An investigation into the curriculum of selected hotel schools in South Africa in preparing graduates to successfully operate a commercial restaurant

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relevance of the curriculum offered by universities of technology hotel schools in South Africa, in preparing students to be able to open and operate commercial restaurants successfully after graduation. Data for this research were obtained making use of qualitative and quantitative research. The researcher conducted interviews with restaurateurs throughout South Africa to determine what skills and knowledge would be required to ensure that students who graduated with their National Diploma in Hospitality Management: Food and Beverage (NDHM: FB), would be able to open and operate a sustainable and profitable commercial restaurant. The information obtained from these interviews was used to draw up a questionnaire, completed by third year students who hoped to graduate at the end of the year, sampled from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology Hotel School (known as the Cape Town Hotel School) and the Central University of Technology Hotel School. The questionnaire was designed to measure the students’ perceptions of their competencies in various areas i.e. of their skills and knowledge to open and run a successful commercial restaurant. The results revealed that, in general, the third year students did consider themselves to have the necessary skills and knowledge. The researcher recommends that hotel schools at Universities of Technology introduce more entrepreneurship and incubation programmes to provide more opportunities for graduates to open their own restaurants.