ADDRESSING THE GAP BETWEEN HIGHER HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT EDUCATION AND EMPLOYER REQUIREMENTS IN SOUTH AFRICA

The global tourism industry counts among the six largest contributors to the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) predicts that by 2022, the provision of accommodation products and services industry will contribute 10% of jobs globally. This suggests that as much as possible needs to be done to prepare higher hospitality management graduates to meaningfully sustain this growth.

A plethora of studies across the globe has addressed the match between hospitality graduate competencies and the evolution of hospitality management. The reality, however, is that the higher hospitality management curricula offered in South Africa emphasises a wide range of operational competencies and remains vocationally biased. Furthermore, there appears to be a dearth of research exploring graduates’ view on how their education prepared them for managing and leading the complexities associated with the continuously evolving world of global hospitality.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the gaps in higher education in preparing graduates with the skills and competencies required by South African hospitality managers.

Graduates in managerial positions employed by the three largest hotel groups in South Africa participated in the study. A population of 360 (N=360) comprising hospitality managers were solicited with the help of the human resource departments of three major hotel groups. An electronic survey - referred to as the Graduate Tracking Survey - consisting of a response format of 77 statements on a four-point Likert scale, was administered. Two hundred and twenty three (223) responses, which constituted a 49% response rate, were received. This data was subjected to factor analysis in order to condense the large range of variables into manageable dimensions.

The results confirmed that operational competencies, such as Food and Beverage studies, were abundantly provided for in higher hospitality management curricula. Of concern was the lack of competency development in management and leadership attributes, communication and language, as well as organisational behaviour. This confirmed that current hospitality management curricula are indeed too vocationally biased.

This study calls for South African providers of higher management education universities to realign their hospitality management curricula to the evolving realities of hospitality management. Responding relevantly, will positively contribute to the development of the competencies required for graduates to meaningfully contribute to the growth and development of the South African hotel sector.