Preparing Hospitality Graduates for a Volatile Future: The need for “Field Problem Solvers”

Abstract

In the past century, hospitality schools worldwide have evolved from vocational education with a strong emphasis on technical skills to tertiary programs that prioritize managerial competencies. For the positioning of these programs in higher education, different paradigms have emerged: whereas in Anglo-Saxon countries, integration into university systems and the corresponding academic ambitions have prevailed, on the European continent, this model coexists with one in which schools have emphasized their industry links and a more heterogeneous set of professional competences (Catrett, 2018; Oskam, 2018). Arguably, neither type of education provides optimal preparation for a professional environment in which a stable skillset will no longer suffice. Globalization and digitization are two drivers of unprecedented changes in hospitality professions and business models, to which we must add the impact of catastrophes and demand shocks like the ones caused by terrorist attacks or the COVID-19 pandemic. To provide the hospitality industry with leaders who can navigate these new realities successfully, higher hospitality education must adapt accordingly (Kim & Jeong, 2018). At the same time, higher education has embraced the urgency to contribute not only to industry but also to society at large in a meaningful way (Lombarts, 2018; Lozano et al., 2013) with an increasing focus on training “human skills,” commonly classified as collaboration, critical thinking, creativity, and communication (Dede, 2010). In sum, today’s hospitality graduates must be trained as “field problem solvers” (Van Aken & Berends, 2018). Hotelschool The Hague, one of Europe’s oldest tertiary hospitality schools, which currently ranks fifth globally on the QS subject ranking, has chosen design-based research (DBR; Denyer et al., 2008; Holloway et al., 2016) as the “epistemological backbone of the entire curriculum” 1020554 JHTXXX10.1177/10963480211020554JOURNAL OF HOSPITALITY & TOURISM RESEARCHOskam et al. / FIELD PROBLEM SOLVERS research-article2021