Based on the achievements of the last academic year, the Project of experiential learning in hospitality and tourism management has borne new fruits. In addition to gaining hands-on “experience” of the industry, this project attaches equal importance to “experiencing” of the academic research activities by getting students personally involved. In light of this, and in respondence to the need for technical assistance from universities of partner governmental tourism departments in mainland China, FHTM has held four workshops from April to June, respectively aimed at Tourist Satisfaction Survey in Earth Building of Yongding, Overseas Marketing Strategies for Tourism in Earth Building, Action Plan for Upgrading Tourism in Yongding at the County Level, and Study on Social Carrying Capacity for Rural Tourism of Residents in Wuyuan of Jiangxi. Each workshop is made up of one faculty member and three to seven students who are sophomores or juniors. Under instructions from teachers, the holistic research process was performed by students themselves, including the drafting of the proposal, division of manpower, collection and collation of literature, design of research agenda, collection and analysis of data, writing of the research report and presenting of the findings.
Through participation in these workshops, students have got a chance to familiarize themselves with norms and common practices of research projects in tourism and hospitality, acquired skills in conducting questionnaire survey and in-depth interview and data processing, and gained a deeper understanding of such research fields as rural tourism, cultural heritage tourism, sustainable tourism and pro-poor tourism.
As a new breakthrough made by the Project of experiential learning in hospitality and tourism management, the workshops have been given credit by students, teachers and the relevant governmental officials, and will definitely promote the deepening and popularization of experiential learning in the faculty.
