives with a small group of fellow students. It is antici-
pated that this research would include observations, a review of related CP and CU
documents, interviews with the CP faculty and administration and analysis of the
local economy, the reputation of the tourism and hospitality industry in the region
and other related macro and micro factors.
12.7 Conclusions
The researchers would characterise the internationalisation experience at CU as

emergent. The transnational agreement that is the focus of this study was a pioneer-
ing arrangement in 2011, and despite the low student enrolment into the CU from
the CP for degree studies completion, the partners have renewed their contract
through to 2021. Therefore, there is a significant commitment to this arrangement
and partnership, and a sincere interest from the CU to understand the low enrolment
and to make improvements.
This research suggests how the CU can advance the twinning relationship,
including ideas for marketing to students at the CP. The quality and sophistication
of marketing and promotion should be further developed; any marketing adjust-
ments should also go hand in hand with capacity building within the BA degree
programmes at the CU to consider the push-pull data and analysis and the potential
implications for the BA programme design, curriculum and pedagogy.
For example, there is one assumption made by this Canadian University’s tour-
ism and hospitality programme that certainly requires examination and deconstruc-
tion. Past experience has led to the perception that students who choose an applied
degree in tourism or hospitality have made an early career commitment to the sec-
tor. Typically, these Canadian students have work experience in tourism and hospi-
tality and also a similar, vocationally oriented diploma from the Canadian college
system. Their degree choice is intentional, and they have a commitment to further-
ing their careers in the sector. However, the research suggests that the Chinese stu-
dents from the CP are not similarly focused, instead being more concerned about
the credential than the career. What are the pull factors that motivate this group to
pursue their studies in Canada? Their motivations for potentially studying in Canada
are centred around improving English, experiencing a multicultural environment
and meeting new people. Moving beyond their diploma to complete a degree is the
least important motivator for these students, in sharp contrast to typical Canadian
students or the expectations of the CU. This impacts on several areas at the CU
including programming, curriculum, applied content, student services and pastoral
support. Marketing messages and activities need to consider this different perspec-
tive when attempting to attract these students to the CU, as a career-focused pursuit-
of-higher-education communication would not be well received. Furthermore,
understanding push-pull factors should influence the CU to proactively ensure that
the multicultural mixing of these students with Canadian students is successful and
positive for all.
Looking forward, this study should expand with a second comparative study of
Canadian student push-pull factors to provide a more definitive and illuminating
analysis of the similarities and differences between these two broad student markets
and their corresponding needs and motivations. For example, the research would
imply that a required industry internship is not suitable for all of the students, since
many are not necessarily interested in pursuing tourism and hospitality opportuni-
ties once they have graduated. For students not motivated by a tourism or hospitality
career, regardless of their origin, the internship could be replaced with course-based
options. These and other alternatives would be better informed by additional student
data on the push-pull factors that motivate students to complete their degree studies
with the CU, without relying on past assumptions or “business as usual”.
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Part IV
Transnational Tourism Education in Asia
Chapter 13
Research Performance of Tourism
Education Quality Accredited Programmes
in Greater China
Libo Yan
Abstract The relationship between research and teaching has long been recog-
nised and in recent decades has been the subject of some debate. The issues are
relevant to tourism and hospitality education programmes, which have two systems
in existence for performance assessment: one is the evaluation of teaching quality;
and the other ranks programmes based on their research outputs. Despite the inter-
connection between teaching and research, the two related evaluation systems have
seldom been considered together. Among the hospitality and tourism programmes
in the world, those in Greater China (referring to Mainland China, Hong Kong,
Macau and Taiwan) have shown the strongest interest in Tourism Education Quality
(TedQual) Accreditation, with 13 programmes accredited by 2017. This study aims
to compare the research performances of Chinese programmes with TedQual
accreditation by computing the overall and per capita research outputs of the rele-
vant institutions. The comparison of certified programmes leads to a revisitation of
the old issue, namely, whether education quality is related to the research perfor-
mance of the faculty.
Keywords Teaching quality · Research performance · Tourism education ·

Accreditation
13.1 Introduction
Quality is at the heart of hospitality and tourism education. To satisfy public interest
and meet the faculties’ marketing needs, various accreditation systems were estab-
lished in the last quarter of the twentieth century (Horng, Teng, & Baum, 2009).
Among these systems, the Tourism Education Quality (TedQual) Accreditation
developed by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) has
received wide attention from institutions across the world. A preliminary
L. Yan (*)
Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Macau University of Science and
Technology, Macau, China
e-mail: lbyan@must.edu.mo

212 L. Yan
examination of the list of institutions with TedQual-certified programmes disclosed

some areas of concern. Despite the indifference of many high-ranking universities
and programmes, the list has been expanding beyond reputable universities to
include courses from low-profile colleges and training organisations. This situation
arouses concern about the credibility of these certified programmes, as well as the
credibility of the accreditation system per se. A review of the quality standards
adopted by TedQual and its counterparts shows that staff research is seldom adopted
as a criterion for education quality (see Horng et al. (2009)). In other words, these
accreditation systems assume that there is no relationship between the education/
teaching quality on a programme and the research performance of its faculty. This
assumption neglects the complex relationship between teaching and research. Thus,
this study addresses the following three research questions:
• What is the relationship between research and teaching?
• What is the research performance of hospitality programmes in Greater China
with TedQual certification?
• How effective is TedQual accreditation?
The first question is explored through a comprehensive literature review; the second
is investigated via analyses of information collected from the database ‘Hospitality
and Tourism Complete’; and the third will be answered in the discussion of research
results.
13.2.1 The Research-Teaching Nexus
Ball and Taleb (2010) discussed the necessity of understanding the interaction
between research and teaching. Actively researching teachers keep the curriculum
updated with the latest knowledge in the discipline, kindle students’ motivation to
study at a university, enhance students’ learning experience and, through their
example, encourage them to be independent and lifelong learners. The teaching-
research interactions are indirect, complex and manifold (Smeby, 1998). As noted
by Neumann (1992), the research-teaching nexus can exist at three levels: tangible,
intangible and global (departmental). The tangible level is embodied in the positive
perceptions of students and staff on exposure to recent research on the subject. The
intangible level is reflected in the research staff’s enthusiasm for the subject or dis-
cipline. The departmental level refers to the impact of staff research on student
experience. Regarding the nature of the research-teaching link, it should be noted
that delivering subject knowledge through lectures is not the only way of linking the
two activities, as students can be involved in other ways of learning, such as project-
based learning or inquiry-based learning (Ball & Taleb, 2010). The relevance to
13 Research Performance of Tourism Education Quality Accredited Programmes… 213
effective learning of staff research conducted ‘by specific teachers, or at least in the
same department or university’ (Ball & Taleb, 2010, p. 92), is worthy of attention.
Based on an extensive review of academic evidence on the relationship between
research and teaching, Zaman (2004) found that, in the minds of academics, the two
activities are mutually supportive, although research contributes more to teaching
than vice versa. Correlation analysis has been extensively used to measure the link
between research and teaching, and three meta-analyses of existing studies revealed
a modest positive correlation (Zaman, 2004). The existence of mediating variables
explains why a strong correlation has not been found between the two activities
(Hattie & Marsh, 1996; Zaman, 2004). At a macroscopic level, programmes in the
United Kingdom showed a positive association of research with teaching, with the
institutions scored high in research having good performances in teaching (Thomas
& Harris, 2001).
Thomas and Harris (2001) offered a critique of the quantitative studies on the
research-teaching relationship. They pointed out that, first, the correlation is not a
cause-and-effect relationship; second, the measurement of research and teaching
can be problematic; and third, there are multiple dimensions in the relationship
rather than one single dimension as assumed in many studies. Furthermore, the
assumption of a linear relationship is questionable as a non-linear relationship can
exist between research and teaching (Zaman, 2004). This non-linear relationship
can be explained as below:
It is possible that initially the roles of research and teaching may enhance each other until a
threshold level is reached where increasing effort spent on one operates to reduce the qual-
ity of the other due mainly to the limitation of time. A single study examining this proposi-
tion using U.S. faculty data finds that up to 8 hours per week of teaching are indeed
facilitative of research. (Zaman, 2004, p. 5)
The impacts of staff research on teaching are twofold (Thomas & Harris, 2001): the
positive aspects include staff being up to date and having credibility and enthusi-
asm; and the negative aspects cover non-availability and preoccupation with
research, as well as students’ feeling of being excluded from staff research. Thomas
and Harris (2001) suggested that doing research can enhance the credibility of staff
as educators and minimise students’ complaints in this regard. They concluded that
staff can retain their own enthusiasm through continuous engagement in research,
which can enhance the student experience. Some measures can be taken to strengthen
the link between staff research and teaching, such as sharing staff’s own research
results with students and involving students in research (Jenkins, Blackman,
Lindsay, & Paton-Saltzberg, 1998).
214 L. Yan
13.2.2 D
ifferent Schools of Thoughts on the Research-
Teaching Relationship
Hattie and Marsh (1996) offered a comprehensive discussion of the different schools
of thoughts on the negative, positive or zero relationships between research and
teaching. The negative school emphasises the conflicts between the time allocated
to teaching and that to research. The positive school proposes that research perfor-
mance is a precondition for quality teaching, and the two activities share some com-
mon qualities such as creativity, investigativeness and critical analysis. The zero
school denies that common qualities underlie the two activities. Hattie and Marsh
(1996) commented that studies of the research-teaching relationship neglect the
mediating variables. For instance, ability and time are two key contributors to effec-
tiveness in both teaching and research. However, abilities in the two areas are posi-
tively correlated, in contrast to the negative correlation between the times,
respectively, spent on the two activities. This situation finally leads to a non-
significant relationship between teaching and research.
Hattie and Marsh’s (1996) study used the method of meta-analysis of quantita-
tive studies on the research-teaching link and concluded that there is no relationship
between the two activities. However, they found that staff research correlated with
a specific aspect of teaching, namely, presentation. They explained that researchers
are likely better prepared as teachers and possess better presentation competencies
than non-researchers. They also found that domain of study affects the relationship
between teaching and research, and the correlation coefficient is larger for social
sciences than for humanities and natural sciences. This conclusion was supported
by Allen’s (1995) meta-analysis of the communication discipline, which concluded
that research productivity positively correlated to teaching effectiveness based on an
examination of more than 40 quantitative studies on the research-teaching nexus.
Arnold’s (2008) study of the discipline of economics reported a positive relation-
ship between research and teaching. Apart from discipline, other factors influencing
the research-teaching relationship include ‘national context, academic context
(institutional type, and departmental practices), and individuals’ characteristics
(motivations, skills and dispositions)’ (Healey, 2005, p. 9). Furthermore, stage of
academic career, class size, department size and gender can also affect the link
between research and teaching (Zaman, 2004).
Course level can influence students’ perceptions of the research-teaching nexus
(Arnold, 2008; Thomas & Harris, 2001). In contrast with undergraduates, postgrad-
uate students were more aware of staff research and believed that it engendered
credibility and enthusiasm (Thomas & Harris, 2001). Even among undergraduate
students, perceptions vary with course levels: undergraduates in the first 2 years
hold a negative opinion, and their counterparts in the latter 2 years hold a positive
opinion (Arnold, 2008). From the perspective of students, the nature of relation-
ships between the two activities can change from negative to positive as their length
of time within the higher education system increases. Study motivation is another
factor influencing students’ perceptions of the research-teaching nexus (Breen &
Lindsay, 1999). Students who were intrinsically motivated and interested in

knowledge-seeking had a positive attitude; and those who were extrinsically moti-
vated and lacked interest in communication with lecturers had an indifferent
attitude.
13.2.3 Relevance to Hospitality and Tourism Education
The purpose of hospitality research includes updating and improving the manage-
ment of the industry and guaranteeing that hospitality educators understand the
state-of-the-art in the field (Taylor & Edgar, 1999). In other words, research should
inform teaching. In this way, academic staff’s research can enhance the educational
experience of their students (Thomas & Harris, 2001). Ball and Taleb’s (2010) study
found that hospitality students had a positive perception of staff research and thought
their lecturers could balance the time spent teaching and researching.
It is insufficient for tourism curricula to train students to cater for current indus-
try needs. Instead, the curricula should consider the skills required for possible
future demands at both societal and industry levels (Egger & Maurer, n.d.). Thus,
forging and enhancing students’ critical and creative thinking ability are necessary
to equip them to face future challenges brought about by socio-economic, political
and environmental changes (Egger & Maurer, n.d.). The increasing use of robots in
the hospitality and tourism industries has brought challenges for teaching and
research on such topics as customer acceptance, influence on the workplace, impact
on hospitality design and facilities layout (Murphy, Hofacker, & Gretzel, 2017).
Pantelidis and Woodward (2012) offered a case study of transforming a teaching
restaurant into a research laboratory and pointed out that such transformations
increase the perceived value of teaching restaurants and benefit both the teaching
and learning of food and beverage management.
13.2.4 E
valuating the Quality of Hospitality and Tourism
Programmes
Various accreditation systems, applied on a voluntary basis, have been used to

examine the quality of hospitality and tourism programmes, for example, the
TedQual certification by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO)
and the Accreditation Commission for Programmes in Hospitality Administration
(ACPHA; Horng et al., 2009). These accreditation systems were welcomed by some
institutions across the world. Participants of ACPHA include 65 American institu-
tions and 2 international ones. Participants of TedQual include 72 institutions
worldwide. However, these accreditation systems are not without their critics. As
216 L. Yan
shown in the following quotation, scholars have already noticed some accreditation-
related problems, which are still applicable to today’s accreditation scenario:
Van Kleek criticized the accreditation process, stating that the result would be lowered
standards to please as many programs as possible. Waskey suggested that in the attempt to
achieve academic stature, hospitality education was seeking to serve itself, and not students
or the industry. (Bosselman, 1996, p. 78)
The criteria of existing accreditation systems lack theoretical and empirical bases,
and ‘the measures are often used on an ad hoc basis and do not conform to system-
atic procedures for construct development’ (Horng et al., 2009, p. 40). Furthermore,
the vague standards and the purpose and outcome of accreditation systems can
cause complaints and criticisms (Bosselman, 1996), not to mention the time-
consuming nature (Tribe, 2003) and the expensive cost of the accreditation process
(Widarsyah, Ghiselli, & Adler, 2017). In addition to these perceived faults, another
problem associated with the accreditation systems is their failure to consider the
role of research in enhancing the quality of teaching. The previous extensive discus-
sion of the research-teaching relationship suggests a positive link between hospital-
ity and tourism staff performing research and the quality of their teaching in the
field, thus answering the first research question. The following discussion addresses
the remaining two questions posed in this study: the research performance of hospi-
tality and tourism programmes with TedQual certifications and the effectiveness of
TedQual accreditation.
13.3 S
tudy Context: The Distribution of TedQual-Certified
Programmes
In terms of region, Europe accommodates the largest number of institutions with

TedQual-certified programmes, closely followed by the Asia Pacific region and the
Americas (Table 13.1). In contrast, the Middle East and Africa accommodate the
least number of institutions with TedQual-certified programmes. In terms of coun-
tries, Greater China stands out as having the largest number of institutions with
TedQual-certified programmes: six in Mainland, four in Hong Kong, and three in
Macau. At present, no Taiwan-based institutions have sought TedQual
accreditation.
Data on the distribution of TedQual-certified programmes across the world were
linked to another set of data on the performance of research in the field of hospitality
and tourism by country (Park, Phillips, Canter, & Abbott, 2011). This linkage offers
a glimpse into the interest of those countries with a good record of research in tour-
ism and hospitality in TedQual accreditation. Among the 30 top researching coun-
tries and regions, 47% have not sought TedQual accreditation (Table 13.2).
Excluding Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, China still ranks first in terms of interest
in TedQual accreditation among the top 30 countries and territories for research
performance. At second place are Hong Kong, the United Kingdom and Portugal.
Table 13.1 Number of TedQual-certified programmes per country or region (regions in italics)
Country/ Number of Country/ Number of Country/ Number of
region institutions region institutions region institutions
Europe 25 Asia Pacific 23 Americas 18
Austria 1 Australia 1 Argentina 1
France 1 Greater China 13 Canada 1
Italy 2 India 2 Chile 1
Kazakhstan 1 Indonesia 4 Colombia 2
Latvia 1 Japan 1 Ecuador 1
Macedonia 1 Lao 1 Honduras 1
Portugal 4 New Zealand 1 Mexico 6
Serbia 1 Middle East 4 Peru 3
Slovenia 1 United Arab 1 Puerto Rico 1
Emirates
Spain 3 Jordan 2 United 1
States
Switzerland 2 Sultanate of 1
Oman
The 1 Africa 2
Netherlands
Turkey 2 Kenya 1
United 4 Zambia 1
Kingdom
Data source: http://themis.unwto.org
Despite the relatively high interest by these few regions in the accreditation system,
the overall situation is that most territories have shown little or very low interest in
TedQual accreditation.
13.4 Research Methods
To understand the research performance of TedQual-certified programmes in

Greater China, listed in Table 13.3, data were collected via the database of Hospitality
and Tourism Complete (EBSCOhost). The number of each institution’s academic
journal publications was counted. Counting publications is a method of assessing
the research performance of programmes or institutions; however, existing studies
tend to focus on the overall research outputs and neglect the average output per
faculty member (Law, Fong, & Fong, 2015). For this reason, in the present study,
the average research output per staff member was computed. The period within
which institutional publications were counted was set from January 2012 to May
2017 to enable a fair comparison, as the latest programme under discussion was
established in 2011 at the City University of Macau. Only publications in English
were counted. As retrieving publications using author affiliation as a search
218 L. Yan
Table 13.2 Top 30 countries and territories of hospitality and tourism research and number of
institutions with TedQual-certified programmes
Number of Number of
Research Country/ TedQual-certified Research Country/ TedQual-certified
ranking territory institutions ranking territory institutions
1 United States 1 16 Austria 1
2 United 4 17 France 1
Kingdom
3 Australia 1 18 Greece 0
4 Hong Kong 4 19 Switzerland 2
5 Spain 3 20 Denmark 0
6 Taiwan 0 21 Sweden 0
7 Canada 1 22 Germany 0
8 South Korea 0 23 Italy 2
9 New Zealand 1 24 South Africa 0
10 Turkey 2 25 Portugal 4
11 Israel 0 26 Japan 1
12 Norway 0 27 Finland 0
13 Netherlands 0 28 Thailand 0
14 Singapore 0 29 Slovenia 1
15 Chinaa 6 30 Brazil 0
Data source: Park et al. (2011); http://themis.unwto.org
Mainland China
a
criterion is not possible, institution name was searched for in the full text, and then
results were checked in terms of author affiliations at both university and school
levels. The confirmation of institution is insufficient – for instance, at Jinan
University most of the research outputs on tourism and hospitality are from the
School of Management, rather than the Tourism School – so authors’ schools or
departments were further confirmed. For the Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT),
City University of Macau (CUM) and Macau University of Science and Technology
(MUST), the words ‘Macao’ and ‘Macau’ were used for searching and the associ-
ated results combined. Size refers to the number of full-time faculty, excluding vis-
iting, adjunct, emeritus and honorary professors (Table 13.3).
Four colleges and training organisations with TedQual accreditation were
excluded from analysis; meanwhile, a university which is no longer on the list of
accredited programmes was included for analysis. The Hong Kong Institute of
Vocational Education and the Hospitality Industry Training and Development
Centre are two member institutions of the Vocational Training Council. The
Vocational Training Council is a vocational and professional education and training
provider in Hong Kong; it is not an academic institution comparable to the universi-
ties and colleges listed in Table 13.3. Accordingly, despite their TedQual certifica-
tions, the two organisations associated with the Vocational Training Council were
excluded from further analysis. Similarly, the Chengdu Polytechnic and the Tourism
College of Zhejiang Province are vocational training institutes and for this reason
Table 13.3 TedQual-certified programmes in Greater China

Year Year
Institution Name of programme founded certified Sizea PGb Type
The Hong Kong School of Hotel and 1982 2002 67 Yes Public
Polytechnic University Tourism Management
(HKPU)
Institute for Tourism Tourism College, Tourism 1995 2000 116 No Public
Studies (IFT) and Hotel School
Sun Yat-sen University School of Tourism 2004 2009 34 Yes Public
(SYSU) Management
Macau University of Faculty of Hospitality and 2003 2007 34 Yes Private
Science and Tourism Management
Technology (MUST)
Beijing International School of Hospitality 1981 2011 33 Yes Public
Studies University Management, School of
(BISU)c Tourism Management
City University of Faculty of International 2011 2014 21 Yes Private
Macau (CUM) Tourism and Management
Chinese University of School of Hotel and 1998 2009 18 Yes Public
Hong Kong (CUHK) Tourism Management
Jinan University (JNU) Shenzhen Tourism College 1993 2001 28 Yes Public
Guilin Tourism Tourism, Leisure, Hotel, 1985 2011 80 No Public
University (GTU) and Tour Leader
Huangshan University School of Tourism 1985 2015 50 No Public
(HSU)
Data source: Hospitality and Tourism Complete (HTC) (EBSCOhost), accessed on May 22–23,
2017
a
Size = number of full-time faculty
b
PG = postgraduate programme
c
Certified in 2011, but not renewed afterwards
were excluded from further analysis. Furthermore, the Beijing International Studies
University was added to the list of institutions with TedQual-certified programmes
for further analysis. This university was certified in 2011 for 4 years but did not
renew the certification at the end of the time period. This nonrenewal could indicate
a changing interest in TedQual certification among those programmes which had
been certified. Having the certification or not, the tourism education quality of the
Beijing International Studies University is widely recognised domestically, and for
this reason the university was included for further analysis.
In terms of programme size, the Guilin Tourism University ranks first, with 13
academic divisions and 529 full-time teachers (49 professors and 138 associate pro-
fessors). However, the analysis counted staff in the tourism and hospitality depart-
ments based only on information available from the university’s official website.
Excluding those non-tourism and non-hospitality staff, the size of the Guilin
Tourism University is secondary to that of the Institute for Tourism Studies
(Table 13.3). In the third place is the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, followed
220 L. Yan
by Huangshan University. Programme size of the remaining institutions featured

numbers of staff in the 20s to 30s.
13.5 Results
A comparison of research performances of the TedQual-accredited programmes in

Greater China is shown in Fig. 13.1. The number of overall research outputs of the
Hong Kong Polytechnic University (HKPU) was significantly higher than that of
any other institution. The Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT) ranked second, fol-
lowed by the Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU) and Macau University of Science and
Technology (MUST). Starting from the Beijing International Studies University
(BISU), the number of outputs decreased from 22 to 8, and the last two universities
seldom publish in English journals (Fig. 13.1). These discrepancies can be explained
by the hierarchy of higher educational systems: the research universities are devoted
to international recognition; the teaching universities focus on vocational training;
and most universities fall somewhere between these extremes and seek a balance
between teaching and research (Fang, 2012). As a representative of vocational uni-
versities, the Guilin Tourism University (GTU) contributes very few research publi-
cations. This low output can be regarded as a sign of a ‘lack of qualified hospitality
educators’ at the university (Shen, Luo, & Lam, 2015, p. 16), which also applies to
the considerable number of vocational institutes developed in recent decades to
cater for industry needs.
450
390
400
Overall number of publications
350
300
250
200
150
101
100 75
43
50 22 15 10 8 2 2
0
HKPU IFT SYSU MUST BISU CUM CUHK JNU GTU HSU
Fig. 13.1 Overall research outputs of the TedQual-certified programmes in Greater China (January
2012–May 2017)
7.00
5.82
6.00
Average number of publications
5.00
4.00
3.00
2.21
2.00
1.26
0.87 0.71
1.00 0.67 0.56
0.29
0.03 0.04
0.00
HKPU IFT SYSU MUST BISU CUM CUHK JNU GTU HSU
Fig. 13.2 Average research output per faculty member of the TedQual-certified programmes in
Greater China (January 2012–May 2017)
The average research performance of institutions was computed by dividing the

total output by the number of academic staff (Fig. 13.2). The institutional research
performance at the average level shows some difference from that at the aggregate
level, although the performance of HKPU was still much higher than the other insti-
tutions (Fig. 13.2). At the second place is SYSU, followed by MUST. The distance
between the first and second places has decreased. The average outputs of IFT,
BISU, CUM and CUHK were less than one and very similar. The average output of
JNU achieved the minimum of visibility in the figures of aggregate and average
output, in contrast to the invisibility of GTU and HSU.
13.6 Discussion
The extensive review of literature on the research-teaching link showed that in

social science disciplines such as tourism and hospitality, the two academic activi-
ties – research and teaching – have a positive relationship. Staff research informs
teaching or enhances the quality of teaching by maintaining academics’ enthusiasm
and making them aware of the cutting edge of subject knowledge. Students tend to
have a positive attitude toward staff research, and this attitude can be strengthened
as their length of study in the higher education system increases (Arnold, 2008;
Thomas & Harris, 2001). Apart from the direct contribution to teaching effective-
ness, staff research can also enhance students’ learning by instructors involving
students in research projects and adopting research-/problem-based learning.
222 L. Yan
Assignments with a research element can be a favourite of students who love the
challenges and the knowledge and skills acquired in the process of completing
projects.
The research performance of faculty adds to the reputation of the entity, and
reputable programmes or institutions are more appealing to potential students
(Daily, Farewell, & Kumar, 2010; Kabak & Dağdeviren, 2014). A university’s suc-
cess in attracting good students is critical to the quality of its teaching: teaching is
not a one-sided process that is completely determined by the faculty; instead, the
quality of students is an important influential factor on teaching quality. This point
appears to be missing in the literature on the research-teaching nexus. Recently,
Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) has begun to rank the hospitality and leisure manage-
ment programmes offered by universities around the world. Among three indicators,
two are used to measure research performance, respectively, on academic reputation
and citations per paper, with the third being employers’ perceptions of the reputa-
tions of the institutions (QS, 2017). The 2017 ranking of hospitality and leisure
programmes show that HKPU and IFT are the top two institutions in Asia. This is
consistent with the findings on the research performance of TedQual-certified pro-
grammes in Greater China, where these two institutions had the most overall out-
puts (Fig. 13.1).
The research performance of the institutions with TedQual-certified programmes
in Greater China is one of the research focuses of the present study. However, the
results should not be understood as ranking the relevant programmes. Ranking of
tourism and hospitality programmes or the relevant universities based on research
publications has already been criticised as having issues of validity and neglecting
‘the overall contribution to knowledge development publications’ (Law et al., 2015,
p. 220). The discussion of research performance of TedQual-certified programmes
leads to the inquiry into the issue of teaching quality and the link between research
and teaching.
Faculty size and the numbers of full professors (together with the availability of
doctoral programmes) are predictors of the research productivity of hospitality and
tourism programmes (Lee & Law, 2011). However, these predictors do not apply to
the Guilin Tourism University and Huangshan University, despite their large sizes.
In this study, the two vocational training institutions form the opposite of the world-
class programmes offered at HKPU, IFT, SYSU and CUHK. The continuum of
TedQual-certified programmes in Greater China range from those having high pro-
files internationally to those having low profiles domestically. A concern arising
from comparing the research performances of these programmes is to what extent
the conception of tourism education (quality) has the same denotation for these
institutions with largely different performances in terms of tourism and hospitality
research. The large discrepancies between the high-profile institutions and the low-
profile ones create doubts about the criteria adopted by the TedQual accreditation
system. The neglect of research performance in evaluating the quality of education
is a weakness of the assessment process. The research performance of faculty can
directly or indirectly contribute to the quality of their teaching. Furthermore, the
research performance of an institution/programme largely accounts for its r eputation
or prestige, which is critical in attracting good and outstanding students. The calibre
of students is an influential factor on teaching effectiveness.
The TedQual accreditation system does not differentiate between the three terms
‘training’, ‘teaching’ and ‘education’. Zagonari (2009) noted that vocational train-
ing focuses on meeting the current needs of the tourism and hospitality industry,
while tertiary education aims at future needs. Frendo (2005) mentioned the different
orientations of the two activities: education is person-focused and training job-
focused. Theoretically, training and education can coexist in an institution with a
balance between the two aspects; however, in practice the vocational schools tend to
adopt a training approach, and universities tend to adopt an education approach
(Zagonari, 2009).
Regarding teaching and education, the philosopher Johann Friedrich Herbart
stated that the goals of the former are specific and those of the latter broad
(Hilgenheger, 1993). Herbart further explained that teaching is mainly concerned
with the imparting of knowledge and skills, and education pays attention to charac-
ter development and student improvement (Hilgenheger, 1993). The two terms are
linked to different approaches for teaching and learning: teaching is educator-centric
and education learner-centric (Mina, 2002). Mina found that the first-year under-
graduate who has been accustomed to a teacher-centric style in high school can have
difficulties in adapting to university education, because:
The universities are in the business of education, not necessarily teaching …. Teachers and
educators try hard to provide the best environment with the best presentation and up-to-date
information available, but it is the responsibility of the students to do the required reading
and problem solving. The students are supposed to keep up with the class work, much more
so out of class than in class, to read, learn, practice, and cooperate with others to make sure
they understand the material. Such environments that exist in almost all of the universities
are learner centric. It is the learners’ (students’) responsibility to make sure they work hard,
ask questions, see reference material, do research, and get what they need to learn …. The
goal of the universities is to provide an environment that trains life-long learners – indepen-
dent professionals who are self-motivated and know how to learn new material. (Mina,
2002, p. 2)
The previous discussions show that although the three terms ‘training’, ‘teaching’
and ‘education’ are sometimes used interchangeably, there are substantial differ-
ences between them. However, the TedQual accreditation system neglects the dis-
tinctions and regards both vocational training and subject teaching as equivalents of
tourism education. This practice is not without doubt.
A limitation of this study is the inclusion of some vocational universities, thus
comparing apples and oranges. For instance, the Guilin Tourism University and
Huangshan University might fall into the category of vocational training institu-
tions, thus being inappropriate for comparison with other universities. An implica-
tion for future studies on teaching or education quality evaluation is that the construct
of research performance should be included in the assessment framework. After all,
teaching and research are two sides of a coin, and the dissemination of knowledge
should not be separated from the production of knowledge (Blakey, Khachikian, &
Lemus, 2017). Furthermore, future empirical studies can consider adopting a
224 L. Yan
logistic regression model to explore the complex, non-linear relationship between

research and teaching.
13.7 Conclusion
This study addressed the three questions of the research-teaching relationship, the
research performances of the TedQual-certified programmes in Greater China and
the effectiveness of TedQual accreditation. A comprehensive review of existing
studies revealed that in social science disciplines such as tourism and hospitality,
staff research contributes to teaching quality. This understanding leads to an inves-
tigation of the research performance of the TedQual-certified programmes to further
explore the link between staff research and teaching quality. Data analyses showed
that the certified tourism and hospitality education programmes in Greater China
have very different research performances: from those frequently publishing in top
journals in tourism and hospitality to those seldom publishing in international jour-
nals. The assessment framework of TedQual fails to include research performance
as a criterion for evaluation of tourism education quality. The neglect of research
performance is associated with an indiscriminative understanding of the three peda-
gogic concepts: training, teaching and education. By contrast, the QS subject rank-
ing of hospitality and leisure management adopted two criteria closely related to
faculty research performance, namely, academic reputation and research impact
(QS, 2017). Based on the previous discussions, the TedQual accreditation system is
supposed to incorporate research performance into the assessment criteria.
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Chapter 14
Patterns of Tourism and Hospitality
Education in India and Malaysia:
A Critical Reflection
Sudipta Kiran Sarkar and Babu George
Abstract This chapter presents a comparative analysis of tourism higher education

in India and Malaysia, two developing countries located in Asia. Based on an exten-
sive review of literature and in light of the experiences of the authors as tourism
educators in the countries selected for this study, the trends of past, present and
future development, curriculum design, pedagogical innovations, popular demand
for tourism and hospitality programmes, industry-academia gaps and government
higher education policies are analysed. The chapter also examines public versus
private institution-led tourism education in terms of differences in policy, faculty
expertise and the scope of their activities. Finally, the socio-political, socio-
economic and government ideology influences on tourism and hospitality education
in these countries are discussed. While tourism education in India needs a boost in
terms of professionalism and market orientation, Malaysian tourism education suf-
fers from the overemphasis of these very same things – an extreme focus on employ-
ment can lead to the neglect of some of the exalted ideals that should be part of the
objectives of a university education.
Keywords Asian subregions · Tourism education · India · Malaysia · Comparison
14.1 Introduction
Education in tourism encompasses the fields of travel and tourism, hospitality and
events. Since the inception of the world’s first hotel school in 1922 by the Cornell
School of Hotel Administration, there has been tremendous growth in tourism and
hospitality education provision on a global scale. The development of education in
tourism and hospitality in the Asian context has developed along with the growth of
S. K. Sarkar (*)
Sol International Hospitality Management Department, Woosong University,
Daejeon, South Korea
B. George
Fort Hays State University, Hays, KS, USA
e-mail: bpgeorge@fhsu.edu

228 S. K. Sarkar and B. George
tourism, both inbound and outbound, over the last two to three decades. The emer-
gence of dynamic new economies, especially those of China and India, has provided
a major impetus to the growth of tourism at famous Asian destinations such as
Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai and Doha. These destinations
continue to grow and attract more tourists. This has, in turn, necessitated the growth
of tourism education programmes, both vocational and academic, as the tourism
industries of this region seek more qualified and skilled candidates to meet the needs
emanating from increasing tourist mobility and consumption. Although many coun-
tries in Asia experienced the inception of hotel and catering vocational education as
early as the 1970s, the popularity of tourism as a discipline in higher education has
increased only in the last few decades. This popularity can be attributed to the
unprecedented growth of tourism in Asia as a result of the economic successes it has
experienced since the 1990s (World Travel and Tourism Council [WTTC], 2017a).
Today, some of the best tourism education providers in the world are from Asia.
The School of Hotel and Tourism Management at the Hong Kong Polytechnic
University has become one of the most elite institutions of high-quality tourism
education and research in the world. Other prominent Asian institutions of tourism
higher education, such as the Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT), Macao, and the
Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management (EAHM), Dubai, have joined the
ranks of top global schools imparting quality tourism and hospitality education.
Against these phenomenal achievements in tourism education in Asia, there have
also been considerable challenges in terms of curriculum design, pedagogical inno-
vations, popular demand for programmes, industry-academia gaps and government
higher education policies. Socio-economic and technological changes occurring at
a global level have also contributed to the above challenges and trends in tourism
education in Asia.
India and Malaysia are two Asian countries that have experienced commendable
growth in tourism and hospitality education provision in the last two to three
decades, making them important education destinations in South Asia and Southeast
Asia, respectively. India is a developing country with one of the fastest GDP growth
rates, averaging 6–7% in the last 6 years (“India regains title of world’s fastest-
growing major economy”, 2017). According to the World Travel and Tourism
Council, in 2016, tourism accounted for 9.6% (INR14.1 trillion/USD208.9 billion)
of India’s total GDP, making it the seventh largest in the world in terms of absolute
size (WTTC, 2017a). India was the second largest in the world in terms of generat-
ing employment in travel and tourism with 40.3 million jobs (share of 9.3% of total
jobs created) in 2016 (WTTC, 2017a). Malaysia has an annual economic growth
rate of 5–6% and falls into the category of a high-middle-income country with a
GDP per capita of 9502.57 USD in 2016. In 2016, tourism accounted for 13.7% of
the total GDP of the country (WTTC, 2017b). Jobs generated from tourism for 2016
were 1.7 million, comprising 12% of the total jobs created (WTTC, 2017b).
While both these countries are fast-developing economies with considerable
progress made in tourism in terms of GDP and employment generation, India and
Malaysia are placed differently in their race to become developed nations. India is
considered a low-middle-income country, while Malaysia is positioned in the lower
14 Patterns of Tourism and Hospitality Education in India and Malaysia: A Critical… 229
ranks of high-middle-income nations in the world (World Bank, 2018). Growth in

tourism, especially in terms of wealth and employment generation, can make a sub-
stantial contribution towards the progress of both these countries becoming eco-
nomically advanced. Employment generation through tourism entails the creation of
a competent workforce – the responsibility of which largely lies with the tourism and
hospitality education sectors of both countries. A tourism and hospitality education
sector that imparts both vocational/technical and management-oriented training can
produce the skilled workforce needed for the generation of employment in tourism.
Based on an extensive review of literature and in light of the experiences of the
authors as tourism educators in the countries of India and Malaysia, this chapter will
focus on how tourism and hospitality higher education has developed in both these
countries, and provide a critical reflection on the issues and challenges they respec-
tively face. Moreover, this chapter will enable the audience to understand the cul-
tural, pedagogical and socio-economic implications of the current situation of
tourism and hospitality education in both India and Malaysia. India and Malaysia
share a lot of similarities but also provide sufficient contrast to examine how tour-
ism education can develop different trajectories by responding to different cultural
assumptions, institutional constraints and market forces. A comparative examina-
tion will help tourism education policy makers to draw the positive aspects of prac-
tice from each country and potentially implement them.
14.2 Tourism and Hospitality Education in India
14.2.1 Background
In India, tourism and hospitality education dates back to the early 1950s when the
Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition was set
up in Bombay (now Mumbai). It was claimed to be the first of its kind in South Asia
and was founded by the All India Women’s Central Food Council (Kumar, 2014).
This was followed by the setting up of the Institute of Hotel Management Catering
& Nutrition (IHM), Pusa, in New Delhi in 1962. Since then, IHMs have been set up
in multiple cities in India to meet the needs of the hotel industry across the country.
In addition, several food crafts institutes were set up in different regions to meet the
immediate industry operational requirements for skilled hotel workers. Towards the
late 1980s and early 1990s, the first bachelor degree programmes in hotel manage-
ment were introduced. Since the 1990s, an increasing number of universities have
developed degree programmes in hospitality management, both at bachelor and
master’s levels (Jithendran & Baum, 2000; Singh, 1997).
Tourism-specific education had its origin in 1983 when the Indian Institute of
Tourism and Travel Management (IITTM) was established as a registered society in
New Delhi under the Ministry of Tourism. It was set up with the objective of devel-
oping and promoting education, training and research in the field of travel and tour-
ism. At the beginning of the 1990s, master’s degree programmes were beginning to
be offered by various universities in India (Jithendran & Baum, 2000; Singh, 1997).
One of the earliest university-run tourism programmes to start in India was at the
Centre for Tourism Studies, Pondicherry University in 1991. One of the first mas-
ter’s degree programmes in Tourism was the Master of Tourism Administration
started by Kurukshetra University in the province of Haryana in 1991 (Jithendran &
Baum, 2000). Towards the late 1990s, about 30 universities were offering post-
graduate programmes in tourism management across the country (Singh, 1997).
14.2.2 Tourism and Hospitality Education Scenario in India
Today, some prominent institutions of higher education offering high-quality educa-

tion and training in the fields of tourism and hospitality have emerged. Some of the
notable institutions in India today are:
• The Oberoi Centre for Learning and Development (OCLD), Pune
• The Welcomgroup Graduate School of Hotel Administration, Manipal
• Kohinoor-IMI School of Hospitality Management, Indore
• The National Institute of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Hyderabad
• Institute of Hotel Management, Aurangabad, run in collaboration with the Taj
Group of Hotels
• The federal government-run IHMs as well as the IITTMs
These institutions have been able to impart high-quality vocational and opera-
tional training and education to produce an increasing number of graduates suitably
equipped to meet the practical-operational needs of the hotel and tourism industry
in India. Being practice-oriented, these institutions have improvised effective meth-
ods of training students in hospitality operational processes, hospitality business
and delivery. Faculty in these institutions are normally made up of people who have
held senior positions in and have extensive experience of the hotel and tourism
industries and maintain close collaborative relationships with them. All these fac-
tors have contributed towards making these institutions some of the most highly
competent in tourism and hospitality education and training (Jithendran & Baum,
2000; Singh, 1997).
14.2.3 Issues and Challenges
Tourism and hospitality education in India has progressed considerably in the last
two decades, but there remain a number of challenges in terms of compatibility with
global standards, skills requirements as demanded by the industry and innovative-
ness. The expanse and maturity of the global hospitality industry make it necessary
for tourism and hospitality education to be based on an insightful theoretical and
scholarly assessment of industry workforce requirements (Rao, 2014). Given that

several bachelor and master’s degree programmes in tourism and hospitality have
been introduced and successfully run by several universities across the country in
the last three decades, the outcomes in terms of graduate competency have not been
encouraging. These programmes have failed to provide the expected levels of intel-
lectual and scholarly oriented skills among the graduates they produce (George,
2017; Siddhanti & Agadi, 2011). Historically, these programmes have also fallen
short in imparting technical, hands-on trades-level skills, making graduates less
employable for the industry at large (Ernawati, 2003). Moreover, many institutions
and universities offering such programmes have either lacked proper in-house prac-
tical-training facilities or lack collaboration with the industry in providing engaging
internships for students to compensate for the lack of in-house training infrastruc-
ture (Rao, 2014).
The Indian hospitality industry has grown manifold in the last two decades, and
there is an increasing demand for skilled graduates. These workforce demands can-
not be met solely by elite hospitality education institutions, which are more focused
on imparting training and in vocational and operational skills. Universities, which
are meant to focus on scholarly (and critical thinking) skills and transferable skills
as well as operational/technical skills, must strive to offer programmes that provide
a solid foundation (based on these skills) to cater to the challenges that are emerging
in the hospitality industry. These challenges are related to the Fourth Industrial
Revolution, also known as the Industry 4.0, which is an industrial movement driven
by emerging Internet, digital and operational technologies involving automation,
data exchanges, cloud, cyber-physical systems, robots, big data, artificial intelli-
gence, the Internet of Things and (semi-)autonomous industrial systems (Davis,
2016). The unprecedented transformation of industrial processes this era brings
with it - is radically reshaping our socio-economic landscape, most significantly in
terms of human resource needs as well as the educational systems that shape those
human resources (OECD, 2017). The hospitality and tourism industry, being a vital
part of this socio-economic landscape, is also undergoing gradual transformation in
the era of Industry 4.0 (Shamim, Cang, Yu, & Li, 2017). Tourism and hospitality
education providers, therefore, must reconfigure themselves to create human
resource that can cope with these challenges.
14.2.4 Workforce
As mentioned earlier, there have been an increasing number of universities and

smaller institutions offering degree and diploma programmes that often lack ade-
quate levels of technical-practical quality as well as scholarly quality compared to
the fewer competent vocational and training-based institutions. Owing to this, a
fast-growing Indian hospitality industry is struggling to find sufficient skilled work-
ers (Km & Sharma, 2011). The proliferation of university degree programmes in
tourism and hospitality since the 1990s seems to have reflected only the growth of
the business of hospitality education, not the accomplishment of the objective of

meeting the increasing needs of the hospitality industry, i.e. a highly skilled work-
force in terms of technical, analytical and leadership abilities (Kumar, 2013).
Connections with industry in terms of research collaborations and consultancy are
evident largely in the elite tourism and hospitality vocational and training-based
institutions like the IITTMs, the IHMs and the OCLD. Most of the universities and
institutions outside the elite hospitality education circle have failed to incorporate
competent personnel into their faculties – teachers who have had substantial expo-
sure and experience in different critical and strategic hospitality industry-related
practices (Nair & George, 2016). Incorporation of such competent professionals
into the academic workforce can enable universities to transform the quality of edu-
cation and training they impart to their graduates in terms of the technical-operational
and strategic know-hows required in the tourism and hospitality industry.
When it comes to hiring competent academic professionals for the enhancement
of quality in education, pay scales present another major challenge. The pay scales
offered to the academic workforce at different academic levels are prescribed by the
University Grants Commission (UGC) and the All India Council for Technical
Education (AICTE). Although these pay scales are recommended by the Pay
Commission of the Federal Government, and are periodically adjusted for inflation
rates and cost of living, they are well below international standards. Most of the
Indian universities offering tourism and hospitality programmes that come under
the regulatory jurisdiction of the UGC and AICTE lack the resources to train their
academic workforce and improve their infrastructure. This prevents them from
imparting quality hospitality education at global standards (Kumar, 2014; Subbarao,
2008). However, recently, the UGC granted full autonomy to some universities in
the country based on their overall performance. This is expected to enable these
universities to independently source channels of revenue by allowing flexibility in
student recruitment procedures, introducing new programmes in collaboration with
recognised overseas universities and reaching out to different agents of funding for
pedagogical development and research (“UGC grants full autonomy”, 2018).
14.2.5 T
he Industry Perspectives of Tourism and Hospitality
Education
Another dimension of this scenario is the tourism and hospitality industry view of
the tourism and hospitality education in India. The industry’s lack of understanding
of the potential for university programmes in hospitality and tourism to bring inno-
vation and resilience is another obstacle in the growth of tourism and hospitality
education in India. Many industry players have the view that intellectual, scholarly
and high-level analytical skills have no compatibility with the nature of work in the
industry, as the skills required are primarily operational and technical (George,
2013, 2017). When the industry requires skills involving analysis and strategy, elite
management schools, such as the Indian Institute of Management, are usually con-
sulted. The nurturing of a high-quality workforce with strategic and analytical skills,
required for complex and strategic decision-making is thus absent from both the
academic and industry hospitality circles of India (George, 2017; Kumar, 2013;
Singh, 1997). Moreover, the Indian tourism and hospitality industry has for a long
time been resistant to recruiting personnel with postgraduate qualifications. In fact,
the IHMs, which are perceived to be offering the most skills-oriented hospitality
training in the country, took a long time to elevate their diploma in Hotel and
Catering Technology programmes to degree programmes (Jauhari, 2006; Khan &
Narayanan, 1998).
14.3 Tourism and Hospitality Education in Malaysia
14.3.1 Background
In the 1960s and 1970s, Malaysia depended on exports of tin and rubber; however,
these two traditionally thriving industries declined as demand for the resources
faded in the global market. The country considered diversifying into other lucrative
as well as emerging economic sectors, such as petroleum, manufacturing and tour-
ism. Realising the prospects for growth in the tourism industry, Malaysia has placed
emphasis on it in their economy (Thitthongkam & Walsh, 2011). The earliest tour-
ism institute dates back to 1967 when the MARA Institute of Technology or ITM
(School of Hotel and Tourism Management) was set up. Since the 1970s, an increas-
ing emphasis has been placed on tourism in terms of expanding tourism infrastruc-
ture and efforts to create more employment through tourism (Mosbah & Khuja,
2014). This has led to the need for a skilled workforce and thus, universities and
institutions. However, it was not until the 1990s that both the private and public
Malaysian education sectors started to offer programmes in tourism and hospitality
(Goldsmith & Zahari, 1994). The advent of private educational institutions and their
significant role in higher learning was substantiated when the Private Higher
Educational Institutions (PHEI) Act was passed in 1996. There had been a prolifera-
tion of higher education institutions, especially ones offering tourism and hospital-
ity education. These institutions have attracted many students from all over the
world and, in turn, contributed towards the growth of education tourism in Malaysia
(Mosbah & Khuja, 2014). Moreover, the internationalisation policy of the Malaysian
government, in the context of higher education, has provided a reasonable impetus
for international students, especially from Middle Eastern countries, to opt for
Malaysia as a destination of choice for higher education (Shariff, 2013; Singh,
Schapper, & Jack, 2014). Furthermore, Malaysia’s lower costs of higher education,
diversity, safe environment and medium of instruction being English are some of
the other prime factors that play a major role in making it a preferred destination for
international students (Shan, Shah, & Suat, 2013).
14.3.2 H
ospitality and Tourism Education Scenario
in Malaysia
Malaysia has pursued an aggressive neo-liberal education policy that has allowed
transnational higher education (TNHE) services to become a part of Malaysia’s
private education environment. Government policy has allowed a number of inter-
national universities to set up their campuses in Malaysia, as well as the growth of
both profit- and non-profit-oriented private educational institutions and the various
hospitality/tourism programmes offered by them (Morshidi, 2006). Examples are
Taylor’s College (now Taylor’s University) and Sunway College (now Sunway
University), both of which eventually became universities along with other institu-
tions such as UCSI, APIT, Nilai University College and Berjaya University College
of Hospitality. In terms of transnational educational pursuits, international cam-
puses of Australian universities such as Monash University, Swinburne University
of Technology and Curtin University as well as Nottingham University, UK, have
been set up in Malaysia in the last two decades. However, only Curtin University
offers programmes in tourism now. Malaysian private universities, such as Taylor’s
University, have achieved some degree of excellence in vocational-technical train-
ing and education as well as in research and scholarly activities in the field of hos-
pitality and tourism. In the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings
by Subject 2017 and 2018 for the category of hospitality and leisure management,
Taylor’s University was ranked among the top 50 hospitality and tourism institu-
tions in the world (Menon, 2018; “Top 30 in the world”, 2017). For a young institu-
tion, this ranking is evidence of Taylor’s University’s excellence in imparting
high-quality tourism and hospitality education in Malaysia.
Among the public universities, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Universiti Science
Malaysia, Universiti Teknologi MARA and Universiti Putra Malaysia have shown
commendable levels of excellence within the country in imparting quality higher
education in tourism and hospitality. Universiti Utara Malaysia and Universiti
Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam, provide programmes from undergraduate to PhD in
the fields of tourism, hospitality and events (Shariff, 2013). These institutions have
produced a significant amount of research and scholarly output over the years.
Tourism education in Malaysia has attracted students from across the ASEAN
region, Middle East and South Asia. In 2010, Malaysia attracted 87,000 interna-
tional students including students that came for hospitality and tourism programmes
(Mosbah & Khuja, 2014). By 2016, it was estimated that 172,886 international
students were enrolled in Malaysian higher education institutions, both private and
public (Jusoh, 2017). Affordable tuition fees and living costs, international intern-
ship opportunities, high-quality hospitality training and education and commendable
pedagogical methods used by experienced and qualified faculty have been the prime
drivers in attracting international students to tertiary tourism and hospitality educa-
tion institutions in Malaysia (Shan et al., 2013; Thitthongkam & Walsh, 2011).
Malaysia being primarily an Islamic country has attracted students from Muslim
countries in the Middle East, South Asia and many other parts of the world (Shariff,
2013; Singh et al., 2014). This has been a major driver in bringing in many Muslim
students to Malaysia in the field of hospitality and tourism as the country’s Islamic-
centric environment assures Halal compliance and hospitality pedagogical methods
that strictly consider Islamic cultural values and norms (Ghani, 2016; Mahmud,
Amat, Rahman, & Ishak, 2010). Most tertiary universities and institutions in
Malaysia have Muslim prayer rooms, provide Halal food and offer flexible class
hours during Ramadan and on Fridays (Singh et al., 2014).
Another major advantage of Malaysia as a regional educational hub in tourism
and hospitality is that it offers an English-speaking education environment. Malaysia
is believed to be a high-proficiency country in terms of its use of English, as per the
latest edition of the English Proficiency Index by Education First (Shan et al., 2013).
English being one of the most widely used global languages and the medium of
instruction of most Malaysian tertiary institutions has put the country in an advanta-
geous position compared to many countries like China, Japan or Taiwan.
14.3.3 Issues and Challenges
Malaysia’s tourism educational environment faces many challenges. Some of these

challenges are:
• Curricula lacking the ability to meet changing hospitality industry needs
• Falling student enrolment in tourism and hospitality programmes in private ter-
tiary institutions
• Pedagogical quality
• Cultural issues (Liu & Liu, 2008; Shariff & Abidin, 2014)
Compared to many other countries, the tourism and hospitality curricula offered
by tertiary institutions in Malaysia often fall short of meeting changing industry
needs. There are often issues such as a lack of professionalism and operational inef-
ficiency arising because of staff with insufficient training and skills (Goldsmith &
Zahari, 1994; Shariff, 2013). Ahmed and Scott (2014) observed in their study on
staffing issues in Malaysian hotels that a shortage of problem-solving, communica-
tion and operations-based IT skills was clearly evident among the workforce of
front office departments. Younger generation staff (Generation Y) have been
observed to have a different attitude towards honing the skills necessary for hotel
operations compared to older generations (Ahmed & Scott, 2014; Shariff & Abidin,
2014). Moreover, leadership competencies as well as teamwork abilities have also
been found to be lacking among younger generations working in the tourism and
hospitality industry in Malaysia (Shariff, 2013; Shariff & Abidin, 2014). This can
lead to difficulties in hotel operational and service efficiencies. Malaysian higher
education institutions in hospitality and tourism, therefore, have to cope with the
challenges arising out of generational changes by revisiting their curricula and
instruction methods, to ensure they can produce competent and adequately skilled
new graduates (Shariff, 2013; Shariff & Abidin, 2014).
Apart from the issues of curricula, further problems with student enrolment in
programmes of hospitality and tourism, pedagogical models and issues of culture
and ethnicity have been found to affect the environment in both public and private
higher education institutions in Malaysia. These issues are discussed in the sections
that follow.
14.3.3.1 Student Enrolment Issues
Student enrolment in hospitality and tourism programmes offered by Malaysian

tertiary institutions, particularly in the private sector, depends on employment pros-
pects and the scenario in the hospitality and tourism industry. While hotel, culinary
arts and events programmes have maintained steady enrolment numbers over the
years, tourism and travel programmes have struggled considerably. This ongoing
trend in tourism enrolment was observed a decade ago by Nair and Whitelaw (2008)
in their research that focused on hospitality and tourism programme selection by
students in private higher education institutions in Malaysia. The study found that
only 11% of its total respondents chose tourism management as their specialisation,
while 59% and 30% of respondents chose hospitality and restaurant management
and culinary arts, respectively (Nair & Whitelaw, 2008). However, this trend, though
presented as part of the profile of the research respondents, was not addressed as an
issue by the authors.
One of the reasons for low enrolment numbers in tourism and travel programmes
in private higher education institutions of Malaysia is the lack of international job
and career growth opportunities, as the hotel industry in Malaysia lacks a global
presence. The travel and tourism sector is largely represented by local, small and
medium enterprises and correspondingly few medium to large enterprises (Liu &
Liu, 2008). Due to their smaller sizes, Malaysian travel and tourism enterprises do
not offer the robust career growth opportunities and mobility that can be found in
the hotel industry. Along with low career growth prospects, the pay structures of
entry to mid-level staff in the Malaysian travel sector have also been on the lower
side (Joo-Ee, 2016).
Transnational travel corporations such as Kuoni, Carlson Wagonlit, TUI, FCM,
Expedia or Thomas Cook hardly have any presence in Malaysia. These transna-
tional companies are sizable organisations with a global presence offering ample
career advancement opportunities and mobility across the world. Compared to this,
the hotel industry in Malaysia involves major hotel chain brands, such as Novotel,
Hilton, Marriot, Hyatt, Le Méridien and Accor. The perception generated by the
presence of such transnational hotel chain brands, and their exotic properties in
terms of size and features, have an overwhelming impact on students opting to enrol
in hospitality rather than tourism programmes in Malaysia. Adding to this, the high
fee structures of tourism degree and diploma programmes offered by Malaysian
private tertiary institutions, low-entry-level pay scales prevalent in the travel indus-
try and the lack of career growth opportunities and mobility, have made tourism
programmes less attractive to prospective students (Liu & Liu, 2008). These factors
compel prospective students to choose programmes in hotel/hospitality manage-

ment, culinary arts and events instead. In addition, because of the generally small
size of Malaysian travel enterprises, the expertise of university graduates in tourism
management, especially bachelor’s degree holders, are perceived by the industry as
less useful. A combination of all these factors has left Malaysian private tertiary
institutions struggling to attract students for enrolment in tourism and travel pro-
grammes over the years (Liu & Liu, 2008).
14.3.3.2 Culture and Ethnicity Issues
In Malaysia, students’ culture and ethnicity influence their enrolment choices, lead-
ing to segregation in tourism and hospitality higher education (Raman & Sua, 2010).
Culture and ethnicity play a major role because some higher education funding
schemes and scholarships are only extended to Malay/Bumiputera students (Pak,
2013). Until 2002, Malaysian universities had ethnic quotas reserved for Malays/
Bumiputera candidates. Although the quota system was abolished in 2002, most
government schemes for university students are still being extended to Malay ethnic
students. This has made it difficult for other ethnicities to pursue higher education
in public universities (Pak, 2013; Raman & Sua, 2010). These Malay-favourable
schemes have meant that Malay-speaking aspirants enrol mostly in the public uni-
versities, while their Chinese and Indian counterparts largely enrol in private ter-
tiary institutions or travel overseas for higher education (Raman & Sua, 2010). Fee
structures in Malaysian private higher education institutions are higher than their
public counterparts. This creates another major difficulty for Chinese and Indian
students pursuing higher education in tourism and hospitality, especially those from
lower income families.
14.3.3.3 Pedagogical Models
Another issue that is often overlooked is the originality and applicability of the
pedagogical and instructional models adopted by tertiary institutions offering hos-
pitality and tourism programmes in Malaysia. Malaysian tertiary institutions, espe-
cially in the private sector, often offer joint programmes or twinning with western
universities. Taylor’s University has been offering twinning programmes in tourism
and hospitality with the University of Toulouse in France for almost three decades.
There is an overwhelming tendency in the Malaysian tertiary education environ-
ment, especially in the fields of hospitality and tourism, to simply replicate models,
processes and methods from western contexts and apply them in Malaysia without
judging their effectiveness, relevance or degree of applicability. There has been a
lack of effort to develop effective and scientifically credible indigenous models or
an adapted implementation of western models of education in the Malaysian con-
text. The Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) which oversees the quality and
standardisation of programmes offered both at public and private universities in
Malaysia has initiated an independently developed monitoring and quality assur-

ance mechanism (Bouchon, Hussain, & Konar, 2015). Yet, the tendency to uncriti-
cally replicate foreign models leaves the pedagogical systems fundamentally weak
and less credible (Khalil, Tajudin, Tajuddin, Mamat, & Hadi, 2014). The nuances
surrounding a country’s education system should be taken into account in designing
quality models, as observed by Sallis (2014). Definitions of higher education qual-
ity should not be passively drawn from elsewhere (Becket & Brookes, 2008).
Pedagogical models developed indigenously, and incorporating elements like coop-
erative learning, have the potential to bring satisfactory results among small yet
diverse groups of students (Khalil et al., 2014).
14.3.4 Conclusion
This analysis of tourism and hospitality education in India and Malaysia has showed
that the two countries differ in their challenges; however, two issues the countries
hold in common are an industry-academic skills gaps and the lack of an adequately
qualified and trained workforce. While tourism and hospitality programmes in India
do not face the same enrolment challenges as Malaysia, Indian tourism and hospi-
tality higher education has not been able to attract students from overseas – an area
in which Malaysia has been immensely successful. Although it has a culturally
diverse education environment, India has failed to promote itself as a higher educa-
tion hub for international students. Malaysia, in comparison, has been able to
develop a credible image as an education destination attracting students from all
over the world. Malaysia, though also a developing country, has a well-developed
infrastructure, an efficient civil system and a safer environment compared to India.
Because of these and further advantages, like the internationalisation of its higher
education, favourable cultural factors and affordable education costs, Malaysia has
been able to emerge as a significantly more attractive destination for higher educa-
tion compared to India. Malaysia’s emergence as a successful tourism destination
has also contributed towards its attractiveness as a prominent destination for higher
education in tourism and hospitality (Shan et al., 2013).
On the positive side in India, the presence of transnational corporations in both
the travel and hotel sectors has brought credible career advancement opportunities.
Moreover, due to high volumes of outbound travel by India’s large population, these
transnational corporations have brought immense scope and work opportunities for
Indian tourism graduates. India, being among the fastest-growing and largest econo-
mies in the world, has the potential to become a leading hospitality and tourism
education hub. To support the expanding hospitality and tourism industry, Indian
tertiary education must produce hospitality and tourism graduates who are well-
trained and technologically able as well as skilled in strategic and critical thinking.
As the impending ramifications of the Fourth Industrial Revolution start to be felt in
terms of automation and the incorporation of new technological innovations, a capa-
ble and proactive tourism and hospitality education sector in India must meet the
challenging needs of this new era of industrialisation. The blurring boundaries

between the physical and digital mean the advent of newer categories of tourist
experiences (e.g. virtual reality tourism) and management practices (e.g. crowd-
sourced product development). Human resource development in tourism is not cur-
rently prepared to meet these work demands of the future (Airey, Tribe, Benckendorff,
& Xiao, 2015).
The Malaysian higher education sector in the fields of hospitality and tourism,
both public and private, must find innovative ways to sustain the competitive advan-
tage the country currently enjoys as an affordable hub of high-quality education.
Indigenously developed educational models are required. These should address
racial, cultural and ethnic issues as well as assist in scientifically and methodologi-
cally sound pedagogical systems that will produce home-grown hospitality talent
for the future (Jithendran & Baum, 2000). Government policies need to be formu-
lated that will open new avenues of employment for Malaysian graduates in the
travel and tourism sector. A new tourism workforce infrastructure needs to be devel-
oped that takes into consideration the challenges from the Fourth Industrial
Revolution and the concerns arising out of cultural segregation due to institutionally
racialised state policies. This will ensure a smoother transition to the new era of
industrialisation, which will bring large changes to the operational processes in the
hospitality and tourism industry and, in turn, new kinds of jobs in an increasingly
multicultural setting. Examples of the operational processes possible as a result of
the new industrial revolution include the use of Software as Service (Sas) for busi-
ness analytics and data storage, “self-concierge” using smartphone-enabled guid-
ance, smart rooms that adapt to the guest profile and use of wearable technologies
as a single replacement for various standalone technologies, among others. Such
anticipated changes will potentially induce radical changes in pedagogical methods
and curriculum structures in the tourism and hospitality higher education sector in
Malaysia.
The observations made in this study – of academic-industry skills gaps, enrol-
ment issues, cultural diversity aspects and pedagogical issues – have implications
for other Asian countries. Academic-industry gaps in the hospitality and tourism
fields exist in many other Asian contexts. The enrolment issues in the tourism pro-
grammes of private higher education institutions in Malaysia could also be evident
in other Asian countries where privately run hospitality and tourism higher educa-
tion institutions are proliferating. However, the cultural and ethnic issues in higher
education, particularly those of Malaysia, may not be prevalent in other Asian con-
texts due to their more culturally homogenous populations. The faculty competency
issues arising from low rates of remuneration, as evident in India, could also be
occurring in other low-income Asian countries. Like Malaysia, other Asian coun-
tries, for example, South Korea and Japan, are moving towards the internationalisation
of their higher education systems, making the strengths and issues discussed in this
study with regard to Malaysia’s higher education scenario in tourism and hospitality
education, potentially more widely relevant.
As mentioned earlier, Malaysia and India have some similarities in their respec-
tive hospitality and tourism higher education sectors. Based on this premise, this
study has attempted a comparative analysis of the sector in the two countries by
looking into their respective strengths and the issues significant to their further
growth and development. On the foundation of the lived experiences of the authors,
some contrasting issues in the two developing countries have been highlighted in
terms of culture, diversity and developments in tourism.
Researchers and scholars working on pedagogical issues in tourism and hospital-
ity education in developing countries in Asia need to focus on the issues identified
in this study. Further research can encompass specific issues such as student enrol-
ment within the sectors of the hospitality industry. Other issues that need to be
focused on by future studies are government policies and their impact on the educa-
tion sector in these fields. The resilience factors and strategies required from tour-
ism and hospitality educators in both these countries to meet the challenges arising
out of the unpredictable economic and technological changes brought about by the
advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution will be a key area to explore. Furthermore,
future studies need to focus on how indigenous, yet effective, pedagogical models
can be devised by tourism and hospitality education sectors in both India and
Malaysia, and what kind of positive outcomes they can bring.
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articleshow/63387456.cms.
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Chapter 15
Hospitality, Tourism and Global Education
in Asia: A Transnational Conundrum?
Current Thoughts and Anecdotes
Andrew Jones
Abstract This chapter aims to review and evaluate the growth of hospitality and
tourism programmes offered through transnational education and global partner-
ships from ‘exporting’ countries such as the UK to countries such as China, Hong
Kong (China), Malaysia, Singapore, Japan and India. The research is focused on
qualitative research methods using a sample framework from international collab-
orative institutions across Asia. The purposes of the research are to highlight impor-
tant contemporary issues and future challenges for international collaborative
provision and to identify the benefits, the operational demands and the hazards and
pitfalls of such provision. The paper concludes with an overview of strategies that
should and can be learned to ensure that hospitality and tourism international col-
laborative ventures are mutually successful for all stakeholders, including the host
university, the collaborative partner and all the students concerned.
Keywords Global education · Hospitality education · Tourism education ·

Transnational education
15.1 Introduction
Transnational education, primarily at the tertiary level, has been growing rapidly, bringing
with it high hopes and expectations of benefits to institutions in the countries of origin and
destination. However, these potential benefits come with a set of challenges that must be
overcome. These challenges include the need to reconcile the often-conflicting objectives of
the stakeholders involved, bridge learning traditions/styles and cultural divides, and harmo-
nise cross-national standards. (Hill et al. 2014, p. 1)
As Hill et al. (2014) suggested, the growth in transnational education vis-á-vis edu-
cation that is provided by higher education providers that allow students to study
wholly oversees at collaborative centres away from host institutions has grown
exponentially over the last 10 years. A relatively recent report by the British Council
A. Jones (*)
Institute for Tourism Travel and Culture, University of Malta, Msida, Malta
e-mail: andrew.jones@um.edu.mt

244 A. Jones
(2013) suggested that transnational education (TNE) has grown significantly and
that the greatest growth has occurred where host countries have clear ambitions and
strategies to encourage access to overseas education and provision (British Council,
2013). The report also suggested that both Asia and the Middle East, particularly
Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates, are the regions and
countries offering the most favourable environments for the development of
TNE. The report also suggested that ‘hubs’ such as Botswana and Korea may have
the potential to become TNE hotspots in the future. Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore
and the UAE were placed at the top of the list largely because of their well-estab-
lished ‘quality assurance’ processes based upon well-established procedures and
processes, which have been widely recognised and accepted by collaborative Her
Majesty’s (HM) institutions from, for example, the UK, USA and Australia. This
growing phenomenon is also supported by a parallel report at this time by the UK
Government entitled International Education – Global Growth and Prosperity
(HESA, 2013), which highlighted the continuing and unrivalled international
growth of TNE sectors.
Recent statistics published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA,
2017) for the UK illustrated that almost three-quarters (72.2%) of all offshore provi-
sion was concentrated within 20 key countries and that the largest numbers of stu-
dents were registered from Malaysia, China, Singapore and Pakistan, which,
combined, accounted for over one-third (34.2%) of all UK higher education off-
shore students. In this respect, only two EU countries appeared within the top 20:
Ireland and Greece (Figs. 15.1 and 15.2).
Education level
Postgraduate Postgraduate First Other
Country (research) (taught) degree undergraduate Total
Malaysia 465 6200 67,640 4545 78,850
China 475 3130 60,055 900 64,560
Singapore 110 4205 45,055 600 49,970
Pakistan 25 485 45,380 755 46,640
Nigeria 150 6465 28,365 35 35,015
Hong Kong 300 4260 24,480 185 29,220
Sri Lanka 55 6220 13,955 680 20,910
Egypt 75 1335 18,380 45 19,840
Oman 35 2205 16,045 655 18,940
Ghana 40 2335 14,875 120 17,370
United Arab Emirates 255 6610 9670 555 17,090
Greece 120 3625 11,945 145 15,835
Mauritius 40 960 14,040 135 15,175
India 45 2160 12,360 265 14,830
Kenya 45 1415 11,155 40 12,655
Trinidad and Tobago 55 2965 8385 475 11,880
Ireland 125 2520 8645 305 11,595
Saudi Arabia 105 2005 6775 30 8915
Zimbabwe 15 745 8130 5 8890
Zambia 55 1055 7135 15 8260
Total top 20 countries 2590 60,905 432,465 10,485 506,440
Fig. 15.1 Number of UK higher education students studying overseas in 2015/2016, by location
(top 20 countries) and education level. (HESA, 2017)
15 Hospitality, Tourism and Global Education in Asia: A Transnational Conundrum… 245
Fig. 15.2 The students studying wholly overseas by location of top countries of provision
2015/2016. (HESA, 2017)
In a similar vein, an earlier report by the Australian education organisation

‘Tourism and Hospitality Education’ (International Centre of Excellence in Tourism
and Hospitality Education [ICE], 2012) highlighted some of the most common
trends in global hospitality and tourism education to date. These issues have con-
firmed current growth in the sector and highlighted the following trends for TNE:
• An increase in user pays for tertiary education
• Rising demand for international education
• English as the global education language
• The rise of emigration visas/policies
• The need for credential recognition
• The continued rise of transnational education
• An increase in collaboration initiatives
These trends have clearly provided the impetus, justification and desire for inter-
national collaborative initiatives between host universities and collaborative part-
ners, especially to promote transnational education opportunities. Hospitality and
tourism programmes, particularly those offered by universities in the UK, USA,
Australia, New Zealand and Canada, have very much been at the forefront of these
growth trends. Despite this, however, there remain substantial knowledge gaps with
regard to collaborative partnership – particularly relating to hospitality and tourism
education. It is these knowledge gaps that this chapter aims to bring into focus.
246 A. Jones
15.2.1 Transnational Education Today
Clearly, the globalisation of higher education, including the expansion of tourism

and hospitality programmes, has become an increasing global trend. These, as sug-
gested already, include ‘education exports’ primarily from the USA, UK, Canada,
Australia and New Zealand but also from a growing number of other European
institutions particularly from countries such as the Netherlands, Finland and
Switzerland. As such, individual universities from all these countries seek to diver-
sify their portfolio of hospitality and tourism programmes, which now increasingly
target and rely upon new emerging international markets for their future growth,
sustainability and prosperity. The Asia markets, as already evidenced by HESA sta-
tistics, have been a key target in this respect (Healey, 2012; HESA, 2017; Huang,
2007; Lane, 2007; Visser, Visser, Amirault, & Simonson, 2012). Indeed, hospitality
and tourism growth trends highlighted between 2012 and 2016 by HESA (2017)
and the Higher Education Academy (2012) illustrated that such programmes in the
UK continue to show growth trends, with growth across the sector over the last
decade averaging 28%. In this context, postgraduate provision showed even higher
growth averaging a 78% increase over the same period.
Despite these growth trends, the days when international students aspired to come
and study for traditional programmes provided at established higher education insti-
tutions – usually termed ‘overseas students’ – may not be over, but they are changing.
The dynamics are increasingly shifting to more ‘localised’ ‘home-focused’ forms of
higher education provision based in a student’s ‘home or domiciled’ country
(Mathews, 2012a). There are many contributing factors for such trends, as already
suggested in the ICE (2012) study. These can be focused, for example, on factors such
as a response to increasing financial and regulatory demands, i.e. increase in overseas
tuition fees and ever-stringent immigration and visa regulations (the UK Boarder
Agency or US Homeland Security as examples) or fluctuations in currency exchange
rates (as with recent upward trends with the Australian and US Dollar). In response to
these challenges, universities are increasingly ‘exporting’ their academic programmes
and establishing agreements at a number of levels with international collaborative
partners. These processes have been increasingly labelled or consolidated by many
universities and are commonly termed ‘transnational education’ (TNE) (Chen, 2015;
Mathews, 2012a; Miller-Idriss & Hanauer, 2011; Montgomery, 2014).
An interesting indicator of such trends, in this respect, is statistics published by
HESA (2017). These show that the number of students studying overseas for a com-
plete British higher education qualification rose by 23 percent in 2012 and now
equate to over 15 percent of all students taking UK awards. Such courses are typi-
cally cheaper than those delivered in the UK and allow students to stay closer to
home while typically avoiding the UK’s ever-stricter visa regime. According to the
figures released by HESA (2017), 503,795 students at British institutions ‘studied
wholly overseas’ in 2010–2011, and this increased to over 876,000 between 2016
and 2017 (Fig. 15.3).
Fig. 15.3 Region of domicile of non-UK domicile students 2014/2015 and 2015/2016. (Source:
HESA 2017)
There are many key players in such activities. The top UK providers in the last
5 years include the University of London (36,425), Open University (26,715),
University of Wales (11,335), University of Leicester (11,110), Heriot-Watt
University (8570), Middlesex University (7050), University of Bradford (6575),
University of Nottingham (5635), University of Derby (4770) and Staffordshire
University (4690). It is estimated that such collaborations have contributed over half
a billion pounds annually to British university budgets. In turn, this has provided an
increasingly valuable source of funding, especially within a climate of ever-
decreasing financial support from central government. According to figures from
Australia Education International (2013), almost one-third (104,678) of interna-
tional students studying for an Australian higher education qualification were doing
so ‘offshore’ in 2010. To a large extent, the reasons and motivations for this growth
have mirrored the UK experience. Such operations can bring key benefits to each
partner, both for the provider and for the end user.
McBurnie and Ziguras (2006), Healey (2012), Alama, Alamb, Chowdhurya and
Steinera (2013) and Shams (2016), in their recent work on the issues and sustain-
ability of TNE operations, give some insights. In this respect, benefits often tend to
be both financial and economic in nature but can also deliver less tangible benefits.
For example, collaborative partnerships can offer global reach for an institution,
thus enhancing reputation and, in turn, new marketing and branding opportunities.
Such initiatives can provide additional income through franchising and validation of
existing academic programmes internationally. Partners can often offer cheaper
operational costs. They can assist in avoiding or reducing compliance with immi-
gration and study visa controls. In turn, collaboration can open opportunities to
‘grow’ educational markets that might have more competition and constraints on
home territory. From a user or student perspective, such partnerships can reduce
educational costs by studying at a collaborative institution rather than funding study
248 A. Jones
at expensive overseas campuses. In this context, TNE initiatives can help avoid visa
and immigration restrictions and costs and help obtain internationally recognised
and credited qualifications. In some respects, such partnerships can also offer less
tangible but still advantageous offerings. This might include notions of global social
inclusion and cross-cultural exchange, thus giving opportunities for students to
study internationally recognised programmes and have ‘international’ experiences
that would not have been available to them without global partnership arrangements
(Alama et al., 2013; Healey, 2012; Shams, 2016).
The clamour for universities to claim an increasing portion of this growing mar-
ket has become increasingly competitive and perhaps even increasingly divisive
(McBurnie & Pollock, 2000; McBurnie & Ziguras, 2006; Wilkins & Stevens-
Balakrishnan, 2013). There is a regulatory framework within which such overseas
collaboration must function. In this context, the UK Quality Assurance Agency
(QAA) has direct responsibility for maintaining quality standards and ensuring that
overseas collaborative partners adhere to UK higher education norms (Knight,
2016; QAA, 2014). Similar norms are also practised in, for example, Australia with
the Universities Australia Tertiary Education Quality Standards Agency (TEQSA)
quality assurance processes. On a smaller scale, organisations such as Malaysian
Qualifications Agency (MQA) in Malaysia, Hong Kong Quality Assurance Agency
(HKQAA), and the Hong Kong or Ministry for Education – Higher Education
Division (MoE – HED) Singapore provide a more localised additional dimension
for further quality control.
15.3 Current Challenges for Transnational Education
Despite the growth and general success of such ventures, media and news headlines
over the last few years have been increasingly targeting these collaborative ventures
and highlighting some of the pitfalls that can occur when partnerships and collab-
orative operations do not function as both local and external quality assurance
requirements demand (Mathews, 2012b; McBurnie & Ziguras, 2006). This has led
to much controversy and accusations that some overseas British and other ‘global’
universities are putting profit before quality, which in turn has put the quality of
some transnational collaborative provision ‘on the line’. Mathews (2012b) has
referred to this as the cash cow disease and the economics of boom or bust. McBurnie
and Ziguras (2006) refer to westernising tendencies, arrogance, imperialism and
restrictive practices. As a consequence, the UK’s general good reputation in this
field has not always been immune to such controversy. A number of authors have
already expressed some disquiet at the level and range of transnational education
provision and the questionable motivations of many providers (Huang, 2007; Lane,
2007; Observatory on Borderless Higher Education [OBHE], 2011; Shams, 2016).
Criticism has tended to centre on sustainability issues and the ability of collabora-
tive partners to match and mirror acceptable quality and regulatory processes
required by home institutions. For example, many UK universities have had much
criticism levelled at them in this regard (Australia Education International, 2013;

British Council, 2013; Mathews, 2012b). Other criticisms have questioned the pro-
vision of ‘holistic’ or ‘fully rounded’ student university experiences and whether
local partner institutions can offer the replication or ‘like for like’ experiences of
‘home’ university institutions – notions that Heffernan, Morrison, Basu and
Sweeney (2010) and Montgomery (2014) have explored in the literature. Some
criticism has also been levelled at the ‘experience’ of students and whether the study
experience at a collaborative partner institution can match ones offered at a home
institution. The areas where concern has often been expressed are now well docu-
mented (McBurnie & Ziguras, 2006; OBHE, 2011; Wilkins and Stevens-
Balakrishnan, 2013). In summary, the most common criticisms have been levelled
at a number of areas. These include problems associated with the following aspects:
• Financial profit motivation – this tends to reflect the need to maximise student
numbers in order for collaborative partnerships to maintain financial sustainabil-
ity; it may not always be in the best interests of teaching and learning or adhere
to acceptable academic principles.
• Student admissions – again, strict matriculation requirements required at home
institutions are sometimes applied more flexibly at partner institutions where the
qualifications of students entering a programme might be less than those required
at a home institution.
• Enforcement of academic procedures – in a similar vein to student admissions, a
local partner institution may offer a more flexible approach to academic proce-
dures or may not have the resources, particularly in trained personnel, to deliver
acceptable administrative or academic processes required by a home institution.
The qualification of teaching staff at some partner institutions has, on occasions,
been identified as being deficient in this respect.
• Learning support – library and teaching resources are often not identical or simi-
lar in nature and, where access to home institution resources and facilities are not
available, teaching and learning facilities (particularly library resources) for stu-
dents studying at collaborative partner institutions can often be sub-standard.
• Student engagement – often, the student experience can be quite different at a
collaborative partner institution, particularly where these are small in scale.
Student support and access to such things as graduation opportunities may also
be limited or non-existent.
• Publicity and marketing – use of logos and false representation of home institu-
tions has occurred on a number of occasions. At its worst, programmes have been
marketed and sold with false representation or through the second franchising of
programmes to third parties.
• Meeting student expectations – this issue particularly relates to classroom deliv-
ery and the teaching and learning experiences of students. Again, these can be
quite different from the expectations of the home institutions and may not always
meet desired aims or objectives. The physical distance and the sometimes
‘hands-off’ approach of some home institutions do not always meet the often
250 A. Jones
desired ‘partnership’ approach to programme provision that perhaps was

envisaged.
• Financial collapse and fraud – at its worst, the financial collapse or fraudulent
activities of partner institutions (the majority of which are privately funded) can
lead to a situation where many students are unable to complete their programme
of study. In turn, this can lead to financial insecurity and additional substantial
legal and operational costs for a home institution. It may also bring such institu-
tions into disrepute with local and international media and local politics.
These are clearly pertinent issues for the execution of successful TNE opera-
tions. Hospitality and tourism TNE education is also not exempt in this respect.
Statistics for specific TNE hospitality and tourism programmes are not easily sepa-
rated from general business aggregated numbers for students studying through TNE
operations. These lessons, however, remain the same, and the implementation of
hospitality and tourism TNE programmes will generally share the common issues
and challenges associated with the development and implementation of TNE opera-
tions wherever they occur.
15.4 The Research Design and Approach
The research associated with this study aimed to review and evaluate such manifes-
tations – in other words, the research aimed to investigate the key perceptions of
transnational education from the users’ or collaborative partners’ perspectives using
qualitative research methods from a sample framework of international collabora-
tive institutions in Asia. This study focused upon an inductive approach using quali-
tative and case study research methodologies. In this context, secondary data were
used to provide the contextual background. At a macro level, global higher educa-
tion growth and TNE development provide the main ‘backdrop’ for the study. At a
micro level, the evaluation of local collaborative partnership development provided
a more focused framework for the detailed assessment and analysis of current issues
for establishing and running hospitality and tourism TNE operations locally at col-
laborative centres. In addition to this, primary research was used to collect qualita-
tive data, which is based on a purposeful sample selection of interviews from TNE
partners in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Japan, India and China. The sampling
comprised of a purposeful sample that consisted of small- (2000–3000 students),
medium- (3000–7000 students) and larger-scale (>7000 students) private and public
institutions that offered both undergraduate and postgraduate collaborative hospital-
ity and tourism degree programmes from the UK, US and Australian higher educa-
tion institutions. The aim of such an approach was to provide a balanced set of
opinion and discourse that reflected and represented a good sample of collaborative
institutions. In all, approximately 15 collaborative partner interviews were con-
ducted with key senior members of staff at each institution. Personal and group
interviews with both senior administrative and academic staff members were
conducted in order to seek answers to the research questions and research objectives
set. This was further supplemented by compiling and evaluating a number of com-
ments made by staff and student representatives at exam boards and academic board
of study meetings during examination and assessment meetings. Both provided an
insightful and, although confidential for each individual institution, a rich collection
of general data for this research.
The four key research objectives set out to:
1 . Evaluate the current perceptions of TNE operations at a local level.
2. Analyse motivations for collaborative partnerships.
3. Evaluate current challenges for operating collaborative partnerships.
4. Analyse future opportunities for collaborative partnerships.
The data were analysed through discourse analysis techniques utilising grid
matrices to evaluate and ascertain common themes and responses from the discus-
sions and questions asked. The results of the research identified clear issues
expressed from the collaborative partners. These tended to mirror some of the issues
raised in the existing literature (Alama et al., 2013; British Council, 2013; McBurnie
& Ziguras, 2006; OBHE, 2011; Shams, 2016) and summarised the general critical
issues that can arise when establishing collaborative partnerships for hospitality and
tourism programmes. This tended to confirm some of the commonly known, posi-
tive and negative outcomes. What became apparent from the research, however, was
the differentiation between the different types of institutions offering collaborative
provision. In this context, the perceptions of what collaboration meant for individ-
ual institutions, such as between small or larger institutions vis-á-vis public or pri-
vate institutions or the differing cultural values – South Asia vis-á-vis Southeast
Asia or East Asia – provided quite different perspectives.
15.5 K
ey Findings: Current Issues and Challenges
for Transnational Education Operations
15.5.1 The Positives
The majority of the respondents from all the institutions and regions sampled gener-
ally illustrated positive experiences for the TNE operations that they had been
involved with. The building of relationships between partners was generally viewed
as a positive, which allowed collaborative institutions opportunities to develop both
undergraduate and postgraduate tourism and hospitality programmes in line with
accepted and fully recognised international standards. This was a key factor in pro-
viding both attractive and economically sustainable hospitality and tourism pro-
grammes, which were seen, in turn, as very marketable and appealing for the
recruitment of local students. This was a key motivation for most collaborative part-
ners. However, the results showed little differentiation between the different Asian
252 A. Jones
regions in this respect, although in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong, financial
imperatives appeared to be stronger motivational ‘push and pull’ factors. Cultural
factors, such as cross-cultural integration and cultural exchange, or peer/cultural
collaboration and the sharing and exchanging of social values and experiences,
appeared to be more important for collaborative partnerships in China, Japan and to
some extent India. The strength of being part of an internationally recognised col-
laboration between ‘West and East’ institutions was certainly a key value in this
respect. In particular, Chinese institutions expressed very positive sentiments, iden-
tifying the ‘value of cultural exchange, shared values and promoting mutual under-
standing’ as a key motivator for collaboration. Indian and Japanese institutions also
expressed the desire for ‘mutual understanding and a desire for cross-cultural
exchange’.
Nearly all the respondents indicated that they had benefited from learning new
academic procedures and quality processes that were recognised fully as interna-
tional educational standards. This, in turn, helped with staff professional develop-
ment and exposure to internationally accepted educational norms. Again, there was
some slight differentiation in this context, and it was clear that staff associated with
tourism and hospitality programmes in, for example, India and China ascribed
greater value and showed a greater degree of appreciation for this.
The results show that perceptions were generally positive across all institutions.
Ancillary benefits, although evidence suggested that these were not fully capital-
ised upon, also included aspirations for educational research, student and staff
exchanges and internship opportunities – especially from India and China. In this
respect, the benefits of cross-cultural exchange should not be ignored here. Clearly,
the research showed that the cross-cultural value of exchange and the creation of
mutual understanding were very positive. This notion was expressed by many of
the interviewees despite them being from quite different cultural backgrounds or
having diverse behavioural norms. All participants saw the greater value in coop-
eration and partnership, which helped develop and deliver truly transnational edu-
cational experiences for hospitality and tourism students. This was particularly of
value to institutions in China and Japan where possibly colonial and postcolonial
experiences and expertise remained different from other Asian nations and regions
such as Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. For example, Chinese participants
highly valued the ‘expertise and highly thought of quality’ of the internationally
recognised programmes provided for their students. Japanese institutions also
expressed ‘the benefit of added cultural value and mutual understanding’ in this
respect. Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore institutions, on the other hand, val-
ued the ‘competitive and academic advantage of collaborative engagement’ with
‘fellow partners’ in the UK, USA and Australia. The positive aspects are presented
in Table 15.1.
Table 15.1 The positives of hospitality and tourism transnational education provision
Establishing greater economic and market advantage for the recruitment of local students on
hospitality and tourism programmes
Providing internationally recognised hospitality and tourism programmes attractive to local
students
‘The creation of equals’ – the majority of collaborative partners expressing positive relationships
and positive proactive partnership experiences and arrangements
Enhancement of teaching and learning processes through a friendly ‘critical eye’ approach from
most home institutions
The introduction of rigorous internationally recognised quality assurance processes enhancing
academic processes and recognition at a local level
At some level – but still in the minority of cases – facilitating staff and or student exchange and
research opportunities
Providing internship opportunities across partnership institutions
Potential opportunities to develop research and postgraduate study
Engagement and staff development opportunities amongst the ‘family’ of collaborative
partnership institutions linked to the home institution
Providing new academic business opportunities and the further development of existing
hospitality and tourism programmes for further transnational education opportunities
15.5.2 The Challenges
Perceptions that were less positive tended to focus on administrative and opera-
tional processes and procedures rather than the more significant sentiments
expressed for long-term partnership relationships. This might be caused by the mis-
understanding or mismatch between institutions and their local operational needs
and requirements. Often, however, collaborative partners expressed some disquiet
and frustration with regard to a number of operational technicalities, especially
delays in communication or slow responses to enquiries or requests. At some insti-
tutions, particularly those with less academic experience, the time it took to obtain
matriculation/graduation certificates or approval for matriculating students was a
key concern. The financial modus operandi of many collaborative partners, particu-
larly in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and India, is a key to their success, and,
consequently, timely decisions are essential in order to maintain viability. The slow
responses, in some circumstances, and the impact this had on local students’ impres-
sions, remained a key frustration for many in this respect. Again, perceived differing
cultural and socio-economic values seem to be at play here. For example, the work-
ing ethic of many of the privately run collaborative partners and their often financial
imperatives seemed, at times, to clash with the slower academic quality processes
that are often the key imperatives of publicly funded home institutions.
254 A. Jones
Although the financial imperatives on both sides of TNE operations have merged
more closely over the last decade, there remain some real gaps in cultural under-
standing between the primarily publically funded university sector and the predomi-
nantly privately funded collaborative partner sector where clear differences in
priorities and functions are evidenced. As an adjunct to this, however, many collab-
orative partners saw themselves as ‘cash cows’ for host universities who, in worst
case scenarios, primarily see collaborative opportunities as purely commercial
enterprises with little opportunity to develop deeper partnership relationships based
upon mutual dialogue and partnership exchange. Although not evident in the cases
researched for this study, respondents did note a cause for concern. In this context,
it was generally perceived that hospitality, tourism and business programmes were
particularly vulnerable to so-called cash cow economic exploitation, and where
competition was most fierce (Hong Kong and Singapore), this caused additional
risks for bone fide hospitality and tourism TNE operations, especially when pitched
against less morally astute competitors.
At a more social and cultural level, the concept of ‘postcolonial imperialism’ was
expressed by a small number of partners who felt that dictates, circulars and decrees
from the ‘mother’ university were not always expressed or passed on in the spirit of
collaboration or partnership. In this respect, some felt that the relationship at the
institutional level was very much a top-down approach to management with little
opportunity for collaborative partners to have a say in developing programmes, pro-
cedures or operations. These were particular sentiments expressed by partners in
Hong Kong and Singapore who wished to be more proactive and encourage more
inclusive processes between institutions. Other partners were more deferential, for
example, those from China and Japan, which might, again, reflect the differences in
colonial and postcolonial experience between Asian nations. For example, institu-
tions from the less developed nations of Asia seemed to be more accepting of a
‘top-down’ approach to collaborative arrangements rather than the more ‘partner-
ship’ or ‘collaborative’ approach often expected as the norm from the more devel-
oped centres and regions sampled. The negatives are presented in Table 15.2.
Table 15.2 The negatives of hospitality and tourism transnational education provision
Lengthy and often delayed communication (particularly administrative) processes between
collaborative partners and home institutions
Delayed matriculation and certification processes
Perceived ‘autocratic’ dictates (often associated with changed regulations – at short notice) from
home institutions
Lack of meaningful exchange opportunities for staff and students from partner institutions
The ‘cash cow’ syndrome ‘business’ priority versus ‘cross-cultural educational exchange’
motivations from home institutions
Lack of meaningful ‘partnership’ dialogue – dialogue often perceived as ‘one way’ from partner
institutions
Postcolonial manifestations – perceived colonialist management approaches (based upon ideals
of supremacy) from home institutions
Mistrust and hegemony between home institutions and collaborative partners
Despite these negatives, hospitality and tourism education delivered through

TNE operations has been viewed by the partners of this study as generally a positive
and rewarding experience for both staff and students at both ends of TNE operations
linking universities to collaborative partners.
The case of hospitality and tourism is not a unique one and only forms a small
part in the multiplicity of TNE collaborative programmes offered globally. Indeed,
in the greater picture, despite the popularity of such programmes, hospitality and
tourism remain a small fraction of the social sciences, particularly business pro-
grammes offered by TNE. That said, this small study goes some way to highlight
and confirm both notions expressed in the current literature – that TNE is generally
a force for good in cultural and cross-cultural exchange with a caveat that things can
go wrong. In general terms, however, the collaborative centres and students who
have experienced their academic hospitality and tourism studies through TNE oper-
ations all see the benefits and rewards that the experience has offered. In summary,
one key participant in the research summarised their experience of collaborative
partnership as a ‘unique chance for their students to be part of a great opportunity to
work with others across the world and to have a truly internationally globally recog-
nised qualification and educational experience’. It was a notion and sentiment
shared with many of the other participating institutions.
15.6 Conclusion
In conclusion, the results of this study highlight important contemporary issues and
future challenges for hospitality and tourism international collaborative provision –
the benefits, the operational demands and the hazards and pitfalls of such provision.
Several key lessons (highlighted from the research finding in Tables 15.1 and 15.2)
can be drawn from the results that can help inform the development of future col-
laborative provision through TNE. This, in turn, can ensure that hospitality and
tourism international collaborative ventures can be mutually successful for all
stakeholders including the home university, the collaborative partner and all the
students concerned. These lessons generally relate to a number of factors that might
offer insights for future sustainable partnerships. Some implications of the study are
as follows:
• The need for the collaborative institution to match and mirror the home institu-
tion programmes procedures and processes to ensure consistency and quality is
maintained between partners.
• The need to give attention to both local and home regulatory frameworks and
benchmarking in order to maintain international recognition and quality.
• The need to ensure appropriate cross-cultural awareness is demonstrated by the
home institution, perhaps incorporating diplomacy, flexibility and, if required,
compromise.
256 A. Jones
• The need to allow for local cultural differentiation and diversification, i.e. the
‘localisation’ of hospitality and tourism curricula within programmes.
• The need to have a frequent (better still, permanent) local presence from the
home institution as well as developing personal contacts (staff and students). In
essence, maintaining continuity, frequent contact and commitment.
• The need to ensure professionalism in operating TNE partnerships, including
holistic management, team work, appropriate and adequate centrally adminis-
tered (home institution) support and resourcing.
• The need to support meaningful ‘partnership’ engagement and ‘collaboration’
including shared-destiny ideals and facilitating and funding research and
exchanges opportunities.
• The need to ensure that partnerships adopt academic strategies that are flexible
and able to respond efficiently and effectively to the challenges inferred from this
research. In turn, also to adopt ‘media savvy’ responses to adverse publicity. This
should perhaps include elements of risk planning and management and the via-
ble/planned use of exit strategies when required.
Hospitality and tourism programmes delivered through TNE collaborative part-
nerships have clearly demonstrated success and substantial growth over the last
decade. Over the coming years, it is clear that universities will continue to strive to
diversify their programmes and delivery models in order to maintain academic and
economic growth. Hospitality and tourism programmes will continue to offer attrac-
tive TNE propositions in this respect. This will increasingly be focussed on new
growth strategies based on international collaboration but often with a strong under-
lying business agenda. Consequently, the complexity and diverse nature of hospital-
ity and tourism TNE provision are set to increase. This will inevitably present new
issues and challenges and may also raise more complex collaborative partnership
issues, as suggested already by experiences already encountered. Some home insti-
tutions will continue to be highly successful with the programmes they offer.
Similarly, many collaborative partnership institutions will prosper and grow in stat-
ure and maturity, perhaps even offering their own validated or stand-alone hospital-
ity and tourism programmes in the future. It is perhaps predictable that there will be
casualties along the way. The issues associated with professionalism, management
and more meaningful, deeper collaborative partnership and engagement are clear
indicators for partnership institutions if they are to remain successful, maintain
quality and be fit for purpose. The consequences of failure can be severe (Mathews,
2012b; McBurnie & Ziguras, 2006) if such issues are not addressed. Existing and
newcomer institutions to the ‘business’ of international hospitality and tourism edu-
cation through TNE operations should not hesitate to embrace the opportunities that
can deliver both economic and culturally rewarding outcomes but also need to take
heed of the lessons and pitfalls that transnational education can invoke.
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Glossary
ACPHA Accreditation Commission for Programmes in Hospitality Administration

ASEAN Association of Southeast Asian Nations
CBIE Canadian Bureau for International Education
GNH Gross National Happiness
Greater China Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan
HESA Higher Education Statistics Agency
HKQAA Hong Kong Quality Assurance Agency
IDP International Development Programme
JCPOA Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action
MQA Malaysian Qualifications Agency
MQA The Malaysian Qualifications Agency
QAA UK Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education
QS Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings
RITH Royal Institute for Tourism and Hospitality
TedQual Tourism Education Quality Accreditation
TEQSA Tertiary Education Quality Standards Agency
The ICE The International Centre of Excellence in Tourism and Hospitality
Education
TNHE Transnational higher education
UNWTO United Nations World Tourism Organisation
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation
VET Vocational Education and Training
VNAT Vietnam National Administration of Tourism
WIL Work-Integrated Learning
WTTC World Travel & Tourism Council

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Perspectives on Asian Tourism

Series Editors: Catheryn Khoo-Lattimore · Paolo Mura

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/15382

Tourism Education and Asia

ISSN 2509-4203 ISSN 2509-4211 (electronic)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018961392

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2019

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Cathy H. C. Hsu

Auckland University of Technology Claire Liu

Part I Introduction to the Book

Part II Tourism Education in Asia

9 The Institutional Context for Experiential Learning

Part III Tourism Education of Asian Students Abroad

Part IV Transnational Tourism Education in Asia

Ken Butcher Department of Tourism, Sport and Hotel Management, Griffith

Adel Nikjoo Shandiz Institute of Higher Education, Mashhad, Khorasan Razavi,

Heike Schänzel is an associate professor at the Auckland University of Technology

Tran Phu Cuong is director general of the International Cooperation Department

Karl Basil Dicen developed an early interest in hospitality, tourism and manage-

hospitality industry management lecturer at Mae Fah Luang University, Thailand,

Anya Diekmann (PhD) is a professor of tourism at the Université libre de Bruxelles,

Saurabh Kumar Dixit is an associate professor and founding head of the

Babu George holds a PhD degree in management studies (2004) and a Doctor of

Se You Jang is currently an assistant professor at MODUL University School of

Andrew Jones is currently an associate professor at the University of Malta. He has

Hakamelamphylla Mawroh is a doctoral student in the Department of Tourism

Hakamelamphylla is also an assistant professor at Lady Keane College in Shillong,

Nantaporn Mingkwan has a background in tourism and hospitality industry man-

Adel Nikjoo is a lecturer in tourism management at the Shandiz Institute of Higher

d­ evelopment in Nepal with a special interest in gender, tourism and sustainable

Siamak Seyfi is a doctoral student in the Department of Geography at the EIREST

Katrine Sonnenschein is currently working as a research assistant at Aalborg

s­upervising master’s students’ theses and written assignments within topics of

Paul Strickland is the programme director and a lecturer in Tourism, Hospitality

Brijesh Thapa is a professor in the Department of Tourism, Recreation and Sport

Eugene Thomlinson has approximately 20 years of tourism and hospitality experi-

Martin Vincent is a PhD candidate at the Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium,

Rebecca Wilson-Mah is assistant professor and a Chartered Professional in Human

Chachaya Yodsuwan has a background in tourism and hospitality management.

Andreas H. Zins is a professor of tourism management and a programme director

Abstract Tourism and hospitality education programmes have been growing

Keywords Tourism education · Tourism programmes · Asian tourism students ·

C. Liu (*) · H. Schänzel

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2019 3

Routledge Handbook of Tourism and Hospitality Education. In this edited book,

1.2 Main Findings

1.2.1 Characteristics of Tourism Education in Asian Countries

According to a forecast by the International Development Programme (IDP) in

1.2.3 Accreditation in Tourism and Hospitality Education

1.2.4 The Challenges of Transnational Tourism Education

An important subset of international students are those engaged in transnational

1.3 Conclusions and Future Directions

development of tourism education to the changing international education market

hospitality education at a global level. Internationalisation is a powerful tool for

Abstract This chapter explores the development of a distinctive curriculum frame-

Keywords Academic · Vocational · Tourism · Curriculum · Educational philoso-

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2019 15

2.2 Background Literature

2.2.1 Indonesia’s Hospitality and Tourism Education

2.2.2 The Curriculum Components

Scholars focus on different components of curricula. In general, however, the key

The dual system of CBM (neo-behaviourism and metacognition) is beneficial for

2.3 Study Details

Auckland University of Technology Claire Liu

Part I Introduction to the Book

Part II Tourism Education in Asia

9 The Institutional Context for Experiential Learning

Part III Tourism Education of Asian Students Abroad

Part IV Transnational Tourism Education in Asia

d evelopment in Nepal with a special interest in gender, tourism and sustainable

supervising master’s students’ theses and written assignments within topics of

1.2 Main Findings

1.2.1 Characteristics of Tourism Education in Asian Countries

1.2.3 Accreditation in Tourism and Hospitality Education

1.2.4 The Challenges of Transnational Tourism Education

1.3 Conclusions and Future Directions

2.2 Background Literature

2.2.1 Indonesia’s Hospitality and Tourism Education

2.2.2 The Curriculum Components

2.3 Study Details

2.3.1 Sampling Strategies and Data Collection

2.3.2 Data Analysis

2.4.2 Components of the Komodo Curriculum Framework

2.4.3 The Integrated ‘Komodo Curriculum’ Framework

higher-skilled professional occupations (World Travel & Tourism Council, 2015).

3.2 Evolution of Tourism and Hospitality Education in India

3.4 Regulation of Vocational Education in India

4.1.1 Tourism Context in Nepal

4.1.2 Institutions for Higher Education and Training in Nepal

5.2 Tourism Development in Iran

5.3 History of Tourism Higher Education in Iran

5.5 Prospects for Tourism Higher Education in Iran

5.6 Study Method

5.6.1 Lack of Cooperation Among Tourism Stakeholders

5.6.3 Lack of Qualified Teaching Staff

5.6.4 Insufficient Facilities and Equipment

5.6.6 Industrial Placements

5.6.7 Difficulty Keeping Graduates in the Industry

5.7 Conclusions and Implications

6.2 Literature Review

6.2.1 Sketch of Higher Education Studies

6.2.2 Curriculum Composition and its Assessment