How Should You Teach us, Technical or Managerial: Perspective of Hospitality Management Students in the Philippines

Abstract

This study aimed to solicit the perspective of tourism, hotel and restaurant management students and graduates of a state-run university in Eastern Visayas, Philippines on how they should be taught, what should be given more emphasis and importance in the courses that are included in the programs’ curricula, if the existing curricular program will make them ready and prepared for the actual work. The designers of the curriculum for the course are claiming that the degree should be geared toward preparing the graduates to become managers in the industry and so therefore managerial aspects should be given more weights rather than emphasizing the technical-vocational features of the course. However, it is a given fact that the technical aspect could not be detached from the curriculum as dictated by the skills needed by the industry. Views of the students were solicited via face-to-face interview and the use of social media. Two major competencies have been exemplified in the hospitality management curricula of the university, the technical and managerial skills and the students were agreeable that both competencies are necessary to develop and prepare them for the actual work in the industry.