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dc.contributor.advisorBillett, Stephen
dc.contributor.authorFraser, Barry John
dc.date.accessioned2018-04-12T01:11:47Z
dc.date.available2018-04-12T01:11:47Z
dc.date.issued2017
dc.identifier.doi10.25904/1912/2332
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10072/373029
dc.description.abstractThe higher education sector continues to struggle to ensure students’ learning outcomes are relevant to the requirements of workplaces (Bisoux, 2015; Mourshed, Farrell, & Barton, 2013; Playfoot & Hall, 2009). Moreover, hospitality education institutions particularly, continue to be criticised by employers for not meeting their employment needs (Finch, Peacock, Levallet, & Foster, 2016; Tsai, Goh, Huffman, & Wu, 2006). Therefore, it is important that hospitality education institutions begin to close the gap between the skills that students graduate with, compared to what the industry requires (Dopson & Tas, 2004; Min, Swanger, & Gursoy, 2016; Swanger & Gursoy, 2007). This thesis examines the curriculum and pedagogic requirements that contribute to beneficial graduate outcomes for Australian hotel management students. Specifically, the study seeks to identify the necessary competencies that make hotel management graduates more employable and achieve successful careers in the contemporary Australian hotel industry. Additionally, the study investigates how work integrated learning (WIL) experiences can assist graduates in obtaining the desired hotel industry competencies and further examines how WIL experiences can be best organised and enacted to enhance overall hotel management graduate outcomes. Purposefully a range of hotel managers are used as research participants, this endeavour provides for a phenomenological, employers’ and graduates’ perspective. The study adopts a mixed methods approach to data collection, which enables triangulation of various data. Conceptually, the study’s outcomes appraise, advance and potentially reposition the hotel management curriculum as embracing Australian international hotels, and enactment of students’ experiences more comprehensively. The study’s outcomes determine key currently required hospitality management competencies, and highlight these as being mostly soft skills. Furthermore, the findings identify the importance of experiential learning, and WIL in developing these essential soft skills, and thus, contributing to beneficial graduate outcomes for hotel management students. Additionally, the study potentially shapes how work integrated learning should progress in hotel management education, to the benefit of all stakeholders.
dc.languageEnglish
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherGriffith University
dc.publisher.placeBrisbane
dc.subject.keywordsHotel management education
dc.subject.keywordsCompetencies
dc.subject.keywordsEmployability
dc.subject.keywordsWork integrated learning
dc.titleFrom hospitality classrooms to successful careers: An appraisal of Australian hospitality higher education
dc.typeGriffith thesis
gro.facultyArts, Education and Law
gro.rights.copyrightThe author owns the copyright in this thesis, unless stated otherwise.
gro.hasfulltextFull Text
dc.contributor.otheradvisorChoy, Sarojni
gro.thesis.degreelevelThesis (PhD Doctorate)
gro.thesis.degreeprogramDoctor of Education (EdD)
gro.departmentSchool Educ & Professional St
gro.griffith.authorFraser, Barry J.


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