Paper Title
An Exploratory Study of Tourism Students Work-Integrated Learning: Gaps Between Expectations and Perceptions

Abstract
Work-integrated learning (WIL) has been widely used as a compulsory education component in Universities of Technology (UoTs). With a work-based component becoming compulsory in higher education in South Africa, there is limited research in the academic literature on the gaps between students’ expectations and perceptions of tourism WIL placements. The purpose of this study was to determine the gaps between the expectations and perceptions of tourism students with regard to their WIL placements. Third year tourism students at Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) completed expectation surveys prior to obtaining placement and perception surveys after completing their WIL placements. The analysis will be used to reveal trends and patterns in responses through statistical analyses, which will be a useful baseline for further studies as well as initiating debate on the interpretation and use of the data to inform follow-up action. The study concludes that preparation for WIL placement needs to be improved in order to minimize the gaps. Although the study is based on research in South Africa, it is argued that suggestions and discussions of selected placement issues may be potentially applicable to tourism placements in other countries. Keywords - Work-Integrated Learning (WIL), student expectations, student perceptions, GAPS