Hospitality Industry’s Perceptions of Industry-Academia Collaboration in Curriculum Development

This study investigated the perceptions of hospitality industry professionals and faculty on their involvement in the curriculum development process. The problem investigated the alignment of the educational resources of the hospitality industry with the current and anticipated demands for the skills and knowledge of workers in that industry. The researcher sampled 568 ICHRIE members and 2,366 hospitality industry professionals. A total of 264 participants responses were analyzed. A survey was developed to measure three underlying themes. The three scales were determined to have a high level of reliability, as determined by a Cronbach’s alpha, of 0.808, 0.927, and 0.914. It was found there were statistically significant differences in perceptions of involvement in curriculum development between faculty and industry. It was found that only six of the 33 competencies, and three of the 18 content areas were statistically significantly different. Faculty overall had a higher positive impression of most of the concepts than industry and so faculty should review their curriculum with input from industry. The findings indicated faculty could benefit from improved communication with the hospitality industry