Chapter 17: Singapore Institute of Technology – Integrated Work Study Programme
Chapter 17: Singapore Institute of Technology – Integrated Work Study Programme (IWSP) Model
Christina Lam and Yeo May-Fung
Christina Lam, Singapore Institute of Technology
Yeo May-Fung, Singapore Institute of Technology
Abstract
In 2015, the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) launched a hospitality business degree programme to accommodate the needs and demands of the hospitality industry. This is the first and only hospitality business degree programme offered by an autonomous university in Singapore. Its focus is on applied learning pedagogy, in which students learn to integrate theory and practice. This pedagogy is particularly applicable and relevant to the nature of hospitality business, which focuses on practical learning and skills. A key feature of the Singapore Institute of Technology’s applied learning pedagogy is the Integrated Work Study Programme (IWSP), which is a work attachment of eight months. This case study offers a comprehensive overview of IWSP and aims to examine success factors and to identify key challenges. Recommendations are presented to address the challenges and concerns.
Keywords: Integrated Work Study Programme (IWSP), Hospitality Business Programme, Practical Learning, Industry Partners
Introduction
The hospitality industry has been growing rapidly in the past decades. In recent years, there has been a significant number of new hotel openings worldwide, from developing to developed countries, from economical to luxurious categories, and from boutique to large sizes. Countries such as Singapore have continually faced manpower and labour shortages. One of the crucial tasks for the senior management is to attract more “work-ready” graduates to join the workforce. Practical learning becomes an important component to enhance students’ competency with adequate skill sets. Applied learning is primarily an approach that links the ‘real world’ to the concepts being taught in the classroom (VCCA, 2006). Therefore, an 8-month Integrated Work Study Programme (IWSP) is the key component of the Singapore Institute of Technology’s (SIT) hospitality business programme curriculum. Applied learning manifests in higher education as one or more of the kinds of pedagogical practices, such as practical experiences, project-based learning, service-learning, and integrated work study programmes (Lim, Foo, Loh & Deng, 2019).
This chapter presents the Integrated Work Study Programme (IWSP), the practical training model of the three-year hospitality business degree programme at SIT. IWSP offers opportunity for students to undertake real work that allows them to integrate theory and practice while developing deep, specialised skills in the hospitality industry (SIT, 2020). Numerous research on hospitality curricula stated the importance of relevance of the curriculum to the industry development and demand, especially in students’ skill sets.
SIT emphases an applied learning pedagogy to maintain the relevance to the hospitality industry n