Experiential Learning Through Industrial Placement in Hospitality Education: The Meat in the Sandwich

Abstract

The element of training is taken into account seriously by universities providing tourism education degrees, hence the development of “sandwich” undergraduate courses that incorporate a period of industrial placement aiming at the blending of theory with practical experience through experiential learning. The survey presented here was conducted in Greece and is objective was to evaluate the outcome of the supervised work experience by examining the views of undergraduate tourism and hospitality management students who completed their industrial placement period. Data were obtained through personal interviews and were of both qualitative and quantitative nature. The tentative results of the research, as described in this exploratory study, indicate some areas for concern and allows for conclusions to be drawn in relation to further improving and enhancing experiential learning.

Keywords: experiential learning, hospitality education, industrial placement period, tourism education, hospitality internships, work placement

JEL Classification: I23, L83, M12, O15, Z30