Students’ expectations, experiences, and career direction after in-house internship: the pedagogical role of the hotel training center in Thailand

This study investigates the in-house internship of the hotel training center in Thailand, with two specific objectives: (1) to investigate the expectation of students prior to taking internship and compare it with their perception after taking the internship and (2) to explore experiences and skills gained by student interns and the influence of in-house internship on students’ choice of job after graduation. This study employs a qualitative methodology through content analysis to extract meaning from the students’ opinions derived from the focus group interview and the narrative writing of the short open-ended questions. The results from the study demonstrate the crucial role of compulsory in-house internship within the Tourism and Hospitality Management curriculum. The study also confirms that in-house internship can equip and prepare students for the real internship experience within the hotel industry and it also sheds light on the pedagogical role of the in-house internship in the tourism and hospitality curriculum.