Re-Strategizing Tourism and Hospitality Assessments in a Post-COVID-19 Higher Education Landscape

Abstract

This research presents a reframing of tourism and hospitality teaching and assessment quality assurance in a post-COVID-19 higher education landscape. It does this as a timely and opportune moment to reflect on why and how higher education assessments should be framed through a Blue Ocean Strategy for disciplines such as tourism and hospitality to formulate radical changes in an environment that has long been dominated by using examinations to assess learning. To explore potential solutions, this research traces the journeys of 16 Chinese academics transitioning as educators before and during the outbreak of COVID-19. The findings revealed how the pandemic hastened the replication of face-to-face teaching and assessments into an online mode. However, other essential skills, such as graduate employability, remain implicit as the influences on students’ competencies for the post-pandemic industry needs more exploration. Derived from these outcomes is a conceptual framework around a Blue Ocean Strategy to repurpose the role of assessments to prompt broader conversations and debates about the theory and practice of tourism and hospitality assessments towards desired futures.