Tourism graduate students’ employability skills: Results and implications of a Zimbabwean study

Abstract

The study investigated perceptions of employability skills of Tourism and Hospitality Management (THM) graduates in the Zimbabwean sector. The participants included 15 THM university graduates and 15 tourism sector managers. The participants completed semi-structured interviews regarding the perceived employability skills required of THM graduates by the tourism industry. Following content analysis, three themes emerged from the data: (i) soft and hard employability skills; (ii) transferability of essential employability skills; and (iii) curriculum-based competencies. Study participants indicated that internship tasks provided limited training in practical skills. THM stakeholders reported a need for training aimed at improving the students’ employability skills with higher levels of collaboration between higher education and industry partners. The findings indicate the importance of developing practice-based skills through extended internship experiences to develop more skilled human resources for the tourism sector.

Keywords:

• employability skills
• higher education
• hospitality
• human resources
• tourism
• Zimbabwe