PERCEPTIONS TOWARDS THE QUALITY OF TRAINING IN HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ELDORET AND KENYA UTALII COLLEGE, KENYA

Abstract

Every graduate is always hopeful of being employed after school.However this has not been the case in the recent years. Employers are now keen on various factors before hiring employees. Studies have shown that there is a preference for hospitality gradu-ates from Kenya Utalii College (KUC). There are more than 200 higher learning insti-tutions offering hospitality programs in Kenya, out of which the KUC has more gradu-ates working in the industry. KenyaUtalii graduates represent about 20% of the hotel employees in Kenya. This study aimed at establishing what makes employers to have a preference for graduates from Kenya Utalii College. The all-round educational quality and behavioral learning theories guided the study. This study is qualitative in nature and employed a narrative research design approach. The target population comprised of all hospitality lecturers and graduates from the University ofEldoret (UoE) and Kenya Utalii College in Nairobi. The target population comprised of 678 participants who were hospitality graduates and hospitality lectures from UoE and KUC. The study sample finally comprised of 18 participants; 5 graduates from each institution and 4 lecturers from each of the two institutions. The study utilized purposive and snowball sampling techniques to obtain the sample. The study utilized interviews and focus group discussions (FGD) for data collection. The graduates were engaged in interviews while the lecturers were involved in focused group discussions at their respective institutions. The document analysis technique was used to scrutinize content and structure of the hospitality curricula from the two institutions. Data collected was coded and analyzed to generate themes. The study revealed that learners’ attitude, the curriculum, institu-tional culture and instructional resources influenced the quality of education in hospi-tality management. The influence of these factors have resulted to employers having preferences of graduates from KUC. Hence, learning institutions should ensure that they motivate learners to learn, regularly update their curricula, strive to maintain a positive institutional image and provide adequate instructional resources for training. Institutions should also ensure that they work closely with the industry to maintain an updated curriculum for training purposes. These results will guide hospitality institu-tions in Kenya towards offering quality training thereby producing quality graduates who fit in the job market.