Chapter 1

The Problem and its Background

Introduction

Tourism is big business. The tourism sector is a very complex industry,

encompassing a wide range of economic activities in every region of the world

and involving a substantial investment in human capital education and

training. Travel expenditures today are a major source of income and

employment for many nations (Edgell, 2006). The Philippines as a case in point

has just received 3.5 million foreign tourist in 2010 as is expected for the

arrival of 5.4 million visitors by 2015 (DOT, 2010). In support for tourism

industry’s growth, tourism higher education as a major platform for human

capital development for the tourism industry (Ladkin, 2005) has a very close

relationship with the economic development of the tourism industry. However,

despite rapid growth in the past 40 years, tourism higher education still faces

uncertainties in terms of the content and nature of tourism degrees, and this

restricts employment opportunities for tourism graduates (Dale and Robinson,

2001; Airey, 2005). In the Philippine context, tourism higher education faces

great challenges in the development of human capital for the tourism industry

economy. In this regard, higher education institutions must ensure that faculty

possesses the proper and up-to-date information, techniques and technologies

in teaching tourism courses while on the part of the students; they are

expected to be competent in the necessary skills which are set and required by

the industry.
Thus, to attain this objective, an enhanced framework for tourism courses

must be established. On way of achieving a competitive pedagogical framework

is through the establishment of an outcome based educational (OBE) program

for an institution of higher learning. The introduction of OBE is important and

appropriates with the global education concept which outcome-based

education (OBE) rather than the traditional pedagogical teaching. Under OBE,

there are many assessments that can be implemented in order to investigate

what students are learning and how well they are learning it in relation to the

stated expected learning outcome (LO) for the course. It also the process that

identify, collect, use and prepare data that can be used to evaluate

achievement.

In this study, the researcher investigates whether tourism education meets the

needs and expectations of the tourism industry. To do this, the perceptions of

managers in the tourism industry are compared with those of educators in

tourism department at Far Eastern University.

Statement of the Problem

This study aims to assess the current level of educational delivery aimed at

bridging the gap between theoretical knowledge gained from classroom

instruction and actual work practice.

Specifically, this will attempt to answer the following questions:

1. What is the profile of the respondents in terms of:

1.1 age
 1.2 gender

1.3 educational attainment

1.4 years of working experience in academe/industry

1.5 Position in the company/rank in the academe

2. To what extent does the current tourism program at Far Eastern University

meet the standards of the industry as manifested in its:

2.1 vision

2.2 mission

2.3 program expected outcomes (PEOs)

2.4 courses’ expected outcomes (CEOs)

3. To what extent do the graduates of tourism course from Far Eastern

University meet the desired and expected standards of the industry with

regards to:

3.1 knowledge

3.2 skills

3.3 attitudes

4. Is there a significant difference between the assessment of FEU respondents

and industry practitioners on the current tourism program at Far Eastern

University to meet the standards of the industry as manifested in its vision,

mission, PEOs and CEOs?

5. Is there a significant difference between the assessment of FEU respondents

and industry practitioners on the extent of tourism graduates from FEU to

meet the desired and expected standards of the industry with regards to

knowledge, skills and attitudes?

6. What outcome based curriculum can be developed out of the result of the

study to address the gap between the academe and the industry demand?

Hypotheses

Ho1: There no significant difference between the assessment of FEU

respondents and industry practitioners on the extent of tourism graduates

from FEU to meet the desired and expected standards of the industry with

regards to knowledge, skills and attitudes.

Ho2: There no significant difference between the assessment of FEU

respondents and industry practitioners on the current tourism program at Far

Eastern University to meet the standards of the industry as manifested in its

vision, mission, PEOs and CEOs.

Significant of the Study

This study will be beneficial to the following stakeholders:

Tourism industry. That they will benefit from the appropriate knowledge,

skills and attitudes of tourism graduates which are readily employable and are

competitive in their chosen degree. Competitive knowledge workers mean lesser

supervision, dedicated workforce and are less susceptible to errors.

Academic institutions. That they will be able to package a more competitive

curriculum to meet the desired standards set by the industry. Coming up with
a curriculum aligned to the standards of the industry would mean producing

graduates that are highly employable and are sought after by various

companies.

Professors of tourism program. For them to realize the necessity of crafting

industry aligned instructional programs, instructional materials and teaching

methods which are vital for the development of students’ knowledge, skills and

attitudes.

Students of tourism program. They will benefit from acquiring the

appropriate skills, knowledge and attitudes brought about by the enhancement

of their curriculum aligned to industry standards.

Scope and Limitations of the Study

This study will focus on the assessment of the two groups of respondents

coming from the professors of FEU and from industry participants to assess

two major considerations under the tourism program; first, the extent of

tourism graduates from FEU to meet the desired and expected standards of the

industry with regards to their knowledge, skills and attitudes. Second, the

current tourism program at Far Eastern University to meet the standards of

the industry as manifested in the curriculum by way of its vision, mission,

PEOs and CEOs. All professors and academic heads from FEU will be included

in the study, while the researcher will purposively select companies that have

employed FEU tourism graduates to answer the research instrument. A total of

50 industry participants through purposive quota sampling will be generated.

Definition of Terms

The following variables are hereby operationally defined in this study. To wit:

Attitude. A learned tendency to evaluate things in a certain way. This can

include evaluations of people, issues, objects or events. Such evaluations are

often positive or negative, but they can also be uncertain at times. Attitudes

can also be explicit and implicit. Explicit attitudes are those that we are

consciously aware of and that clearly influence our behaviors and beliefs.

Implicit attitudes are unconscious, but still have an effect on our beliefs and

behaviors.

Knowledge. The fact or condition of being aware of something such as in

formation. The state of understanding something or a skills that a person gets

from education.

Outcome based education. Student-centered learning philosophy that

focuses on empirically measuring student performance, which are called

outcomes. OBE contrasts with traditional education, which primarily focuses

on the resources that are available to the student, which are called inputs.

Skills. The learned ability to carry out a task with pre-determined results often

within a given amount of time, energy, or both.