Virtual internship during the Covid-19 Pandemic : Exploring Hospitality and Tourism Management students' satisfaction and work related learning
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Date
2023
Authors
Hanna Patricia M. Delarna,
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Abstract
This study was designed to explore and determine the satisfaction level and the factors that contributed to the virtual internship satisfaction of hospitality and tourism students of Central Luzon State university. As well as the partner institutions of the university to conducted the virtual internship program. The study also aimed to identify the top 5 most enhanced work-related soft skills of the interns after undergoing in virtual internship. A quantitative-descriptive research design was employed to identify the factors affecting the satisfaction of the alumni. There were 76 responses from online survey questionnaire , 36 from HM and 40 from TM who undergo virtual internship school year 2021-2022, were collected, analyzed and interpreted. Descriptive analysis such as mode (frequency), percentage and mean rank were applied to the intern's responses. The American Hotel and Lodging Educational Institute (AHLEI) and the Astoria Culinary and Hospitality Institute (ACHI) was the partner institutions for Hospitality Management interns while the partners for the Tourism Management interns were the Rajah Travel Corporation (RTC) and Omni Airline Training Academy. Results showed that among the nine factors namely, training objectives, module contents, teaching techniques, trainer's personality and characteristics, training duration, OJT coordinator supervision, partner institution supervision, work setting and virtual tasks provided, six factors were rated as very satisfactory. However, three factors namely the training objectives, training duration and work setting were overall rated as slightly satisfied. The result also revealed that teaching techniques and virtual tasks provided were the most factors to the virtual internship satisfaction. In addition, the results identified time management, working with others, communication skills, adaptability and ability to work remotely was the top five most enhanced skills by the interns. This study may provide pointers for the school department as well as to partner institutions in order to design a virtual internship as a satisfying career experience.