Harmonizing Hospitality Industry and Higher Education: Can Community College Compensate the Void?

ABSTRACT

Mixed opinions on the need for higher education in hospitality studies remain thus far. Yet, a bridging notion that can potentially fill the gap has not been extensively explored. Therefore, this qualitative study attempts to present community college as the transitional element that could bridge the hospitality industry and higher education in Malaysia. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to seek views from academics, program administrators and industry professionals on the Malaysian community college’s capacity in delivering hospitality graduates that fulfill the hospitality industry requirement. CIPP evaluation model was used to guide the study. The findings provide ample evidence that the community college has immense potential in bridging the hospitality industry and higher education although certain improvements are still necessary. Thus, this study also suggests a few recommendations that the community college can consider for the program future directions.

KEYWORDS:

• Hospitality industry
• higher education
• community college
• Malaysia
• CIPP model

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).