Hospitality Major Vocational High School Students’ Expectations on University Education

Abstract

Hospitality is not a new industry in Asia, but high quality hospitality industry has become more and more important in the trend of questing service-based economy and the increasing number of tourists in Asia. Thus there are more universities opened hospitality degree programs in Asia, Taiwan is no exception. In this context, why high school graduates will choose hospitality as their college major? What are their expectations on their future education experience in the hospitality program? To answer the above questions, this research adopted semi-structured interview as research method. Ten vocational high school students in Taiwan were interviewed in this research. This research generated similarities and differences of opinions among these ten students, students generally thought university education can help their employability in the future because their enhancement of professional skills and knowledge. Their expectations of an ideal hospitality program environment include well-prepared equipment, industrial and international internship opportunities, and international campaign participation. In terms of the key elements of hospitality courses and curricula, students expect internationalized content and quality, professional technical training, foreign language training, management ability, and interdisciplinary content. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]