Assessment of the Practicum Training Program of B.S. Tourism in Selected Universities: Basis for Proposed Practicum Training Program

Abstract

This study intends to assess the Practicum Training Program of B.S. Tourism of selected universities in the Philippines in terms of selected components and its relevance to industry needs. The descriptive method was used to expound on the actual situation and the concerns of the personalities involved in the study with the use of the questionnaire as the major gathering tool. Three groups of respondents were selected for this study. The first group was composed of faculty members; the second group was comprised of students while the third group consisted of the industry practitioners from selected hotels and travel and aviation agencies. Findings revealed that the features of the B.S. Tourism curricula of the selected universities in terms of course outlines, qualifications of school administrators and faculty members, and facilities and equipment are very relevant to the requirement of the Commission on Higher Education. The practicum training programs are generally effective particularly in terms of the attainment of the course objectives, as assessed by the respondent tourism graduates and faculty members. Moreover, practicum training programs of the selected universities are relevant and beneficial in enhancing the self-development, job knowledge, communication skills and customer relations skills of the tourism graduates, as assessed by both the respondent tourism graduates and industry practitioners. However, the conduct of the practicum training programs of the selected universities is beset with problems and the most common problem identified by the respondents is the heavy class loads for students, that is, practicum being taken simultaneously with other major subjects. Other problems identified by most of the respondents are the incongruence of the classroom learning experiences to practicum learning objectives and that students do not get enough exposure in the field.

Keywords: tourism outlines, qualification of school administration, facilities and equipments, course objectives, training contents.