Professionalism is not easily defined for newcomers to the workforce. While much of the work-ready research focuses on desired graduate attributes and skills, the larger issue is the ways in which students conceptualize professionalism from their observations and experiences of others, and how these conceptualizations affect their professional…

This paper reports on a funded research project into the experiences of tourism, hospitality and cruise management students on internship outside the UK as part of their British university degree between 2007 and 2009. The research reflected on the perceptions of students, course managers, placement officers and members of university placement…