Student academic engagement has been researched over the years, drawing limited conclusions and suggestions for improvement. In this study, researchers utilized National Survey for Student Engagement data from a large Midwestern university to examine the academic engagement of hospitality management students and compared their engagement to business students. It was found that 50% of the participating hospitality students spent 11 h or more each week preparing for classes. For both groups, finances were reported as the biggest obstacle to academic progress. The research study provides an examination of hospitality students' academic engagement. Suggestions are presented for hospitality educators.
This exploratory study investigated hospitality educators' perceptions and use of industry-related certifications in hospitality education. Overall, respondents believed that certifications are important for their students, but their perceptions of the benefits and value of certifications varied. Results include information on educators' views about the types of certifications offered; beliefs regarding the reasons to earn certifications; and beliefs about how certifications relate to their own students, schools, and countries. Educators' insights into some of the possible issues involving certification are also provided. Suggestions are made for enhancing the use of certifications in hospitality education, and limitations and ideas for further research are presented.
Previous researchers have suggested that in order to be successful in the hospitality industry, students need to obtain work experience in addition to completing their degrees. Although the benefit of gaining such experience from the industry viewpoint has been well documented, few studies have assessed the benefits and challenges faced by students. The purpose of this research study was to examine the benefits and challenges hospitality students may be confronted with when they work while completing their degrees. Web-based questionnaires were utilized to gather the responses of hospitality students and hospitality graduates in this nationwide study that included 31 hospitality programs throughout the United States. Comparisons were made between senior-level hospitality students (n = 409) who gained work experience while in school with those who did not and hospitality graduates (n = 308) who gained work experience while in school with those who did not. Furthermore, comparisons were made between students and graduates to determine the early career plans, job achievement expectations, and perceptions of a professional future of hospitality students. Both benefits and challenges of working while a student were well documented in this research study and statistically significant differences were found between students and graduates and those who worked while in college and those who did not. The majority of students (87.5%) worked while in college with 26.7% of students reporting they worked an average of 21 to 30 hours per week and 23.3% reported working more than 31 hours per week. More graduates who worked while in college were employed full-time in the hospitality industry compared to those who did not (75.5% and 56.4%, respectively). Unique to this study was determining job expectations thereby establishing an initial benchmark for future study. xi Implications for stakeholders are provided, along with specific suggestions for hospitality programs.
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