On 8 January 2018, H.E. Mme. Yang Xiuping, Secretary-General of ASEAN-China Centre (ACC), visited Hospitality Institute of Sanya (HIS), and met with Mr. Wang Weihai, Vice General Manager of Hainan Regional Headquarter of China Communications Construction Company (CCCC), CCCC Ocean Investment Holding Company and President of HIS, and Mr. Yu Shichun, Executive President of HIS. Mr. Zhang Xuehai, Deputy Director of Information and Public Relations Division of ACC, attended the meeting.

President Wang Weihai and Executive President Yu Shichun respectively briefed on HIS’s operation and its planning of exchanges and cooperation with ASEAN countries. Located at Haitang Bay of Sanya and covering a toal area of 362 mu, HIS is established under the full investment of CCCC Ocean Investment Holding Company that is wholly owned by CCCC, and authenticated by Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne that ranks the first place among hospitality institutes in the world. Managed by Beijing Hospitality Institute, HIS has been operated since September 2017, and enrolled the first 600 students. The current cumulative investment amounts RMB 1.088 billion, accounting for 82.5% of the total investment RMB 1.319 billion. Possessing such facilities as teaching buildings, administrative building, library, pedagogical hotel and cuisine plaza, HIS now has four majors, namely, hotel management, international cruise management, western cuisine and tourism management (online sales), all of which are urgently needed by Hainan’s building of international tourism island and relevant fields across China. With two more majors added in 2018, namely, hotel financial management and hotel human resource management, it is estimated that HIS will enroll 1,000 students annually, and the total number of enrolled students will reach 3,600 by 2020.

The main pattern of HIS’s operation is based on institute-enterprise cooperation and target-oriented cultivation. In 2017, HIS launched five Brand Classes with several world leading hotels. As a result, students can be easily recruited as interns or employees by those world class hotels. In addition, HIS has signed cooperation agreements with 46 domestic five-star hotels, several Castello Banfi Michelin-star restaurants, cruise companies and Disneyland Park (Shanghai).

President Wang Weihai and Executive President Yu Shichun stated that the establishment of HIS will provide Hainan’s tourism and hotel industries professionals with applied skills and international eyesight, and higher standard of management and service, which would enhance Hainan’s international competitiveness in tourism and hotel industries. To actively echo the Belt and Road Initiative, HIS is going to run the Belt and Road programme targeting on international students from Central Europe, Africa and Southeast Asia. They hoped to actively explore cooperation with educational institutes of ASEAN countries and enroll ASEAN students with the support of ACC.

Secretary-General Yang Xiuping highly commended HIS’s achievements and CCCC’s positive contributions to education. She mentioned that ACC will continue to play its role of one-stop information and activities centre and serve as a bond and bridge linking ASEAN and Chinese higher education institutions including HIS to deepen exchanges and cooperation. She hoped that HIS could uphold its characteristics and find the convergence with ASEAN counterparts to cultivate more applied professionals with high qualities, and make greater contributions to boosting two-way practical cooperation in tourism and other fields.

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