Australian hospitality education - A ‘Brilliant Blend’ Of degree programs

Although there is an ongoing debate about the extent to which hotel/hospitality curricula address the current and future needs of the industry and the appropriateness of the various educational programs on offer, there is limited literature on the specific approaches taken to the design and delivery of hotel/hospitality programs. This paper reports on an exploratory study which aimed to develop a conceptual model consolidating hotel/hospitality educational approaches. A comprehensive and critical review of the literature on hotel/hospitality educational perspectives informed the model development. The resultant model reveals a dichotomous relationship within hotel/hospitality educational approaches according to both the general orientation of the hospitality program as a whole and the aspects that influence the actual design, delivery and structure of the curriculum. This information provides a clearer understanding of how hotel/hospitality programs are developed and the pressures that influence their design. The paper further considers the need to test this model on existing hotel/hospitality education providers.

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