Polytechnic programmes in Malaysia were established to produce quality graduates at the semi-professional level in engineering, trade, hospitality, ICT and services, as well as, to provide alternative pathways for TVET students in the higher education. According to the Ministry of Education, even though Polytechnic graduate employability is at 96.7%, the tourism management programmes in Polytechnics have an average of 51% employability upon graduation, and these deficiencies need to be identified and studied seriously. Research has shown that graduates' employability depended on student and instructor characteristics. However, the main idea of this study is to determine whether the characteristics of an instructor in the industries could act as a mediating factor to contribute to the competency of the TVET students in the tourism management programmes at Polytechnics in Malaysia. According to the social learning theory, human behaviour is learned by observing other people as role models and it could change a person to be better. In the industrial training or workbased learning programmes, instructors' characteristic is seen as a role model to be followed by students to shape their attitudes towards a better job performance and organization achievement. Thus, this paper attempts to discuss student and instructor characteristics and how both traits play a role in graduate employability.

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