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Analysis of College Students’ Graduation Projects

Article  in  SSRN Electronic Journal · August 2011

DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.1918370

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 Analysis of college students’ graduation projects
Stanislav Ivanov a and Miroslava Dimitrova b

a
International University College, 3 Bulgaria str., 9300 Dobrich, Bulgaria, tel: +359 58
655612 email: stanislav.ivanov@vumk.eu

b
International University College, 3 Bulgaria str., 9300 Dobrich, Bulgaria, email:
miroslava.dimitrova@vumk.eu

Abstract
The paper analyses students’ graduation projects from the 2010-2011 academic year in
International University College, Bulgaria. After the dissertation was introduced in 2010 as an
alternative to enterprise project as a type of graduation project, students showed preferences
to it. The paper identifies the challenges faced by students in writing the graduation project,
with a specific focus on tailored applying research.

Key words: graduation project, dissertation, enterprise project, tailored applied research,
undergraduate students, Bulgaria

1. Research background
Tourism is a multi-faceted phenomenon that involves many stakeholders (students,
educational institutions, business units and governmental and non-governmental
organizations). Consequently, integrated approach to tourism training and education is of a
paramount importance (Mayaka and Akama, 2007). For more than 40 years tourism is
considered a distinct area of study (Airey, 2005) and witness a rapid development of the
knowledge base (Fidgeon, 2010, Stergiou, et al., 2008). One of the factors that contributes to
the growth of tourism education is the expansion in the number of students enrolling into
higher education programmes.

Though tourism progress as a social science is evident, it is imperative that tourism -

related fields such as hospitality, leisure, sports and events keep close links with the industry
(Solnet et al., 2007). Tourism education poses fundamental challenges mainly due to the fact
that different stakeholders have specific tourism education needs. “Moreover training as
opposed to education has traditionally dominated the tourism industry in which vocationally-
oriented courses played a crucial role in providing the necessary craft skills for many years”
(Ayikoru and Tribe, 2009). It is vital that equilibrium between firms, students, education and
governmental institutions is established (Zagonari, 2009) as well as a balance between
vocational training and technical education. Zais (1976) defines training as "a technical model
directed towards specific behavioural changes, meanwhile education is directed toward
expanding ones awareness of human environment and how to come with this environment”.
In any case the need of new and innovative forms of curriculum design which combines
successfully academic research with industrial focus is evident. As Busby (2005) claims: “the
focus on industry partnerships is a key strategic initiative of the school” (Busby and Huang,
2011). Tribe's (1997) view is similar and suggests that any study of tourism relates to two
quite distinct fields - one relating to an interdisciplinary, business approach and one to a non-
business perspective which includes consideration of social and environmental impacts.

A number of researchers however warn that many tourism curricula have been designed
by educators with minimal or no industry representation. Curriculum content is often a
contentious issue. For some institutions, the curriculum is likely to be a vocational one (Tribe
1997) and should on this basis focus mainly on practical industry and commercial training
while others adopt more academic approach.

As for the students, a study carried out by Lashley and Barron (2006) on the learning
style preferences on new entrants onto hospitality and tourism programmes demonstrates that
students prefers style that is concrete rather abstract and active rather reflective. Another
survey shows that “career opportunities” ranks among the first motivation for prospectus
students, followed by opportunity for employment and development of business and
analytical skills (Airey and Johnson, 1998). Among the factors that motivate students to enroll
in Hospitality and tourism related programmes are also personal preferences, demographic
and social factors (incl. expectations of family and reference group) (Schmidt, 2002, Kim et
al, 2007).

The importance of industry focused education in tourism is studied by a number of

researches (Lislie and Russer, 2006; Thrane, 2008; Baum and Szivas, 2008). Achieving
competitive advantage in times of rapid change requires tourism stakeholder to have a clear
understanding of the direction of change and its implications for business. “The greater the
knowledge of the trends that underpin tourism development, the greater the capacity of
tourism operators to formulate strategies and to achieve competitive advantage for their
organizations” (Dwyer et al., 2009). However engagement with industry in many education
institutions is often accidental and lacks real commitment and focus. Whereever such industry
linkage exists, it is often centred on industrial placements only. This approach is no longer
adequate for contemporary tourism schools and universities and it is a key issue to be
addressed by relevant communicational strategies and curriculum updates (Solnet et al, 2007).
A step in this direction could be a strategy for transfer and sharing of knowledge and practice
between academia and business. In this case students integrate previously learned concepts
pertaining to operation management, human resources, marketing, economics, informaiton
technology and accounting and address strategic issues from holistic perspective (Okumus
and Wong, 2005). Another relevant step could be creation of so called “research
communities” (Xiao and Smith, 2010). Such communities are characterized by the
responsiveness of the academia to the needs and practices of the industries and government
agencies. Examples of successful symbiosis between tourism universities and the industry
could be traced in the works of Marnburg (2006) and Witsel (2005).

Diploma projects (or final graduation paper) provide another opportunity for linking
education to business. It could be seen as a culmination of an undergraduate or graduate
programme and offers the students an opportunity to submit an extended piece of work on a
specific topic and as such it is considered as a vehicle for promoting autonomous learning and
an effective assessment tool (Webster et al, 2000; Todd et al, 2004). Motivations for topic
choice of the dissertation include personal interest, career aspirations and perceived ease of
access to primary data or literature (l’Anson and Smith, 2004). Diploma projects require time,
efforts, commitment, in–depth knowledge and other personal qualities. They are aiming at
providing adequate and reliable results and conclusions. In those and many other features
there is an evident resemblance between them and real business projects and the application
of performance measurement principles for them is equally appropriate (Day and Bobeva
2007). It is therefore possible that diploma projects are closely linked to the specific industrial
needs in search for real business solutions. In other words the relevant conclusion is that
graduation projects could be successfully implemented in the tailored applied research
concept.

2. Case study – IUC Bulgaria

2.1. IUC students’ graduation projects
Students at IUC, Bulgaria, need to complete a compulsory research project in order to
graduate. The project is about 10000-14000 words long and is worth 10 ECTS credits (as
stipulated by Bulgarian legislation). Students are free in selecting the topic of their graduation
project, approach a company or be approached by a company for it. However, the topic is
subject to final approval by the Programme committee of the programme the student is
enrolled in. The graduation project employs both primary empirical and desk-research. In
order to facilitate it, students have to attend 20 contact hours of graduation project seminars in
which the module leaders elaborate all the issues related to the project. Additionally, students
are assigned supervisors from staff members, which help them in the research process.
According to IUC’s rules and regulations, a student must have at least 3 properly recorded in
written form meetings with his supervisor in order to submit his graduation project, or
otherwise the supervisor has the right to reject the project.

Students can select between 2 versions of the project – dissertation or enterprise project.
In the dissertation students concentrate on one practical problem within a company, elaborate
it in depth and propose solutions to it. The problem can be related to company’s marketing,
human resource management, finance, accounting or other functional area related to its
strategic management and/or daily operations. In the enterprise project students develop a
business plan for a new start up company, or for the introduction of new product or entering
new market for an existing one. While in the dissertation students can go in depth in one
functional field only (marketing, HRM, management, finance, law, etc.), the enterprise project
is much more challenging. It requires that they have broader knowledge and skills in all
functional fields and be able to determine their interconnectedness.

Table 1 presents an overview of the IUC 2011 cohort students’ graduation projects. In
total 90 projects were submitted from students in 5 Professional Bachelor programmes – 2
with English language of instruction (Hospitality Management and International Business
Management) and 3 with Bulgarian language of instruction (Hospitality Management,
Marketing and Management in Hospitality and Tourism, and Marketing and Management).
The graduation projects were supervised by 14 staff members allocated according to their
topic.

Table 1. Overview of the IUC students’ graduation projects (2011 cohort)

Criterion Number of projects
Undergraduate programme of study
Hospitality Management (in Bulgarian) 7
Hospitality Management (in English) 5
Marketing and Management in Hospitality and Tourism 16
(in Bulgarian)
 Marketing and Management (in Bulgarian) 55
International Business Management (in English) 7
Type of graduation project
Dissertation 80
Enterprise project 10
Functional field
Marketing 35
Management 34
Human resource management 20
Law 1
Industry focus
Tourism/hospitality 33
Food production 7
Food and beverage establishments 5
Real estate 3
Construction 3
Wine production 2
Public authorities 2
Household chemical products 2
Furniture 2
Consulting agencies 2
Other (addressed in one graduation project only) 29
Total number of graduation projects = 90

Data from Table 1 reveal that the majority of students focused on graduation research
project in the form of a dissertation rather than enterprise project. The reason might be
because in dissertations students focus on one problem related to a company/municipality and
look for solutions to it. Enterprise projects are much more challenging as they require the
student to have a comprehensive view of the company, analyse its micro- and
macroenvironment and develop elaborate marketing, operational, human resource and
financial plans of the company for at least 3 years ahead.

Looking at the functional field of the graduation projects one can see that there are 3
large foci – marketing (branding, elements of the marketing mix, marketing environment,
CRM, etc.), corporate management (including operations management, quality management)
and human resource management. One dissertation discussed legal issues. It is interesting to
note that there was not a single graduation project that dealt exclusively with finance or
accounting problems in corporate management. Our experience as lecturers in IUC confirms
students’ preferences to “soft” narrative subjects (HRM, management, marketing) rather than
subjects involving a lot of mathematics (statistics, accounting, finance, economics). The
reason might be in students’ perceptions that narrative subjects are easier and more
comprehendible than those adopting mathematics. Nevertheless, students’ preferences on the
functional field of their graduation project provide valuable insights to their preparedness and
imply areas in their academic skills that need improvement, namely – numerical skills.

The industry focus of the applied research is not surprising. As one third of the
graduating students were in tourism and hospitality programme so were the dissertations and
enterprise projects – one third of them were also related to tourism and hospitality. Students’
research was on both industry (tourism development in a particular municipality or specific
types of tourism) and corporate level (tourist companies – hotels, travel agencies). Other
popular industries in students’ projects were food production, F&B outlets, construction and
real estate, furniture, wine production. Interestingly, 2 dissertations discussed consulting
agencies specialised in EU projects and standardisation procedures, reflecting the current
developments in Bulgarian economy, while some of the enterprise projects were dedicated to
new start-up businesses like snail farm, nanotechnology research laboratory, and
entertainment centre. Similarly to the functional field, no graduation project considered
financial institutions as an object of research.

2.2. Challenges in writing the graduation projects

Below we summarise the challenges faced by students in writing their graduation projects,
based on our experience as graduation projects supervisors:

2.2.1. Topic selection

Selecting the topic is one of the major difficulties faced by IUC students. Our
experience as dissertation and enterprise project supervisors reveals that students that work
during their studies usually write about their companies. They first select the industry focus of
their project and after that the functional field (marketing, management, HRM, etc.). Non-
working students seem to follow the other pattern – they first select what they want to write
for (the functional field) and after that they determine the company to investigate. Both
approaches are acceptable and have their own advantages. When students select the company
first, it is usually because they have access to it (work in it, own it or it belongs to their
parents/relatives/friends), which facilitates the research process. In the other case, students
choose the functional field they feel comfortable with which allows them to delve deep into
the theoretical issues of the field. In any case, a good graduation project requires a good topic.

2.2.2. Literature review

 The broad and in-depth analysis of the available literature on a topic is a prerequisite for
an adequate conceptual framework of the graduation project. The review of students’
dissertations and enterprise projects reveals that most of the references come from open
access internet sources (both academic and non-academic) and books available in IUC’s
library. Articles in closed-access academic journals were less cited. Students found it
challenging to cite properly and when necessary. However, one should not forget that
students’ projects are not deemed to be top-level academic articles and they have much more
practical focus than purely academic literature. That’s why, using internet sources was
considered entirely acceptable.

2.2.3. Access
Although many students prepared projects for the companies they work in, they still
find difficulties in negotiating access. Firms are not quite willing to reveal sensitive financial,
marketing and operational data or provide figures that have been “massaged”. Persuading
managers to allow students to interview them or their employees is also a major challenge.
Bulgarian managers seem to be very protective and suspicious to empirical research,
regardless who makes it – an academic, a student, marketing research company or the
National Statistics Institute.

2.2.4. Research methodology and data collection

Most students employ survey as a research methodology and questionnaires as a data
collection tool. Students easily determine the size of samples they need in order to obtain
statistically significant results. However, having enough completed questionnaires is a
difficult task – from the analysed graduation projects only those they employ census in a
small company produce statistically significant results. The rest of the projects produce results
that are not generalisable because of the low number of completed questionnaires. The
reasons for the low response rate are numerous but they predominantly relate to the lack of
desire among Bulgarians to participate in research. They are frightened that their privacy and
anonymity will not be protected, or that data collected could be used for purposes other than
the stated. This scepticism hinders data collection and diminishes the response rate in
students’ research. Additional challenges related to data collection are related to the
questionnaires and include the length of questionnaires (either too many or too few
questions), omission of possible answers in the closed questions, inclusion of questions that
do not have obvious connection with the aims of the project, etc. Analysis of the 2011 cohort
graduation projects shows that only a handful of them adopt interview as a data collection tool
and those that do perform only a couple of interviews. The reason might be in the greater
difficulty in the subsequent analysis of the qualitative data from the interview compared to the
quantifiable data from the questionnaires. Other reasons might be the unwillingness of
potential interviewees to participate or students’ inability to motivate them to participate in the
research.

2.2.5. Data analysis, presentation and discussion

Most students prepare summary tables of interviewees’ responses on each question.
They also easily identify the obvious correlations between the answers to different questions,
although this is not always result of the application of correlation and regression analysis or
other complicated statistical methodologies. Sometimes students focus too much on details
that do not relate directly to the topic and the aim of their graduation project and do not
devote much attention to major issues arising from the primary data they have collected. On
the positive side, students prepare many tables, figures and graphs to illustrate their findings,
although sometimes they are a bit too many.

2.2.6. Tailor applied research in graduation projects

Only seven of the 90 graduation projects can be considered clearly as tailored applied
research, assigned by an external organisation, or, put in other words, the external
organisation was the initiator for the research. All students that were assigned such projects
either work in the companies or the companies belong to their parents/relatives. This
facilitates access to necessary corporate information and potential interviewees. The low
number of tailored applied research projects can be attributed to the divide observed between
the industry and higher education institutions in Bulgaria – industry representatives do not
perceive higher education institutions and students as solvers to their problems rather as a
source of labour. However, the introduction of tailored applied research in IUC is considered
as successful and will be further expanded in the coming academic years.

2.2.7. Other challenges

Writing a research project requires persistence. However, our experience shows that
many students leave it to the last weeks before the deadline. Of course, the final outcomes, in
terms of project quality and mark, are strongly correlated to the time devoted to the project
and the number of meetings a student had with the supervisor.
 3. Conclusion
The paper clearly demonstrated that diploma projects provide an excellent opportunity
of linkage between research community (such as students and faculty members) and industry
representatives. Our finding suggest that this potential has been identified but not yet fully
utilized as the prevailing number of graduation papers have no specific business orientation.
Improved communication between educational institution and professional unions,
governmental organizations and selected companies is important in this case. The traditional
approach to diploma project is that students choose independently the topic of their final
paper (l’Anson and Smith, 2004) and design themselves (with supervisor’s assistance) the
research aims, task, objectives and structures. To some extent this approach contradicts to the
tailored applied research (TAR) concept, where students are given an assignment according to
the needs of the external organization. A possible solution is that a pool of business research
proposals is formed and each graduate student has the option to choose between designing
his/her own study and taking a TAR assignment. Some of the benefits of choosing TAR
include better access to company files and data, closer collaboration with industry
representatives that may lead to future employment and closer team work with project
supervisors which could affect positively the quality of the research and the final outcome.

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