Innovating the tourism industry in China
In a unique international collaboration with the Ministry of Education in China, ASU established the Hainan University-Arizona State University Joint International Tourism College in 2017 to address the increasing need for highly educated professionals able to expand in the areas of parks, recreation, and tourism, as well as public administration. This collaboration creates a global initiative to prepare professionals to leverage knowledge in the areas of economic, social, cultural, and environmental aspects of community development and management.
Under the leadership of Professor Kelly S. Bricker, director of HAITC and the ASU-HNU partnership, ASU participates in this collaboration with Hainan University. Hainan, a top-tier college in southern China, offers three undergraduate degree programs. Two of the degrees are in ASU’s School of Community Resources and Development: tourism development and management, which is matched with Hainan’s hotel management degree, and parks and recreation management, which is paired with Hainan’s geography and urban and rural planning degree.
ASU’s School of Public Affairs supports the third degree, which is public service and public policy, matched with Hainan’s public administration degree.
ASU is now collaborating on a master’s degree program including two degrees, a Master of Public Administration and Master of Tourism Management.
Twenty ASU faculty are dedicated to teaching the MPA and MTM students and teach all of the 1,200+ dual-degree undergraduate students, who study and learn by English language instruction at China’s Hainan campus in Haikou City. The 2018 cohort of HAITC students experienced an impressive 91% graduation success (2022) in four years.