Quality in australian tourism education: educator and professional views

Partnerships between educators and industry professionals can facilitate students' tourism career opportunities. Considering this, a mail-out questionnaire was undertaken to assess the attitudes and perceptions of tourism educators (n=56) and tourism professionals (n=100) on tourism education issues. Results indicated that one-quarter of professionals believe university tourism majors provide graduates with a competitive advantage and both groups consider tourism/ hospitality, marketing and management as important business majors. Competencies in logical thinking, social interaction, tourism knowledge and concepts, and generic skills are also considered important by both groups with specific workplace competencies and professional experience considered relatively less important by educators (p<-05). In conclusion, communication networks jointly facilitated by academics and industry are recommended.