Hospitality curriculum: a comparative assessment based on ACPHA standards

This is what experts are saying:

African American students need a "dynamic curriculum" in order to gain the competitive edge over their peers (Marshall, 1992).

Top educators and industry executives at the 1993 Annual CHRIE Conference stated that "hospitality schools need to overhaul their curricula if they are to be more relevant in today’s market place" (Walkup, 1993).

The purpose of the research project was to obtain information on how the curricula of HPBCUs with hospitality administration programs compared to ACPHA standards. The study sought information from those institutions of higher education and made comparisons based on ACPHA standards and expert reviewers. The study was aimed primarily at identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the HPBCUs’ curricula using the ACPHA standards as the foundation.

A total of 11 HPBCUS were evaluated by 18 ACPHA reviewers. The reviewers compared the HPBCUs’ curricula to ACPHA standards using a Likert-type scale (4=Superior, 3=Satisfactory, 2=Unsatisfactory, 1=Poor). Each HPBCU curriculum was evaluated by two reviewers.

Forty percent of the institutions received an approval rating for accreditation and 40% were deferred accreditation. The remaining 20% were denied the accreditation status. All accrediting decisions reflected curriculum only.

It was recommended that the 11 HPBCUs follow ACPHA standards to ensure the quality of education being offered. It was also recommended that the HPBCUs’ curricula be revised to reflect areas of hospitality administration deemed necessary by ACPHA.