Virtual Internships in Hospitality Management Education: Complexities and Possibilities

Introduction And Context

A notable body of research has explored the nature of graduate attributes, employability, and work futures both within and external to the hospitality and tourism management context (Barrie 2006; Deloitte Access Economics 2015 & 2019; Freudenberg, Brimble & Cameron 2011; Gamble, Patrick & Peach 2010; Jackson 2013). From an industry stakeholder perspective, the tertiary sector, especially business schools (Carlilie et al 2016) have been persistently criticised for their inability to adequately reinvigorate their curricula in response to shifting and dynamic societal expectations and employment markets (Alim 2020; Krishnamurthy 2020).

As graduates face complex labour market challenges and layers of recruitment screening, degree attainment is no longer a sufficient differentiator to secure graduate employment (Clark 2017). By extension government funding of the tertiary education sector in countries like Australia and the UK is increasingly contingent on employability quality and success measures (Bridgstock & Jackson 2019; Cacciolatti, Lee & Molinero, 2017). While in many quarters these funding measures have been criticised (Bolger, 2019; Bolton, 2019), the language of recent Australian tertiary education funding announcements further illuminates the centrality of graduate employability outcomes. Under the Australian federal governments recently launched ‘Job-ready Graduates Package’ of reforms to higher education, university funding of $18 billion in 2020 will grow to $20 billion by 2024’ (Australian Government Department of Education, Skills and Employment 2022).