Building blocks for a well-rounded tourism student

This study was conducted to identify the building blocks that need to be incorporated in tourism qualifications to produce well-rounded students. This study is grounded on the view that with the right set of knowledge, skills, and qualification, the doors to tourism employment can be opened. Many higher education institutions have established programmes and extended programmes to negotiate students' transition into higher education, and beyond. However, these higher education institutions (HEIs) face many challenges, due to the ever increasing student numbers that have nearly doubled in recent years; uneven quality; high student drop-out rate among first-generation students; and more recently, the 'fees must fall movement'. Despite these challenges, higher education institutions are expected to remain engines for the development of human capital. Indeed, one of the purposes of higher education is to produce graduates who have skills that are highly regarded by employers and that enable these graduates to contribute to the social capital and the country's prosperity. Thus, the goal of this study is to investigate the existing building blocks, with a particular focus on the building blocks that the School of Tourism and Hospitality, in the Faculty of Management, at the University of Johannesburg uses to assist students in becoming well-rounded in relation to the tourism industry.