Abstract
The mission of educating human resource in tourism requires all the students must be fully equipped with knowledge, professional skills and attitude. In this trend, enterprises are taking important roles in training high quality tourism human resource nowadays. This paper uses the secondary data and fieldwork report to clarify these roles which appear at 3 aspects: supporting the environment of practicing actual career skills, making suggestions on designing educational program as well as investing in educating human resource. Besides, this paper also gives some petitions to improve the effectiveness of training tourism human resouce with the participation of enterprises.
Keywords: enterprises, regional linkage, training, tourism human resource
1. Ask a problem
In 2019, Vietnam tourism is estimated to welcome 18 million international visitors (an increase of 16% compared to 2018) and serve 85 million domestic visitors (an increase of 6% compared to 2018) (Huynh Van Thai and Vo Xuan Hau , 2020). With continuous development each year, training high-quality tourism human resources is a common issue for the entire tourism industry, including the travel, restaurant or hotel sectors (Malik and Vivek, 2018). However, currently, the reality is that human resources in the tourism industry do not meet the market's requirements in terms of quantity and quality (Khan, 2008). The ability of the current workforce to meet professional expertise as well as basic skills such as information technology, foreign languages, soft skills... is still very limited (Le Thi Le, 2019). To improve the effectiveness of tourism human resource training, one of the leading measures proposed is to link with businesses operating in the tourism sector, creating a close connection between the three houses: school – State – and entrepreneurs (Nhat Nam, 2019).
Training high-quality tourism human resources also brings a win-win relationship for businesses. Because these tourism human resources will help businesses improve competitiveness, minimize operational problems as well as achieve business goals (Malik and Vivek, 2018). A young, dynamic workforce that adapts quickly to new trends also creates conditions for businesses to rejuvenate their customer service processes. The creativity and skills of high-quality tourism human resources help businesses diversify their products and increase tourist satisfaction.
Looking at the macro aspect, Huynh Van Thai and Vo Xuan Hau (2020) analyze tourism human resources not only including human resources working directly in the tourism industry but also departments working in the tourism industry. related industries and processes such as culture, transport, agriculture, trade, post and telecommunications... Therefore, it can be seen that developing high-quality tourism human resources both brings the ability to effectively operate tourism activities, while contributing to the development of related industries.
Referring to the role of businesses in training tourism human resources, Le Thi Le (2019) believes that businesses are a factor that contributes significantly to the effectiveness of training human resources to work in the industry. However, currently, coordination between businesses and tourism training institutions is still quite limited. This stems from the lack of specific and feasible mechanisms and policies to encourage businesses to coordinate training of high-quality tourism human resources with educational institutions.
Pham Trung Luong (2016) studied tourism human resource training activities in the current integration context to clearly see the importance of developing high quality human resources. In particular, with the participation of businesses and other social organizations, tourism training institutions will be able to improve the practicality of teaching content as well as create an environment for students to practice. professional skills effectively. Promoting tourism training links will contribute to raising the level of human resources in the tourism industry, consistent with today's globalization context.
As for international researchers, Malik and Vivek (2018) commented that the role of human resource training is very important for the tourism industry because it provides quality professionals - an important factor. important in the service industry. For this training activity to take place effectively, there needs to be a connection between businesses and training facilities so that human resources have adequate knowledge and skills. Agreeing with the above point of view, Samiei and Akhoondzadeh (2013) believe that businesses are not only a place to solve employment problems for the tourism industry but also create an environment to practice professional skills for tourism students as well as students. many other related opportunities in society.
Thus, it can be seen that most research works agree with the view on the importance of businesses in the process of developing high-quality tourism human resources. However, the above studies have also pointed out some limitations in this connection when training institutions and businesses do not really coordinate effectively as expected. This also stems from the fact that "there is no mechanism to mobilize the active, practical and effective participation of businesses in tourism human resource training" (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, 2011). This study was conducted to specifically systematize the roles of businesses in training high-quality tourism human resources so that educational institutions can see more clearly the importance of linkages. The study also offers a number of recommendations for coordination between businesses and training institutions to become more effective, bringing positive value to the country's human resources in the tourism industry.
2. Research content
2.1. Outline of the current situation of tourism human resource training
According to statistics from the General Department of Tourism, our country currently has about 1.3 million human resources working in the tourism sector, but only 42% have received professional training (Nhat Nam, 2019). Some majors related to tourism human resource training include: Travel and tourism service management, hotel management, restaurant and food service management, Vietnamese studies, tourism management , Tourism studies, Hotel and restaurant management, Hotel and restaurant tourism management... As of 2020, the country has about 192 tourism training establishments with 62 universities with tourism departments, 55 high schools. Colleges (including 10 schools specializing in tourism training and 45 schools with tourism training) and 75 intermediate schools and vocational training centers (Huynh Van Thai and Vo Xuan Hau, 2020) . Particularly in the city. Ho Chi Minh City has up to 63 training units in tourism professions, including 18 universities, 21 colleges/vocational schools and 24 vocational schools/professional high schools (Nhat Nam, 2019).
Vietnam also has joint training in tourism human resources with a number of other countries, such as tourism training facilities in ASEAN, China, Canada, Australia... Joint programs Most training focuses on the university training system, including completely foreign study programs or 2+2 joint programs - two years studying Vietnamese programs, two years studying foreign programs. Some schools also invite lecturers and experts from abroad to teach in Vietnam, helping students access new knowledge and ways of thinking. Many projects supported by developed countries and international organizations have been implemented such as 4 tourism and hotel human resource training projects with a total value of nearly 15 million USD, human resource development project European Union tourism program worth 12 million EURO, or the ADB project on "Sustainable tourism development in the Greater Mekong Subregion" with the component "Developing Vietnamese tourism human resources" with budget 2, 5 million USD (Pham Trung Luong, 2016).
Although the number of tourism human resources trained every year is not small, there is a lack of high quality human resources, meeting both knowledge, professional skills and attitudes in study and work (Huynh Van Thai and Vo Xuan Hau, 2020). The training of tourism graduates is sometimes not really consistent with actual needs, especially with the requirements of businesses in the industry. When recruiting, some large and small travel companies almost have to retrain for at least 6 months, and to train skilled workers, it takes 12 months (Nhat Nam, 2019). This also stems from the fact that students have not had much exposure to professional reality and have not had the opportunity to apply the knowledge and skills they have learned, so when entering a business they will encounter many surprises. Some schools' training programs are too academic-oriented or too focused on practice and less equipped with a knowledge base, causing students to not be able to meet the requirements of businesses when working in real life.
2.2.The role of businesses in tourism human resource training
2.2.1.According to legal regulations
Legally, tourism businesses in particular and businesses in general are mentioned as an object participating in educational and training activities of human resources working in the field of tourism. In particular, regarding vocational training, the Law stipulates the encouragement of "coordinating with businesses in organizing vocational training as well as career guidance activities for learners", "organizing learners to study, practice and intern at enterprises through contracts with enterprises" and "organize teachers to practice at enterprises to update and improve vocational skills" (Vietnam National Assembly, 2014). The Law on Vocational Education also dedicates a chapter (Chapter IV: Rights and responsibilities of enterprises in vocational education activities) with two articles, demonstrating the importance of enterprises in human resource training. towards vocational skills. As for University and College levels, the Law document also clearly states "promoting cooperation between higher education institutions and scientific research organizations and businesses", as well as " Enterprises have the right and responsibility to receive and create conditions for learners and lecturers to practice, intern, conduct scientific research and transfer technology, contributing to improving the quality of training" (Vietnam National Assembly, 2012).
`The Tourism Industry Human Resources Development Plan also mentions issues related to coordination between training institutions and businesses. Specifically, the common goal of the proposed solution groups is to "ensure a close connection between state management agencies, training institutions and businesses in training, fostering and employing human resources." tourism industry" (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, 2011). In addition, the planning content also sets out the requirement to "promote the role and enhance the responsibility of tourism businesses in training activities" with contents such as building vocational skills standards and programs, curriculum; financial support; create learning and learning bases for learners (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, 2011). The above legal regulations show the State's concern and attention to the role of businesses in training human resources in general and tourism human resources in particular.
2.2.2. Business participation in tourism human resource training
2.2.2.1.Support an environment to practice practical professional skills
As a place to use human resources after training, businesses can participate in the training process in creating an environment for students to observe, practice or practice professional skills. Not only in the city. Ho Chi Minh City, but many other localities and expanding to many countries around the world, also consider practical internships at businesses as a mandatory module in the official curriculum (Samiei and Akhoondzadeh, 2013). Most of the practice of professional skills at enterprises is divided into two main stages: (1) the learning stage - students only come to the enterprise to observe and learn real work there, and (2) ) Internship phase – Students will go to the enterprise to practice the observed tasks and practice the necessary skills for the future work process.
Employees at the enterprise will be the ones to guide and train students in the necessary skills to achieve their goals in serving tourists (Malik and Vivek, 2018). Exposure and familiarity with professional reality also helps students have the most specific and honest assessment of the job to see if it is a suitable job for them or not. Because many students take the exam to enter the tourism industry but do not have a clear picture of the specific jobs they will do after graduation and only listen to friends, admission consultants or family decisions. Meanwhile, with the specific nature of the service industry serving tourists, the factor of "right person for the right job" is very important (Khan, 2008). Human resources working in the tourism industry need to clearly understand what they are doing, what they need and feel like they love those things to be able to complete their work well and bring satisfaction to tourists. Especially for the position of Tour Guide, which is a job that requires a lot of effort and overcoming difficulties in the career process, early access to the job becomes even more important, helping students get experiences, accumulating experience from reality (Huynh Van Thai and Vo Xuan Hau, 2020).
Tourism is basically a service industry, bringing joy and relaxation to people, so it requires rules of behavior, professionalism in working, and image preservation... (Le Thi Le, 2019). Therefore, students must always cultivate and train themselves every day to be able to meet the increasing needs of tourists (Khan, 2008). Practical internships at businesses will be a favorable environment for students to practice professional skills as well as apply learned knowledge into practice effectively (Samiei and Akhoondzadeh, 2013). Furthermore, the nature of the tourism industry is to contact and work directly with people, specifically tourists. Through internships at businesses, students will also have the opportunity to interact with a variety of different personalities and requirements of customers so that they can both apply the knowledge and skills they have learned and also have the opportunity to opportunity to practice the ability to handle emerging situations. Especially for tourism businesses, restaurants or hotels whose target audience is international visitors, this is also an opportunity for students to hone their foreign language skills.
Participating in practical internships at businesses also helps students have the opportunity to find a job immediately after graduation. Because businesses today tend to retain high-quality human resources, with qualities, knowledge, and skills consistent with the company's requirements that they assessed during the internship process. The internship period at the company (about two to three months) is enough for students to get used to the office environment and get acquainted with colleagues, making it easier for them to work officially later. Some good students even receive official work positions before graduating at training facilities. During the process of participating in a practical internship at a company, students can access a number of other working positions in addition to the positions they initially aimed for. This creates opportunities for job rotation or promotion to a management position later.
2.2.2.2.Suggestions on developing training programs
According to current trends, tourism training facilities need to develop standard training programs in the direction of professional application, with updates and comments from employers (Le Thi Le, 2019). . Because the enterprise is the place that uses the "output products" of the training program, the enterprise itself will perceive the quality of the training process of a student in the industry. As employers of human resources, businesses also contribute to building forecasts of human resource needs, more specifically the need for human resources working directly or indirectly in the tourism industry (Nhat Nam, 2019) so that training facilities can develop supply programs that meet market needs. This will help overcome the limitation that training facilities do not pay attention to social needs while human resources employers, tourism businesses, do not care about training and fostering human resources (Ministry of Culture and Sports). Chemistry, Sports and Tourism, 2011).
Enterprises with their operational experience will be able to provide profound and practical suggestions for tourism human resource training activities. In particular, comments on subjects in the training program are something that businesses may be interested in. A high-quality tourism human resources training program must ensure that after graduating, students have a sufficient amount of knowledge about the industry and major to apply in their professional practice. In reality, many training institutions are still too focused on equipping skills and pay little attention to cultivating background knowledge (Le Thi Le, 2019), which can help students gain a solid foundation when studying. work and advance to higher levels in future employment. Choosing specific subjects and programs for each subject is also a factor that businesses can contribute to giving feedback to training institutions, especially in reality, there is still no general consensus on the curriculum. tourism curriculum or output standards of schools.
In addition to subjects, businesses can also contribute to the development of factors related to the output standards of the training program, or more specifically, the output standards or teaching objectives of each subject program. . In particular, focusing on skills training for students is something that businesses often pay attention to, because to work well in today's tourism environment, students must have solid professional skills, so they need to be trained. Cultivate and practice during the learning process. Focusing on training and developing skills for human resources in the tourism industry is one of the urgent requirements today (Malik and Vivek, 2018). Foreign language skills are always the top factor that businesses are interested in when it comes to high-quality tourism human resources, but in reality, only about 60% of workers in the industry know and can use these skills. different types of foreign languages (Huynh Van Thai and Vo Xuan Hau, 2020). In fact, some training institutions have not yet added specialized English subjects about tourism, restaurants, and hotels to their programs; or if there is, there are still limitations in the communication practice environment (Le Thi Le, 2019). This is similar to information technology skills, when currently there are only a few training programs that include applied information technology for tourism/hotel restaurants in teaching students.
With practical experiences, businesses can also participate in high-quality tourism human resource training programs (Pham Trung Luong, 2016). A typical example of this is the many tourism education establishments in the city today. Ho Chi Minh City has invited personnel from tourism businesses, restaurants and hotels in the City to teach a number of subjects. On a simpler level, employees from businesses can also participate in sharing sessions (talkshows) or training sessions (workshops) with specific topics to improve students' knowledge and skills. This practical knowledge is sometimes not absorbed by students through theory and communication from lecturers (Le Thi Le, 2019). It is the creativity and constant change in business operations that will be great materials in lessons or sharing lessons, helping students access new perspectives on careers (Samiei and Akhoondzadeh, 2013 ). Not only that, hearing "real people" sharing also motivates students in the learning process, helping them feel that learning becomes more real and meaningful.
2.2.2.3.Invest in human resource training
One of the activities related to the corporate social responsibility index is investing in human resource training. These are always regular sponsors of student activities. Because through that, businesses can both promote their image to a large number of people and become a familiar name in the memory of students at the training facility, contributing to improving the ability to own valuable products. High quality personnel in the future. In addition, businesses also participate in sponsoring scholarships for students with high academic results as well as supporting funds for training and research activities of educational institutions (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, 2011).
For subjects that require high professional practice skills such as housekeeping, reception, kitchen, service..., businesses can participate in consulting on the design of practice rooms as well as purchasing equipment and utensils. tools (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, 2011). This will contribute to ensuring the simulation of a real working environment but still suitable for the school's physical conditions. The impact of the 4.0 industrial revolution has caused many changes in the tourism industry in our country today with the means, tools, and equipment serving tourism activities, as well as the birth of tourism. concept of "Smart Tourism" (Le Thi Le, 2019). Businesses can also participate in consulting and supporting the design of modern teaching methods and facilities with the application of technology and the Internet.
Businesses can even invest themselves to organize tourism human resource training activities right at their businesses. In State documents, there is also mention of "encouraging and creating conditions for businesses, socio-political organizations, social organizations, socio-professional organizations [...] to establish vocational education institutions and participate in vocational training activities” (Vietnam National Assembly, 2014) or “encourage the opening of tourism training facilities in businesses” (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism calendar, 2011). This has many advantages because businesses already have facilities, equipment and tools suitable for practicing vocational skills. Besides, most lecturers at training facilities of this model have solid practical work experience. What is needed is to train a team of training personnel with enough knowledge, skills, attitudes and strong pedagogical skills to be able to teach in the classroom. In fact, there are currently a number of units following this direction and doing very well in training, for example, Saigontourist Tourism and Hotel Intermediate School under Saigon Tourism Corporation - Saigontourist. Another model of investing in training activities right at the enterprise is the Imperial International Hotel and Tourism College located in The IMPERIAL Hotel Vung Tau luxury apartment complex.
2.3. Propose solutions to enhance the role of businesses in tourism human resource development
For businesses that accept students for practical internships in large numbers or regularly, the school can discuss after the internship period to record assessments and comments directly from the business side. Because they are the ones who have direct contact with students during the work process, they may be able to evaluate issues related to students' skills and attitudes that are not shown in the internship review record. In addition, educational institutions should also regularly survey businesses that use human resources trained from schools. The survey results will help evaluate training quality and improve and innovate the program to make it suitable for practice (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, 2011).
Training institutions also need to encourage students to choose tourism businesses, restaurants and hotels in localities with strongly developed tourism activities and unique tourism resources for internships and internships. his economy. This is an opportunity for students to see and learn how to work in new environments, especially in places with different resources from the student's regular residence. Or vice versa, training institutions can also invite experts or personnel from businesses from other localities with different operating models to bring a new and rich amount of knowledge to students. Typically students in the city. It is relatively difficult to imagine the operating model of a resort in Ho Chi Minh City because there are very few business establishments of this type in the city. Training institutions can contact a number of large resort businesses in neighboring localities such as Vung Tau, Long Hai, Mui Ne... to discuss and share with students, helping them have a specific picture of the project. This type of accommodation facility is full of potential.
In addition to practical internships, the school can organize a number of practical learning topics right at the enterprise. One of the current requirements is that the education sector also needs a socialization mechanism to encourage businesses in the tourism industry to participate in training to become a circular chain, improving the capacity of industry personnel. tourism (Nhat Nam, 2019). In particular, theoretical content will be taught first at school, while practical content or actual learning will be directly experienced by students at the enterprise. Enterprises will have the role of supporting facilities, equipment, software... for practical training based on previously equipped knowledge content (Le Thi Le, 2019). Or more simply, in the subjects, lecturers should also provide content so that students can actively collect data and conduct actual surveys at businesses. For example, in the Hotel and Restaurant Facilities Management subject, students may be asked to survey two to three large hotels in the City to make a comparison table on the scale and basic facilities. . This helps students have a more realistic view of the content being learned as well as have the opportunity to initially approach the spaces and environments in which they will work in the future.
Teaching staff can also improve their experience and skills through practical activities at businesses. Because lecturers in the tourism industry must have both knowledge and professional practice ability to best participate in the process of training high-quality tourism human resources (Malik and Vivek, 2018). Therefore, it is necessary to focus on encouraging and creating links between tourism businesses and training institutions to improve the practicality of teaching content (Pham Trung Luong, 2016). When participating in practical activities at businesses, lecturers also have the opportunity to expand relationships with personnel there, creating conditions for connection during the training process as mentioned in the above content.
When inviting personnel from businesses, training institutions need to consider the subjects or content they will share with students. Normally, with extensive professional experience of corporate personnel, subjects directly related to vocational skills, professional subjects or practical topics will become more suitable. As for subjects that are purely theoretical, theoretical or industry-based content, they should be taught by the school's lecturers to ensure theoretical basis as well as information and academic content. Or lecturers can also invite businesses as a guest in product reviews, large assignments or projects directly related to their expertise. This will help make the atmosphere of the evaluation session more lively and also create objectivity and fairness in evaluating students.
Conclusion
For the current process of training high-quality tourism human resources, the connection between training institutions and businesses is an indispensable factor. However, currently, this association is still not really effective even though it has been recognized in Law documents and other State policies. Meanwhile, the role of businesses in training tourism industry personnel is important, expressed mainly through three aspects: (1) supporting the environment to practice real professional skills economics, (2) contribute to the development of training programs and (3) invest in human resource training. These roles are aimed at training a new generation of high-quality human resources, fully meeting the knowledge, skills and attitude requirements to work in the tourism industry.
There needs to be mechanisms and policies to encourage active and effective participation of businesses in the process of training tourism human resources. Training institutions also need to promote cooperation with businesses to practice teaching content as well as ensure that the output of the training process matches market needs. Future studies can focus on analyzing the practical effectiveness of inviting personnel from businesses to participate in teaching tourism students because this brings the benefits stated in the research content. research but also has some potential limitations in terms of pedagogical skills and theoretical basis. That will be the premise to further promote the role of businesses in training high-quality tourism human resources today.
References
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