Researchers have recognized the benefits and importance of having successful internship programs for all relevant stakeholders; students, universities and employers. Despite these significances, internship is found to be provocative as previous studies revealed the challenges perceived by undergraduates and employers. Nonetheless, researchers underlook the challenges perceived by internship coordinators in terms of placement, assessment and cooperation given by undergraduates and employers. Hence, the purpose of this study was to explore the challenges to achieving a successful internship program in the hospitality industry. The findings derived from seven internship coordinators in public universities that offered hospitality degree programs throughout Malaysia. The data obtained from semi-structured interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis. Seven themes were extracted as the challenges of this study, namely: 1) attitude, 2) constraint, 3) manipulation, 4) placement, 5) sexual harassment, 6) expectation, and 7) student preparedness. The findings of this study are expected to give insights to all relevant stakeholders, in terms of improvement and strategies needed in designing an internship program, particularly in the hospitality industry. Besides, it is anticipated to guide internship coordinators and students to well-prepare for the expected difficulties that they might experience while coordinating and undergoing the internship process.

An internship is an experiential learning process where undergraduates have to undergo practical training in a chosen organization. The primary purpose of an internship is to allow the undergraduates to apply knowledge and skills they have learned in classrooms, thus achieving thorough learning of the subject matter. However, there are challenges in an internship, not only to interns but also to coordinators who plan and manage the internship implementation. The internship challenges have been well-studied, but the strategies to overcome the challenges should be planned according to the internship context, such as the program study and region. Hence, this paper aimed to identify strategies applied by universities in escalating undergraduates' competencies through an effective hospitality internship program. This study employed a qualitative approach by conducting semistructured interviews with the internship coordinators who had experiences in handling hospitality internship in Malaysian public universities. The instrument was developed based on the literature review and discussion with the experts. There were seven internship coordinators interviewed in this study, and the findings were analyzed using thematic analysis with the help of ATLAS.ti 8 software. This study proposed five strategies used in the public universities to escalate the effectiveness of the hospitality internship implementation: i) communication, ii) revision, iii) networking, iv) blocklist and v) guidance. The findings are expected to add value not only to the current literature within the hospitality field but also to all the stakeholders of the internship program, particularly in Malaysian public universities, to structuring a successful and effective internship program.