Improvement of student motivation, academic performance and professional aspirations at the University of Cuenca.

The Faculty of Hospitality Sciences (FCH) Research Nucleus, in collaboration with its Academic Prometheus, Dr. Hubert B. Van Hoof, proposes a one -year -old research project, which consists of five individual research studies. These studies analyze the perceptions of the students of the FCH on the internships, future careers and curricula, as well as their reading behaviors, and investigate the perceptions of executives of the tourism industry, hotel and gastronomy about the FCH curriculum. Some of the studies are duplicates of studies that were conducted internationally in the past or that will be carried out simultaneously during the 2012-2013 academic year in other institutions abroad. The study on industry perceptions in relation to the FCH Curriculum will be designed and executed by the researchers themselves. All studies will provide the research team and the FCH information about the behavior of their students, their perceptions and motivations that will be of benefit to the FCH since it is dedicated to the review of its five -year strategic plan. The proper knowledge about how students and industry perceive the curriculum is essential in this process. Additionally, seven FCH members will be trained to participate in the research process to publish and present the results in national and international magazines and in conferences, both as independent items as part of intercultural comparisons. Therefore, this project helps the development of the investigation skills of the six members of the FCH. An important future future benefit of studies is their interdisciplinary implications, as soon as they can be treated as pilot studies for the student population of the University of Cuenca as a whole. At the end of this project, the university can also decide to investigate student attitudes and behaviors and observe the differences and similarities between the different academic units, based on the designs and proposed methodologies for these studies and their results.