The evaluation of Tourism Management curriculum of tourism faculty in Turkey

When the 2023 Turkey Tourism Strategy report action plan is examined, the emphasis on updating the curriculums of the "Tourism and Hotel Management Department" comes to the fore. However, there are no thesis studies which are directly related to the subject. Starting from this point, Tourism Management Bachelor Programs and Hotel Management Bachelor Programs have been evaluated holistically with a new eclectic curriculum evaluation model introduced and tried by the researcher for the first time and brought to the literature. The study has started with a needs analysis. Interviews have been conducted with the human resources managers of 9 different 5-star hotels in the Manavgat region. In this way, the data which would be used as the source of measurement tools and the evaluation model that would be developed and used in the thesis have been collected. The developed curriculum evaluation model is a mixed type method that includes quantitative and qualitative methods. As the measurement tool in the quantitative part, the "Vocational Self-Efficacy Perception Scale of Undergraduate Students of the Tourism Management Department" developed by the researcher has been used. The Cronbach-α reliability coefficient of the scale, which consists of 4 dimensions and 26 items, has been calculated as 0.94.The sample of the quantitative part consists of 321 senior students studying in Faculties of Tourism, Tourism Management and Hotel Management departments of Antalya Akdeniz, Alanya Alaaddin Keykubat, Muğla Sıtkı Koçman, Aydın Adnan Menderes and Ankara Hacı Bayram Universities, which have been determined by the criterion sampling. The collected data have been analyzed with the package programs of SPSS 23, JASP 0.11.1 full version and demo version of AMOS 22. In this context, tests and multiple regression analyzes have been performed in order of; exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, percentage, frequency, multiple agreement analysis, independent t test, ANOVA test. In the qualitative part, lecturers interview forms, student interview forms and photographs have been analyzed within the scope of document analysis. On the other hand, the study group of the qualitative part consists of students and lecturers working in the relevant faculties of the universities mentioned above. In qualitative analysis, NVivo 10 and MAXQDA 2020 demo package programs have been used. The data have been subjected to word frequency analysis and content analysis. In conclusion, the lack of internship and the disconnection of the program from the sector stand out in the needs analysis. Cooperation with academy is expected in the sector. The expectation of the sector from the academy is foreign language speaking qualified personnel. In the quantitative findings, it has been determined that the students working in the front office and service bar departments of the hotels increased their self-efficacy perceptions as the percentage of their English education received during their university education increased. In fact, the fact that the students studying in departments with 100% English education have the highest self-efficacy perceptions about the front office department is another finding confirming this situation. Similarly, there is a significant relationship between self-efficacy perceptions towards the service bar department and the level of English education they receive. However, no relationship has been found between these variables and self-efficacy in the housekeeping department. On the contrary, there is an inverse correlation between the weight ratio of English in education and self-efficacy in this department. On the other hand, when we look at the situation in the food and beverage department, the gender, sectoral experience and English education of the students do not have any effect. For this reason, it is thought that it would be beneficial if the 4-year education in the faculties consists of common courses in the form of an associate degree program in the first 2 years, and the branching of the students is determined within the scope of the needs analysis and for these departments of the hotels where they will be employed when they graduate, in the 3rd and 4th grades. Internship and English-based education can be given to students who will work in the front office, service and bar departments in 3rd and 4th grades. In addition to the EW (equally-weighted) score, the language score may be required for students to be admitted to these departments. In the current study, it has been determined that being a tourism high school graduate makes a significant difference for some departments. For the departments that require specialization for these departments, tourism high school graduation may be required. For the other two departments, on the other hand, it may be considered to practice more on-the-job training and less theoretical lectures. In line with the findings of the SWOT analysis made in the qualitative part and the views of the instructors, it has been determined that the strength of the program is "excess of job opportunities", the weak aspect of the program is "not responding to the sector needs", the opportunity aspect is "employment oriented", and the threat aspect is "potential employment contraction in the future".As a result of the SWOT analysis conducted on the students, it has been determined that "student exchange programs" are the strengths of the program, "practical courses" are the weak aspects, "good job opportunities" are the opportunity aspect (at this point, it also coincide with the lecturers), "the increase in the number of faculty" is the threat aspect.For this reason, it is possible to propose a capacity limit by the Council of Higher Education (CoHE), opening these faculties only in tourism cities, and closing the faculties that currently have few students. In the needs analysis and qualitative findings, it has been stated by the instructors and students that intensity of the theoretical courses are high and the applied courses are less in the program.