PRACTICE PAPER An Industry Partnerships Approach to Tourism Education

David Solnet is new to academia, coming directly from an 18-year management career in the restaurant and country club industries. Because of David’s profile within the hospitality industry, both within Australia and in the USA, he has been able to offer students distinctive insights in relation to their education and to their career aspirations. His PhD examined turnarounds from poor performance in the hotel industry, and the effects of organisational change on employee attitudes. Richard Robinson spent 18 years in the hospitality industry, as a chef, predominantly managing food service operations in the prestige club sector. Contextualising his industry experience, Richard graduated, from The University of Queensland, with a Graduate Diploma in International Hotel Management in 2004, and is currently a doctoral candidate and an Associate Lecturer at The University of Queensland. His research interests include hospitality labour turnover, academe/industry partnerships and the sociology of food. Chris Cooper is Foundation Professor of Tourism Management in the School of Tourism at Th