Time for a paradigm shift in Hospitality Education
Going by the current market scenario and keeping the below views in mind, Hospitality Education can be made more meaningful and would hit the right chord with the industry.
People are critical to any business, and hospitality is no exception. The hospitality industry realised that employees are the biggest assets in keeping the guests feeling delighted and business profitable. The increased recognition of the economic importance of tourism has made it necessary for tourism education to be more dynamic and understand the industry’s demand better.
A primary concern often shared is the lack of suitable and trained manpower, which will create a crisis in the industry and also impact the customer experience, thereby impacting the business.
As per the current market scenario, there is a major shortfall of appropriate manpower for the industry even though there are educational institutions in both public and private sectors operating at National and International levels. This industry is very dynamic and therefore the education in this field also has to match the requirements.
One of the major issues which the industry is facing is the employability quotient of the students who aspire to make their career in this field. There are a lot of students who may possess the required skills to do the job but lack soft skills. The line of hospitality is essentially a blend of skills, attitude, and communication, and the educational institutes need to focus on all these areas in order to have the right balance. Along with knowing the job, one also needs to have a basic level of communication and the ability to work with others in a team. The curriculum needs to lay focus on important aspects of the operations like critical thinking, decision making, global trends, and soft skills. The curriculum needs to focus on holistic development and experiential aspects from an industry point of view.
Another important aspect that has changed the dynamics of the industry is “technology”, initially, the industry was labour intensive but with hotels and businesses focusing on operational costs there has been a lot of focus on multitasking and going digital for routine and repetitive processes. Initially, there was a fear that automation would mean a big hit on employability but soon everyone realised that while nothing could replace the personalisation aspect, repetitive tasks could be left to technology leaving more time for quality engagements with the guest. The new trends of technology for guest engagements are something that the hospitality institutes would have to include in their curriculums, in fact, the professors themselves would have to be more informed about the use of technology as these are recent rapid changes which even they may not be aware of. The learning environment needs to be enhanced with technology and the students should be able to use it effortlessly.
The current pandemic has further affected the industry in a big way and there have been numerous changes. Now education would have to further prepare students for a very competitive and adaptive environment where they would mostly be working outside their comfort zones. A lot of processes of the industry have been changing, with an increased focus on health and hygiene. The guests are now extremely concerned about the processes being followed regarding hygiene, making it essential to add these aspects to the existing subjects.
Post the pandemic a lot of focus is being laid on “Entrepreneurial mindset”, the institutes can create opportunities where the students can learn this through real-life work settings like café’s and events, they could be encouraged to share their ideas and could be mentored. There are a lot of unexplored opportunities with the young generation towards this aspect. Proper guidance can prove motivating and encouraging. The students would be able to learn about guest psychology, consumer expectations and other technical aspects of running a business. However, the faculty at the institute level would have to be equally in line with the latest trends and dynamics.
Education needs to be ready for a huge shift from the traditional ways to the newer trends and expectations. The colleges and institutes may want to collaborate with Industry and have hotels partner with them in their training, as the professionals from the industry help the students in fixing the right expectations and also make the hotel available as a live learning ground to the students as well as Faculty.
The right balance of the Faculty is important as they are the ones who are actually the role models and deliver the learning to the students. Along with the required academic excellence the institutes may want to have faculty members with industry experience and increased participation at development programs as this would enhance the delivery and the students would be more interested in learning from the real-life experience of the Faculty.