UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY CAREER EDUCATION IN GHANA

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to ‘explore’ students’ perceptions of tourism and hospitality career education in three universities that run undergraduate programmes in Ghana, namely: the University of Cape Coast (UCC), University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR) and the University for Development Studies (UDS). Final year students totaling 128 students were contacted through questionnaire administration and results obtained analyzed employing SPSS version 16. The study revealed that 45% of respondents from the UCC did not want to work in the industry after graduation. A greater number of respondents, (85%) in UCC, (90%) in UENR and (92%) in UDS believed a decision to invest in tourism and hospitality education career was worthwhile. Contrarily, above 50% of all respondents surveyed in the three institutions did not believe one could make good income whilst working in the industry. It is suggested that career counselling sessions be organized in the universities by industry players in the tourism and hospitality sector to woo students’ interest to working in the sector.