HOSPITALITY EDUCATION & INDUSTRY :BRIDGING THE GAP: GENUINE 'CRIES' - PART 1

Whistle Key Bangle

The image on this page is temporarily displacing the bridge image I have been using since my discussion on 'bridging the gap between hospitality education and hospitality industry'.

As you can see it is a whistle key bangle. Its story unfolds.

I had completed my schooling in a college town and found a job in a much bigger city, St Louis. I am not too sure how I met the three young ladies, but I stayed with them only a few days before moving into my own apartment. I cannot remember now the specific countries they were from. However, I do remember they were South Americans. They gave me a whistle with a large ring, just like the image you are seeing. I was to wear it as a bangle.

I was taken through a whole drill on how to use the whistle key bangle, should I be at risk on my return from work. I was then working the night shift at a hotel and where we lived was considered a 'bad environment', that is, it was not safe. Walking from the bus stop to the apartment was a stretch.

For one who has generally been protected by family in particular, and one not sensitive to security issues then, I felt very fearful. I prayed that the opportunity to use the whistle would never come. It did not. I got my own apartment just a stone throw away from the hotel I was working at, just within a few days!

Now, that was long ago! So I was surprised when this image popped up in my mind after the just ended congress (of hospitality professionals in Ghana in Ho), upon hearing what I describe as the 'cries' of two ladies on two separate platforms.

Comfort, not her real name, is a hotel receptionist. I engaged her in a conversation about her career.  The other, Cindy(also not her real name), is a student, who I believe was representing a number of other students when she raised a suggestion during question time about the possibility of their institutions placing them for internship instead of they(students), going out to look for places themselves.

For most of us in Ghana, the whistle is associated with a referee, a coach or a police, not a distress call by someone at risk.

I also recalled a number of issues which are hardly discussed. I guess they have become 'fixtures' on my 'imaginary list' of outstanding issues in hospitality operations and hospitality education. They include the fear of abuse and the stigma attached to female workers in hotels in particular and the hospitality industry at large as well as the security and safety concerns of female students looking for their own places for internship.

The Silent Cry of Comfort
There is a fear among young ladies working in hotels of being stigmatized as having low morals. I heard it in the voice of Comfort. She was very concerned. She informed me she has been working in the industry for five years as a front office personnel. She however studied secretaryship. She has since been looking for an opportunity to get a job as secretary. I have personally come across a few  'Comforts'. Why wouldn't they build on their rich experiences, sharpen their skills and develop their careers in the industry? I have always wondered.

Where does one start from... to change the social perceptions which have successfully scared females away from pursuing careers in the hotel industry as a result of the stigmatization the industry carries?

The Loud Call By Cindy
Could it be that behind the suggestion made by Cindy(representing a group of students), that they should be posted rather than be allowed to look for their own places of internship, is a real concern about security and safety?

These are genuine cries/calls to engage the discussion and these will be developed in subsequent articles.



 

HOSPITALITY EDUCATION & INDUSTRY :BRIDGING THE GAP

The long-awaited-for annual delegates’ conference of the Institute of Hospitality (IH) came off at Ho Technical University, Volta Region, from 15^th to 17^th November. 

I am glad I participated and I am yet to give myself a treat for making the effort to be there!

By attending the conference, I got the opportunity to gauge the ‘temperature’ of where we are at on the educational front and I was able to pick up some concerns of students. 

I tuned my senses to get a 'feel' of the impact we are making as professionals in the industry and the possible trend of hospitality and tourism education in Ghana.  I was also able to identify the current issues (and they are as old as I have been in the industry)!  I listened to the views of Presenters on bridging the gap between the hospitality industry and hospitality education. I also ceased the opportunity to talk with a few personnel (housekeeping, front office and food and beverage) in the hotel I stayed. 

The unavailability of ‘news’ about the hospitality industry (operations and education in particular) speaks volumes to some of us. 

I was quite pleased with myself for gathering much information; considering that earlier attempts to ‘fish out’ current issues fell flat. I had dedicated the last quarter (September to December) of the year to write on ‘Hospitality Education’. You will observe I hardly posted any article.

However, now, I have lots of relevant issues to confidently write about, probably into the first half of 2019!

IH is a professional body for managers and aspiring managers working and studying in the hospitality, leisure and tourism industry, worldwide.  In Ghana, it comprises of hospitality academicians/educators (retired and current), entrepreneurs and professionals in the industry as well as students in all the Technical Universities across the country offering hospitality and tourism programs. From its parent, U.K. platform, its primary purpose is described as follows:

to promote professionalism through lifelong learning. This is achieved through engagement with hospitality educators around the world, through our knowledge library resources and through a program of professional development events. We aim to support all our members at every stage of their career and help them reach their full potential. Every part of our broad industry is supported; Managers, students, educators and suppliers Retrieved from https://www.instituteofhospitality.org  19/11/2018 

In an earlier article I posted on education and training in the hospitality industry in Ghana, I made a summary of efforts made towards capacity building/development in the sector over a period of several years. I indicated that 'I felt disheartened' simply because we seem to be doing a merry-go-round and some of us are beginning to feel sick, because its taking us too long to 'break out'.

Yet after the just ended conference I felt relevant! Frankly speaking, nothing has changed. So I ask myself : Is this the case of seeing the glass half empty or half full?

The lyrics of our ‘song’ have been and continue to be:

• lack of qualified and/or experienced personnel at the managerial level
• lack of dedicated training institutions (for the industry)
• lack of coordination between public and private sectors in the area of training
• unwillingness of some private operators to invest in training their personnel but would rather poach trained persons from other hotels
• the industry is choked with unqualified personnel

I share in the opinion that it is the mandate of our educational institutions to ensure that our graduates are skilled in all aspects of today's hospitality to meet the recruitment needs of the industry and to get a head start when they join the professional world.

Our Technical Universities should accept their responsibility to track industry developments (beyond Ghana) and update hospitality curricula to continuously benefit our students. Suggestions and comments about ensuring relevance in research works by engaging industry to play a participatory role in shaping research topics during the just ended conference were most welcoming. However, since the industry is 'quite slow' here in Ghana, research works could in addition, also look a little beyond our borders. It would be useful. Our educational institutions have to prepare students to be ready to enter the hospitality work market in an efficient way.

Meanwhile, I am encouraged to maintain this platform as a learning platform, an avenue to promote professionalism through lifelong learning as I share critical issues in the hospitality industry(particularly hotel operations) as well as hospitality education in Ghana.