The changing face of WIL in Leisure Management programs

1
The changing face of WIL in Leisure Management
programs

• Barry Bell
• WIL Convenor
• Department of Tourism, Leisure, Hotel Sport
  Management

2
What is Leisure Management?

• Leisure Management degrees (programs/ courses)
  in Australian tertiary institutions evolved
  throughout the 1980s and 1990s, particularly in
  CAEs
• These programs were often attached to faculties
  of
• Physical Education and Recreation, Health, and
  Social Science
• with significant emphasis on WIL as a core
  component.
• These programs encompassed degree majors in
• Recreation studies/ management
• Sports studies/ management
• Outdoor recreation
• Therapeutic recreation
• Community/ Cultural development
• Tourism and Hospitality
• Performing Arts and entertainment
• and more recently Event management
• This presentation will focus on the movement of
  these programs into Business faculties dominance
  in the growth of tourism, hotel and hospitality
  degrees and the impacts on WIL within these
  programs

3
A transition period for Leisure Management

• Some Background History
• 1990s Amalgamations of mid-tier institutions
  (CAEs) into the
• Australian University sector
• Many Leisure Management programs were involved in
  this transition
• Leisure Management not a comfortable fit
  within traditional university faculties
• Business faculties considered as a home for
  leisure management degrees
• Business faculties seen as having linkages with
  the management side of leisure industry sectors
  (eg., hospitality, tourism, sport), but limited
  emphasis on the social and community development
  aspects
• WIL not a high priority in many post-amalgamation
  Universities.
• However, governments and industry continued to
  produce reports calling for more work ready
  university graduates

4
Growing Emphasis on WIL in Australian Universities

• More Recent Developments
• Continued pressure from government and industry
  to make degree programs more work relevant
  proposal for a graduate skills test in 2004
• Higher levels of competition among Australian
  universities to attract students in a climate of
  higher employment and escalating fees for
  tertiary education
• Universities in a transition from traditional
  regulated markets to more deregulated markets,
  diversified products and profiles.
• Focus back on WIL more emphasis on preparing
  for career outcomes
• WIL now seen as a competitive strategy to
  differentiate course offerings particularly
  attractive to international students

5
Growing demand for specific elements of Leisure
Management

• Demand from both domestic and international
  student market for degrees in tourism, hotel and
  hospitality (THH)
• This demand is driven to some extent by
• shortage of workers in this industry sector
• a higher profile sector of the leisure industry
• ease of entry to THH compared with some other
  degrees
• Transition/ credit arrangements with TAFEs and
  private Business colleges to university degrees
• Department of Immigration point score system for
  residency
• THH degrees attract largest number of
  international students

6
The changing face of WIL in Leisure Management
(LM)

• The following issues were raised through an
  information sharing exercise with WIL convenors
  (tourism-hotel-hospitality management) across 8
  Australian universities
• Confirmed the trend of LM programs into Business
  faculties/ schools
• Business tends to take the areas of strength from
  LM (eg. tourism and hospitality) and phase out
  other less popular elements (eg. recreation and
  arts)
• Business degrees do not have a strong history or
  managed WIL yet the the leisure industry
  sectors expect graduates to have experience
• Senior management do not fully understand the
  complexity of operating WIL programs without
  adequate resource allocation

7
The changing face of WIL in Leisure Management
(LM)

• WIL courses being moved from core to elective
  option devalues the WIL experience to the
  student
• Business places less emphasis on academic staff
  involvement
• (eg., to student supervision) as WIL is not
  sufficiently acknowledged in academic workload
  models
• Increased numbers of international students in
  THH degrees seeking WIL experiences (across the
  sample, 20 to 60 of departmental enrolment are
  international students)
• A tendency of senior management to see WIL more
  as an administrative function, rather than an
  academic component of the degree

8
Increased pressure on faculties to include WIL

• Identified in Griffith University Strategic Plan
  2006-2010
• By engaging disciplines, research and its
  communities, Griffith will offer a signature
  multi-disciplinary learning experience by
  providing students with identifiable
  research-based learning and work-integrated
  learning (WIL) opportunities in the majority of
  its courses.
• The Strategic Plan 2006-2010 has set a
  performance indicator and target that requires
  that 70 of all Griffith programs include an
  identifiable work-integrated learning component
  by 2010

9
Managing these changes in the Department of
Tourism, Leisure, Hotel and Sport Management
Amalgamation of five program areas into one
Bachelor of Business program Amalgamation
into a new Department within the Griffith
Business School Objective of the new
Department that all undergraduate students
would graduate with some mandatory workplace
experience      1600 students, including a
45 contingent of overseas students predominantly
in tourism, hotel and hospitality management
majors To meet the above challenges without
increasing resource requirements
10
Department of Tourism, Leisure, Hotel and Sport
Management WIL Framework The Departments WIL
framework is best illustrated in the diagram
below.
Commencing Year 1 To be completed prior to
graduation
Generic Industry Skills Speciali
st Industry Skills
Department of Tourism, Leisure, Hotel and Sport
Management Work Integrated Learning Model
11
WIL it work?

• Outcomes to date
• The model is less resource intensive
• Less academic staff involved in WIL (no workload
  allocation)
• Decreased demand for structured WIL courses
  increased use of Industry Experience option
  (less income to the Dept.)
• Increased difficulty in meeting funding criteria
  for supported and directed learning in WIL
• Increased workloads for staff who manage WIL
• Less control over quality of the WIL experience
• Industry partners concerned over preparation of
  students large numbers of international students

12
Thank You time for some discussion