The contribution of internship in developing industry relevant management competencies among hotel and tourism management students - Theory and Practice in Hospitality and Tourism Research - page 7

5 CONCLUSION AND
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Based from thorough analysis and findings dis-
cussed, it is confirmed that the hospitality students'
management competencies has developed after
they return from their internship. Practical train-
ing clearly helps the students to improve their vari-
ous skills as needed by the industry players. When
comparing among all 24 management competen-
cies, it shows consistency of the students' high
competency level on time and stress management
before and after the internship. These portrayed
that the hospitality students are able to manage
their time and stress level working in the field with
the ability to cope with the nature of the business
and perhaps this reason contribute to the large per-
centage of them decide to remain in the industry
after they graduated. Though, something needs to
be done to improve the least competent presenting
ideas skill among students as it also shows constant
result for pre- and post-intern and not to mention,
soft skill is among the important attributes that a
young trained professional should possess in order
to work in the industry.
The development in training and education
should accommodate the expected industry
growth and future competitive demands. Most
importantly, the curricula must reflect the chang-
ing needs of the industry to ensure the courses
are not only relevant but at the same time produc-
ing graduates with skills and knowledge needed
as future managers. The university has taken the
step by implementing outcome-based education
and student-centred learning based curriculum to
produce a more quality and marketability gradu-
ates to cater for the industry. It is believe that both
academicians and industry players have their own
target to achieve. Hence, there is a need for educa-
tional strategies to foster the development of man-
agement skills and competencies within Malaysia.
Future researches could expand the study to exam-
ine the attributes of management competencies
from the industry players' perspectives and also
could enlarge the sample by targeting at different
faculties to investigate the result.

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