The role of tourism and hospitality companies in ensuring an effective internship process

Authors

  • Agita Doniņa Faculty of International Tourism, Turiba University, 68 Graudu Street, Riga LV-1058, Latvia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15503/jecs20151.281.290

Keywords:

tourism curriculum, internship, cooperation

Abstract

Tourism and hospitality education has only been provided in Latvia as a separate curriculum relatively recently. According to legislation, the curriculum should consist of study courses, internships and the state exam.

Cooperation between all stakeholders is crucial in order to achieve the goal of internship – to increase students’ knowledge and  to develop skills in the study area chosen. The purpose of this study is to explore cooperation between higher educational establishments and companies targeted at enhancing students’ employability skills. The survey was conducted in Latvia by addressing managers of 154 tourism and hospitality industry companies in 2014. The findings showed that only 51.30% of the companies plan interns’ job assignment during internship on the basis of an internship programme and in 35.06% of the cases higher educational establishments do not contact internship companies for feedback at all. This means that, despite the importance of internships in developing students’ skills, cooperation among all stakeholders does not proceed in the best possible manner. It is suggested to improve cooperation at all stages of internship –  at the  planning, organisational and control stages.

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Published

2020-01-05

How to Cite

Doniņa, A. . (2020). The role of tourism and hospitality companies in ensuring an effective internship process. Journal of Education Culture and Society, 6(1), 281–290. https://doi.org/10.15503/jecs20151.281.290

Issue

Section

LOCAL CULTURES AND SOCIETIES