A Longitudinal Study of Hospitality and Tourism Management Graduate Program Quality Assessment Rankings: 2002–2012

Abstract

The hospitality and tourism industry has become one of the fastest growing and largest industries. The demand for skilled professionals and researchers in this field has also been consistently increasing. To meet these demands, higher education institutions endeavor to offer high-quality hospitality and tourism graduate programs as well as undergraduate programs. Prospective students, recruiters, administrators, and other academic researchers have found ranking systems to be a tool for peer evaluation, resource allocation, and recruitment. This study examined both master's- and doctoral degree–granting programs in hospitality and tourism management in the United States and provides a longitudinal view of the graduate programs’ quality assessment rankings over the past decade. The results are compared in light of previous studies conducted in 2002 and 2006. Graduate programs were evaluated by using tested and objective criteria based on their strengths and resources. Rankings of the programs, which were based strictly on the programs’ strengths and resources as reported by the surveyed institutions, are reported in this article.