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MIAMI, Fla. (Oct. 22, 2003)
-- Florida International University has signed an agreement with
the Tianjin University of Commerce
to run a hospitality management school in China that would mirror
the top-ranked Miami program. The agreement is thought to be
the first on this scale between the Chinese government and a
foreign
university.
Joseph West, Dean of the School of
Hospitality and Tourism Management explained that officials of
the Tianjin University of Commerce
recognized the economic importance of developing a full-fledged
hospitality program and approached FIU with the idea of a partnership.
Now that the agreement is signed, FIU and TUC will begin recruiting
and training the faculty, while the new campus facilities are
built.
“A group of business professors
from China will earn their Master’s
in Hospitality Management at FIU over the next two years and
will then be hired as FIU faculty to teach at TUC starting in
the fall
of 2006,” said Dean West. The school will have around 1,000
students.
The agreement was signed at FIU in
front of a delegation of Chinese officials, including Chen Jian,
Undersecretary General for General
Assembly to the United Nations, Liu Yi, Minister Counselor for
the Chinese Embassy in Washington D.C., Hu Yeshun, the Chinese
Consul General in Houston and Wang Shu Zu, Vice Chairman of Standing
Committee of Tianjin People’s Congress.
"I am fully confident that the
cooperation between these two strong institutions
will work very well in the widening of cooperation between China
and the United States in the important areas of Education and
Human exchange,” said Undersecretary General Chen.
Wang expressed similar optimism with
regard to the doors this agreement opens: “This cooperation is more than just the University
of Tianjin and FIU, it is between the City of Tianjin and the State
of Florida and a start up point between China and the United States."
For FIU the agreement represents
the largest foreign program FIU has been involved in, including
the Hospitality programs
currently operating in Jamaica and Switzerland.
The Tianjin campus will also be able to host exchange students and faculty
from FIU.
“This opens up the classroom
to a whole new set of experiences for students here and there,” said
Vice President for Research Thomas Breslin.
Breslin noted that the timing for
the project is particularly good because China is on the verge
of a tourism boon.
A report issued recently by the World
Travel and Tourism Council, a private organization that represents
hotel and travel companies, predicts the number
of tourists and
business travelers visiting China will grow 22 percent a year beginning
next year through 2013.
“We are going to be the leaders
in training thousands of professionals to fill the jobs that
will be created by this new phenomenon,” said Dean
West.
For more information on the Hospitality
Program in Tianjin, contact Dean Joseph West at 305-919-4510
or visit the School’s web site: http://hospitality.fiu.edu/ Media Contact:
Maydel Santana-Bravo
305-348-1555
parraj@fiu.edu
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