Employment and career development in tourism and hospitality education

Pages: 395-407

ISBN: 9780415842051

DOI: 10.4324/9780203763308-45

Abstract:

The growth and development of tourism, hospitality and events education over the last 40 years has been outlined in Chapter 1. Set against this background of growth and change, it is clear that the demand for qualified people to fill academic positions in these diverse fields is increasing, providing opportunities for employment (Metcalf et al., 2005). This is particularly the case in regions where the expansion of courses is prevalent, for example in the cases of India and China. In China, growth has been considerable (Xiao, 2000). In 1990, 55 institutions offered programmes to 8,263 students, rising to 494 programmes for 199,682 students in 2004 (Zhang & Fan, 2006) and 967 institutions offering degrees to 596,100 in 2010 (Yang & Song, 2011). In this chapter, the focus is on those who are responsible for the delivery of this ever-increasing and diverse number of programmes: the tourism, hospitality and event educators. It is these academics who take the lead in the design, delivery, monitoring and review of the curriculum to meet the needs of a range of stakeholders, whilst at the same time contributing towards research and professional practice in these fields. Academia as a career choice offers many positive and worthwhile experiences, and also a number of challenges and increasing pressures (Ladkin & Weber, 2009). The purpose of this chapter is to explore issues of employment and career development in academia in the tourism, hospitality and event fields. Although the three subjects have developed independently and at different times, the employment and career development issues for academics in all three areas are broadly similar. Events education, however, is the most recent and rapidly developing area of the three. Questions have been raised as to whether there are jobs available for all of the people with an education in these areas, and whether in certain areas demand for programmes may be beginning to decline (Fidgeon, 2010). The wider trends of student choice and institutional challenges will in turn affect the need for academic jobs.

Source: Scopus