Computer usage in hotel and foodservice management education

During the last ten years, computer usage in the hotel and foodservice industries has shown explosive growth. Since hotel and foodservice management (HFM) education prepares its students for industry, the use of computers in HFM education should have also shown substantial growth. A review of the literature during 1988 found no comprehensive data regarding computer usage in HFM education. Therefore, a study was conducted using the 108 affiliated institutions of the Council on Restaurant, Hotel, and Institutional Education in the United States to determine computer usage in HFM education. This study utilized a questionnaire containing 33 questions covering demographics, budget, computer integration, computer software, computer hardware, and attitudes about computer use. The response rate was 61%. The major results of the study indicated: The computing budget averaged 5.4% of the operating budget. The respondents require computer usage in 34% of the undergraduate core courses and in 48% of the graduate core courses. Only two software applications, word processing and spreadsheet, were used by more than 50% of the respondents with WordPerfect and Lotus 1-2-3 being the most often mentioned packages. There was an average of 20 students per microcomputer with 66% of the machines either being IBM or IBM-compatible. The attitudes of the respondents showed that most of the respondents do not agree that computer budgets, use of computers in the curriculum, software availability, or hardware availability are adequate. This study has established a baseline of information about HFM computer usage as of September 1, 1988. The researcher had indicated where further research needs to be completed and has outlined some steps that should be taken if graduates of HFM programs are to be properly educated to accept the responsibilities that employers require