Exploring Relationships between Higher Education and Industry

Abstract

<jats:p> The purpose of the research discussed here is to explore relationships between a university and its local tourism industry. Although there has been much research on the interface between education and industry few empirical studies exist that test the extent and nature of these relationships. The paper reviews the industry-education interface both in broad terms and specifically in relation to tourism education. Key areas of interaction are identified, and, using an empirical case study, various types of industry-education links are investigated, including: recruitment, employers' preferences in graduate skills, work experience and placements, industry involvement in course design, training for the tourism industry, the use by industry of university products and services, and industry's views on forging links with education. A number of recommendations are made for the improvement of industry-education links. </jats:p>

Labour Intensity and Skill Gap in the Hospitality Sector: A Study in South India

“…Certain companies considered experience to be more important than a degreelevel qualification (Erasmus & Breier, 2009;Peacock & Ladkin, 2002). Besides the above, Jameson and Holden (2000) argued that graduates are regarded by many small and medium enterprise (SME) employers as being impractical, reluctant to get their hands dirty, slow to become productive and inclined to hold a poor view of what employment in an SME should be like.…”

“…Nevertheless, as per the studies by Haven-Tang & Jones (2006) and Lucas (2004), some of these constraints in the industry are generally accepted as unavoidable and common. In addition, the tourism industry is dominated by small businesses (Baum, 1999;Lucas, 2004;Peacock & Ladkin, 2002) with some of the owner-manager positions in these small businesses being filled by expatriates, the majority of whom lack tourism knowledge and management skills and have never undergone formal tourism training. Globally, the industry faces skills shortages in key operational, technical, and managerial areas, the extent varying between developed and developing countries.…”

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“…Certain companies considered experience to be more important than a degree-level qualification (Erasmus & Breier, 2009;Peacock & Ladkin, 2002). Besides the above, Jameson and Holden (2000) argued that graduates are regarded by many small and medium enterprise (SME) employers as being impractical, reluctant to get their hands dirty, slow to become productive and inclined to hold a poor view of what employment in an SME should be like.…”

“…Nevertheless, as per the studies by Haven-Tang & Jones (2006) and Lucas (2004), some of these constraints in the industry are generally accepted as unavoidable and common. In addition, the tourism industry is dominated by small businesses (Baum, 1999;Lucas, 2004;Peacock & Ladkin, 2002) with some of the owner-manager positions in these small businesses being filled by expatriates, the majority of whom lack tourism knowledge and management skills and have never undergone formal tourism training. Globally, the industry faces skills shortages in key operational, technical, and managerial areas, the extent varying between developed and developing countries.…”

The Non-Consonance between Tourism Universities’ Programs and the Needs of Tourism Employment in Jordan

“…Between January 2000 and December 2004, more than 3 200 scholars wrote or co-authored articles on tourism that were published in refereed journals. Though, Peacock & Ladkin (2002) stated that empirical studies concerning quality of tourism and hospitality education and their ability to cope with employment needs are limited.…”