Did the Summer Internship Programs Meet the Hospitality Undergraduate students’ expectations?

Document Type : Original Article

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Abstract

Internships have become a key component in curricula at many institutions of higher education. In order to accord the students’ opportunity to attain hands on experience, the faculties of tourism and hotels introduced internship programmes in a number of both undergraduate and post graduate studies. This has been done to provide students with a smooth transition from the academic world to the working environment. This study attempts to investigate the expectations and perceptions of bachelor students in tourism and hotels colleges before the internship period. It also measures whether there are significant differences between the expectations and perceptions of the students according to the year of the study. The primary data collection was through online questionnaire which was distributed to a sample of (250) students that had an internship. It was found that there were significant differences on responses before and after internship porogram. Results also revealed that there were also differences demographic among interns regarding the yearof the study. This study concludes that many of the internship programs aspects need to be developed to make internships effective.

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