Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management 20 (2013) 1e4

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Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management

journal homepage: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-hospitalityand-tourism-management

A foreign assignment: Internships and international students

Lisa Ruhanen*,1, Richard Robinson 1, Noreen Breakey 1
School of Tourism, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia

a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history: Received 23 October 2012 Accepted 24 May 2013 Available online Keywords: Tourism Hospitality Internship International student

a b s t r a c t
Although much attention has been given to the learning experiences of international students studying overseas much less focus has been given to the internship experiences of these students. This is in spite of the fact that international students have a high demand for obtaining work experience while studying overseas. This paper reports on preliminary and exploratory investigations issues facing international students, all from Asia and the South Pacic, in obtaining work experiences while studying an undergraduate tourism and hospitality degree in Australia. 2013 The Authors.

1. Introduction Internships, work experiences and/or work integrated learning (WIL) experiences are a key element of the curriculum for students in many elds of study as a transitional form of coursework designed to bridge academia and the workplace (Collins, 2002; Rehling, 2000). This is certainly the case in hospitality and tourism where some (or a combination of) work experiences is generally used to equip students with a broader set of knowledge and skills to complement that which is learnt in the classroom. Due to the increased internationalisation of student cohorts in a number of countries around the world attention has been given to various facets of these students learning experiences (Barron & Dasli, 2010). It is estimated that there are some 2.5 million students studying outside their home country (Altbach, Reisberg, & Rumbley, 2009) and in 2006 Australia attracted 7.5% of these students (Access Economics, 2009). International student numbers have grown exponentially and approximately a third of all students enrolled in Australias higher education system are international (Department of Education, Science and Training, 2004; Department of Employment Education and Workplace Relations, 2009). For international students the internship/work experience component of their degree can be an integral part of their overseas study experience. This particular aspect of the curriculum allows students to actively engage in a foreign culture; having the
* Corresponding author. Tel.: 61 0 448784330. E-mail addresses: l.ruhanen@uq.edu.au (L. Ruhanen), r.robinson@uq.edu.au (R. Robinson), n.breakey@uq.edu.au (N. Breakey). 1 Tel.: 61 7 3346 8717; fax: 61 7 3365 8716. 1447-6770/$ e see front matter 2013 The Authors. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhtm.2013.05.005

opportunity to grow their skills in a new and unfamiliar environment and exposing themselves to a range of other employers, employees and guests than they might have otherwise experienced. This provides international students (or indeed any student who undertakes a form of international work placement) the opportunity to more fully understand and appreciate the scope of hosteguest relations, as well as differing culture and norms between countries (Roberts, 1998; Toncar & Cudmore, 2000). Arguably, gaining such skills and experiences can set these students apart from their peers, particularly when seeking employment in the tourism and hospitality industry (Toncar & Cudmore, 2000; Van Hoof, 2000). Yet international students are often at a disadvantage when studying outside of their home country due to: unfamiliar learning contexts, differing learning styles, language barriers and overcoming cultural differences, among other issues. Further, challenges arise for international students in terms of their participation in internship and/or WIL experiences. Zopiatis (2007) found that educational institutions have a discriminatory approach towards selecting students for internships, and that government sponsored students are favoured over international students. These international students can also face reluctance or discrimination by employers as well as workplace exploitation because of unfamiliarity with local employment laws. In tourism and hospitality international students often enter Australian university programs with no prior work experience in the eld (Martin & McCabe, 2007) and so have high demands and expectations regarding the provision of work experience during their study. A further imperative to gain work experience is that many international students harbour ambitions to seek permanent

L. Ruhanen et al. / Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management 20 (2013) 1e4 Table 1 Participant demographics. Code S01 S02 S03 S04 S05 S06 S07 S08 S09 S10 S11 S12 S13 S14 S15 S16 S17 S18 S19 S20 S21 S22 S23 Country Singapore China China Thailand Singapore China Singapore Singapore Singapore Singapore Singapore Singapore Singapore Hong Kong China Macao Philippines Solomon Islands Malaysia Singapore Singapore Singapore Hong Kong Age 21 22 22 21 24 21 22 22 21 21 21 20 21 21 22 22 20 23 31 21 21 22 23 Field of study Tourism Tourism Events Tourism Hospitality Tourism, Hospitality Business, Tourism Business, Tourism Business, Tourism Business, Events Hospitality, Events Tourism, Events Tourism, Events Tourism, Events Tourism Hospitality, Events Hospitality, Events Hospitality, Events Hospitality Tourism Tourism, Events Tourism, Events Hospitality

residency in the host education nation on the completion of their studies (Birrell & Perry, 2009). Nyland et al. (2009, p.2) found that limited work skills, high unemployment and under-employment, and poor knowledge of their rights led to international students being exploited in the workplace. Further, immigration and visa regulations imposed on the number of hours that international students can work can also be a challenge in some situations, particularly for students seeking paid work experiences as opposed to supervised work experiences as part of an educational qualication which can be exempt from such restrictions. As Zopiatis (2007, p.72) found, there is a conspicuous view held by hospitality students that. governmental policy is an impediment to their overall hospitality experience while studying overseas. Compounding these issues is the fact that international students efforts to gain paid work experience are often thwarted by industry itself. Several factors including cultural issues, employer perceptions of potentially short periods of service, especially relative to the training required to acculturate international candidates, and limitations on employment availability imposed by visa requirements, as discussed, often amount to scarce work experience opportunities for international students and the possibility of exploitation for those that manage to gain employment (Birrell & Perry, 2009). It is against this context that this exploratory qualitative study sought to investigate some of the issues faced by international students in obtaining work experiences while studying an undergraduate tourism and hospitality degree in Australia. The paper identies, from the perspective of international students participating in an internship-style learning experience at an Australian university, some of the issues and challenges that international students face in obtaining work experiences to complement their degrees while studying in Australia. 2. Research methods A qualitative methodology was employed to undertake an exploratory study of the work experiences of international students who had participated in an internship style learning opportunity at The University of Queensland in 2009 and 2010. Individual interviews were undertaken with 23 international students. Students represented 68% of the total program participants (Table 1). Because this study was exploratory a semi-structured (or semistandardised) interview technique was adopted so that a number of predetermined open questions were asked of each student in a systematic and consistent order, but the interviewer could digress beyond the prepared and standardised questions (Berg, 2001). The advantage of semi-structured interviews is researchers have the opportunity to obtain thoughtful answers based on the experience of participants as well as gain an insight into the topic from diverse viewpoints and experiences. Generally the interviews ranged from 30 min to 1 h. All interviews were digitally recorded by a research ofcer that was not involved with the WIL experience, nor were they a teacher or instructor for the students. To reduce and transform the data into an accessible and understandable form, and to draw out various themes and patterns associated with the participants being studied (Berg, 2001; Neuendorf, 2002), the transcripts were analysed and organised in accordance with the content analysis method referred to as the thematic framework approach. This approach involves organizing the data into categories on the basis of themes, concepts or similar features, from which new concepts are developed, conceptual denitions are formulated and relationships between concepts examined (Berg, 2001). Identied themes, concepts and patterns are then considered in light of previous research and theories, so that generalizations can be established (Berg, 2001).

3. Results and discussion The interviews began with a general discussion about obtaining work experience, not specically internships, during the students study in Australia. All of the interviewed international students discussed the challenges involved in gaining work experience in Australia; an impossible task (S4) and getting into the [tourism] industry is hard for internationals (S12). Many of the students felt that internship opportunities generally were scarce within Australia when we rst came here we were told that its very difcult for international students to nd an internship here (S05). This can be attributed in part to large numbers of students in the higher education (and secondary school) system competing for limited places with businesses. Arguably the internship model is not as prevalent in Australia as that which is well established in other countries such as the United States, Hong Kong and Singapore. While the issue was not as acute for the hotel and hospitality industries, students found that obtaining work experience within tourism more specically was a challenge; its quite hard to nd a job here, especially in the tourism industry (S07). The prevalence of small businesses in tourism especially, that were not well prepared to receive interns (due to the nancial or time commitments involved in training for example), was seen as a particular challenge. Of those students interviewed who had engaged in some form of work experience while in Australia most had worked in paid employment in either hospitality or the retail sector. The main reason that the students sought work experience while living in Australia was not to subsidise living or education experiences as other studies have suggested (Robertson & Clark, 2012) but specically to complement their career and resumes: I wanted to expose myself to the tourism industry (S11) and I wanted actual experience in tourism (S16). Some students were seeking experiences in particular organisations such as destination marketing organisations or government bodies; To get work experience in a government organisation in tourism (S14). Arguably this is a challenge for all undergraduate students with limited experience to offer such organisations. Most international students interviewed claimed that the most signicant barrier to gaining work experience in Australia were the restrictions associated with their international student visas which

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they believe puts them at a disadvantage with prospective employers. In Australia international students are limited to 20 h of paid employment per week. This accords with Zopiatis (2007) study of internships in Cyprus where government restrictions were found to be a major barrier to international students obtaining work experience. For international students internships or other WIL experiences are an ideal way to ll this void. As Waryszak (1999) noted, work experience opportunities managed by higher education institutions give international students an opportunity to gain relevant experience without the complications and barriers. Students elected to participate in this program (where other WIL experiences were on offer) as they felt it offered some form of work experience which they could include on their CVs: I was more looking forward to the experience. I think some employers are looking for that (S09) and I just wanted to get more experience, so I just wanted to know the industry more because Ive never had tourism experience, so I just thought maybe it could help me when I nd a job and they know that Ive done something (S06). The experience that the students participated in was an intensive 10 day program. Due to the duration of the program students did not feel as though they had the depth of experience and learning; I am disappointed. I did not get a proper tourism perspective. (S19). Another student noted that the placement was not long enough. It should be more vocational like Polytechnic which is more useful (S12). This is a challenge for universities in managing the expectations of international students who are used to many different work experience models. Acquiring sufcient places for large numbers of students on a continuing basis is exceedingly resource intensive. Further the availability of businesses or host organisations that have the capacity to participate in such programs is an on-going challenge. Moreover, choices of what types of WIL models an educational institution offers needs to strategically align with how they position themselves in the marketplace. The international students identied a range of other complementary outcomes and benets. This included the opportunity for international students to experience regional Australia and Australian culture, as well as live and work with Australian students. In fact aside from getting experience the next major motivator of all the students surveyed was the opportunity to have an Australian experience: I also wanted to see parts of Australia (S20) and I wanted to know more about the local Australian country life in a rural region (S23). The prospect of spending an extended period of time in non-urban environments was a unique opportunity for many of the students and certainly something that they would not have otherwise had access to during their on-campus university experience or in a more traditional style of internship. A further factor noted by many of the international students was the interactions with the domestic students during the program and a number of the international students saw this as yet another way to engage in the Australian culture. As one student noted I think we get to learn a lot and exchange different cultures. Because normally in the campus environment, we already get to e other than the other projects but normally we hang out with international students. Or maybe Ill get to know a few Australians but not really get to know-know them. But [this experience] actually helped me to understand and make friends with everybody. (S09). It was perceived, as noted in previous studies (Barron, 2006), that there are not many opportunities or occasions where international and domestic students mix in a group, exchange ideas, and develop a project. Not everyone agreed though: Working with Australians was a bit harder (S13) and if I could have a choice I wouldnt really choose to do it with the domestic students because some of them, theyre not very motivated, they may not be on the same expectations in terms of results, that level, so given a choice I prefer not to (S06).

4. Conclusion Certainly, internships are an important part of the learning experience of tourism and hospitality degree programs. Gaining practical work experience that complements classroom learning has long been recognised as valuable (Busby, 2003). For students undertaking degrees abroad the internship offers further opportunities including experiencing international businesses, employers and guests, and cultural engagement prospects. The opportunity to gain such a competitive advantage over peers is a major motivator in choosing to study overseas for some students. This exploratory study conrmed some of the ndings of the limited body of literature in this area in regards to the governmental regulations associated with international student visas and engaging in employment (generally paid employment). The employer discrimination issues noted by other authors (e.g. Birrell & Perry, 2009) were not found to be a major factor in this study. Further and more direct questioning on this point may however have elicited different responses and is something to be explored in further research. The international students interviewed all agreed that university run programs such as internships or work experience programs are a means of circumventing some of these issues. Regardless, the study conrmed a healthy appetite for work experiences from international students to develop their professional careers. While the students were positive on a number of aspects of the program all would have preferred a longer internship opportunity. Indeed, preconceived notions of what an internship is clearly affected the expectations of the international students and this was a key nding of the study. Because the students were not participating in a traditional/regular internship, where students would go to one particular place of employment each day and complete a similar set of tasks at the same location each day, there were a number of positive, but unexpected outcomes primarily in the context of enhancing their student experience, including recognition of opportunity to experience regional Australia and its culture, and for some international students, the value of working alongside the domestic students. Future research should explore the work experience issues faced by international students looking for opportunities in the tourism and hospitality industries, considering paid employment, volunteering activities, and the range of internships and other WIL opportunities now on offer. As the phenomena of globalizing education grows, so too will the diversity of motivations and expectations of its stakeholders. This paper has preliminarily investigated the established educational practice of internships, which unites three important stakeholders: students, educators and industry. Clearly more research taking into account the perspectives of industry and educators, as well as more deeply those of students, is warranted. Conict of interest None declared. Acknowledgement The authors would like to acknowledge the contribution of Adam Viscur who worked on an early draft of this paper. References
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