This study identifies reasons why college students in Hong Kong want to study hospitality and tourism management (HTM) and why they want to pursue HTM degrees abroad. It also aims to identify students' preferred HTM study areas. An empirical study of a cohort of 384 HTM students was conducted to determine their motives for their choice of HTM. The results indicate that there were five motivational factors among HTM students: self-actualisation, job opportunity, field attractiveness, ease of study, and scholastic achievement. Detailed information on the motivational factors along with preferred overseas study destinations and HTM study areas are discussed.
[Copyright of Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sports and Tourism Education is the property of Higher Education Academy. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.3794/johlste.72.178]

This study explores graduates' and students' perceptions of the importance of quality of different modules in a Diploma in Hospitality Management (DHM) program in relation to their future development. A structured questionnaire was developed to examine the relationship of the quality of taught modules (courses) and future development. Data collection was conducted at a local university in Hong Kong, through a survey from graduates of the first intake and students of the second intake. Empirical findings indicated that the respondents generally viewed the program positively, but significant differences on various modules were found between those i) who had and had not completed an internship, ii) who preferred to work in the industry and to pursue further studies, and iii) graduates and students.
[Copyright of Journal of Quality Assurance in Hospitality & Tourism is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15280080802412735]

Web-based leaching opens new opportunities for international collaboration in offering courses to students. It also allows students to attend courses offered by instructors situated outside their own country. This paper presents the lessons learned from one such course offered by instructors located in Texas and Hong Kong to students residing in Shanghai studying in a collaborative Master of Social Service Management Programme (MSSM) between HKU and Fudan University. The course, titled 'Information and Communication Technology for Social Service Organizations,' was offered twice in the past two years using an Internet-based class chat room supported by a course website and other web based tools. While the offering was successful based on student evaluations, many problems and issues had to be addressed. The course background, learning outcomes, lessons learned, and future recommendations are presented. In addition, an analysis of the Shanghai student IT applications is provided to help understand the current state of human services IT in China.
[Copyright of Journal of Technology in Human Services is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1300/J017v25n01_04]

Virtual worlds are a phenomenon raising interest among educators around the globe, with more than 500 educational institutions experimenting with, or offering classes in, the virtual world of Second Life. While many educators are excited about the potential of virtual worlds, others are wary or skeptical. Some consider them as upmarket games, while others are afraid they will degrade student learning. Virtual worlds are certainly not a panacea for higher education, and they present many challenges for students, teachers, and administrators. This article describes how Second Life has been used for teaching and learning in a hospitality and tourism school in Hong Kong. It discusses some of the opportunities, challenges, and problems of using this virtual environment and analyzes data collected from students and teachers who used Second Life for learning and teaching in four diverse courses. The article concludes by suggesting strategies and techniques for using virtual worlds effectively in hospitality and tourism education.
[Copyright of Journal of Teaching in Travel & Tourism is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15313220802634224]

Hospitality educators have long been emphasizing the importance of training their students with the appropriate skills that are required by the industry. Although previous studies have shown different degrees of success for hospitality management educators to achieve this goal, there is no prior research that examines the relationship of Information Technology [IT] education and industrial applications from an education institute's perspective. This paper provides a linkage of the latest IT applications to the Hong Kong hotel industry with IT training in different degree and subdegree programs offered at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University [PolyU]. An attempt to make this connection is essential for PolyU in providing Hong Kong with the preferred graduates for the local hospitality industry.
[Copyright of Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10941660108722093 ]

This paper focuses on efforts to promote environmental education andcommunity mobilization around environmental issues in Hong Kong. It is primarily concerned with efforts directed at the broader community(i.e. the population as a whole) rather than with environmental education through formal school and college curricula. The paper draws ona recently completed study commissioned by the Environmental Campaign Committee, the principal source of financial support for such efforts undertaken by environmental NGOs, community groups and educationalinstitutions in Hong Kong. The study examined how and to what effectthe Committee had used its financial resources between 1994-1999. Italso examined international experience with a view to recommending changes in the overall approach to environmental education and community mobilization initiatives and their funding in Hong Kong. The papersuggests that the existing approach to community wide environmental education and its funding in Hong Kong have suffered from various weaknesses, most notably the absence of an integrated and goal-oriented strategy, an over-reliance on a `top-down' campaign-based approach, afailure to establish explicit linkages with the concept of sustainable development and to ground initiatives at the local neighborhood and community levels, and a preoccupation with the financial inputs provided to support this work at the expense of effective monitoring andauditing of project outputs and benefits.
[Copyright of International Journal for Sustainable Development & World Ecology is the property of Taylor & Francis. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13504500109470071]

Presents information on a study conducted to analyze the level of environmental consciousness of students in the educational system in Hong Kong, with emphasis on environmental education. What is environmental consciousness; Details on the growth of materialistic values in society; Lack of attention to attitudinal and behavioral objectives in class room teaching; Method used in the study; Findings of the study.
[Copyright of Environmental Education Research is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1350462980040302]