An assessment of work integrated learning (WIL) in hospitality tertiary education

Work integrated learning (WIL), industry-based experiences and the development of business ready skills in graduates have been a source of major contention between employers and tertiary educators. Dissatisfaction with graduate employability has been elevated within contemporary discussion with particular references made to a lack of general job skills and practical industry-specific competence. Such dissatisfaction transverses disciplinary boundaries and is of heightened concern for the hospitality industry due to the service orientation of the work. Work integrated learning is emerging within the auspices of experiential learning (EL) theory as a potential means to redress this gap. Research into WIL is currently preliminary and generalised towards traditional disciplines such as teaching, medicine, nursing and engineering to name a few. A standardised framework for effective implementation of WIL is elusive and has led to disparate and assorted adhoc attempts to fit WIL into tertiary curricula. The investigation focuses specifically on the hospitality sector within NSW tertiary institutions to determine the transferability of benefits experienced from the application of WIL in traditional disciplines to the specific characteristics of service industries.

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