Searching for the Holy Grail of International Education: Feedback from Hospitality Management Study Abroad Participants

This article reports on a study done among hospitality management students who participated in study abroad programs between January 2001 and May 2003. The participants in the study were both incoming students to the US and outgoing students from the US. The study investigates, among other things, why they had decided to study abroad, why they had selected a particular institution, how their home institution compared to the partner institution abroad, and what they perceived to be the benefits and relevance of their international experiences. It was found that respondents were generally very positive about the study abroad experience. Some interesting differences of opinion were found when the perceptions of the incoming students were compared to those of the outgoing students. The results of this study may be of particular interest to hospitality management administrators and faculty who create and administer international exchange programs.

Characteristics of US Graduate Hospitality Programs

The future of hospitality management education and research lies with its graduate programs, especially those offering research-based M.S. and Ph.D. degrees. In response to a need for additional hospitality faculty because of a growing number of programs, the number of graduate programs in the United States has increased substantially in recent years as well. This article presents an overview of graduate hospitality programs in the United States based on the following aspects: (1) program enrollments, admissions and graduation rates, (2) student profiles, (3) program duration and residency requirements, (4) financial support to graduate students, and (5) students’ career opportunities after graduation. Suggestions for future research are provided.

In Favor of Hospitality-Management Education

Despite the almost one-hundred-year history of hospitality-management education; the hundreds of well-established two-year, four-year, and graduate programs worldwide; and the hundreds of thousands of graduates those programs have prepared for careers in the industry, hospitality-management education’s merit and place in higher education are still questioned at times, to the dismay of hospitality educators the world over. This article delineates several features of hospitality management that make these programs valuable and unique and provides compelling arguments in its favor. The arguments include: 1) courses tailored to the hospitality industry, the world’s largest industry; 2) focus on small-business management as well as corporate enterprises; 3) emphasis on services and service management, not manufacturing; 4) programs and coursework focused on people management, which it at the core of the hospitality businesses; 5) unique focus on the specific issues of food and beverage management, the largest component of the hospitality industry; and 6) transferability of graduates’ knowledge and skill sets, which are in high demand among other service industries. While business programs focus on the fundamentals of management and production, hospitality- management programs prepare graduates who are aware of general management principles and are particularly well-versed in managing the guest experience and employees in a service environment.

Web-Based Training for Native American Tribes

The authors describe a project undertaken at the School of Hotel and Restaurant Management at Northern Arizona University in which the internet is used to present Native American tribes in Arizona with customer service training. It discusses why the project was instigated looks at its development and funding, and highlights the educational and technological challenges that had to be overcome. This is the second in a series of articles on the uses of the internet in educating non-university student constituencies interested in hospitality management.'

Technology Vendors: Lodging Managers View Support They Receive

The authors report on a comparative study of regional differences in the perceptions of lodging managers in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom on the support they receive from their technology vendors, and the technology systems they are using. Besides a comparison based on regions, the study also looks at differences of opinions based on property size.

The Use of the Internet in the U.S Lodging Industry

The internet has been heralded as the communications and marketing tool of the future for the hospitality industry. Both corporate executives and information technology experts feel the hotel of the future cannot do without a presence on the Web. Yet, do the actions of hospitality operators in the field reflect this optimism? This article reports on a study done among property managers in the U.S. lodging industry to determine the actual use of the internet in hotel properties of various types and sizes. Additionally, it addresses development and maintenance issues related to internet use.

Why Send Students Abroad?

The author reports on a study done among food service and lodging industry recruiters to determine their perceptions about the value of various international student experiences such as internships and exchanges. The study found that lodging recruiters appreciate the value of these experiences significantly more than their peers in food service and contends that there is a role for both corporate executives and educators in raising recruiters’ awareness of the value of international student experience.

Web-Based Training in the U.S Lodging Industry

Menu analysis is the gathering and processing of key pieces of information to make it more manageable and understand- able. Ultimately, menu analysis allows managers to make more informed decisions about prices, costs, and items to be included on a menu. The author discusses If labor as well as food casts need to be included in menu analysis and if managers need to categorize menu items differently when doing menu analysis based on customer eating patterns.

Training National Park Service Concession Specialists

In recent years, the Internet has become the medium of choice in distance education, and a prominent delivery tool in many hospitality management programs. When students cannot be educated on site, web-based education has proven to be the next best thing to in-person instruction. The authors describe a project in which the Internet is used to educate National Park Service concession specialists, exploring the reasons the project was instigated, its development and funding, and educational challenges and solutions. Such web-based instruction can be used as a means to attract outside grants and revenues for hospitality management programs.

Creating an International Hospitality Management Major

In times of growing international tension and diminishing job opportunities for students enrolled in hospitality management programs, a major with an international emphasis can serve an important role in the global hospitality environment. The author discusses the creation of a new and relatively unique major among hospitality management programs in the United States, international hospitality management, its first year of existence, and its appeal to students.

Hospitality Graduate Students’ Program Choice Decisions: Implications for Faculty and Administrators

Despite rapid growth in the quality and volume of hospitality graduate research and education in recent years, little information is available in the extant body of literature about the program choices of hospitality management graduate students, information that is crucial for program administrators and faculty in their attempts to attract the most promising students to their programs. This paper reports on a study among graduate students in U.S, hospitality management programs designed to understand why they chose to pursue their degrees at their programs of choice. Given the large numbers of international students presently enrolled, the study additionally looked into why international hospitality management students chose to leave their home countries and why they decided to pursue a graduate degree in the U.S. Based on the findings, implications for hospitality administrators and faculty in the U.S. and abroad are discussed and directions for future research are presented.