In December 2009, the Opinions of the State Council of the People's Republic of China on Accelerating the Development of Tourism (Guo Fa [2009] No. 41) proposed to cultivate tourism into a strategic pillar industry of the national economy and a modern service industry that the people are more satisfied with. The important event, the status and role of tourism in the national economy has undergone a fundamental change, providing a good opportunity for the development of tourism.
Tourism has been elevated from a traditional service industry to a national strategic pillar industry, which has put forward higher requirements for the tourism industry practitioners. In the development of tourism industry, tourism talents are always the first resource for tourism development. By 2015, the number of people received in China's tourism market will reach 3.5 billion, and the contradiction in demand for tourism talents is becoming increasingly prominent, especially high-end tourism talents who can meet the standards of modern service industry are exceptionally scarce. The training and development of high-end tourism talents has become the focus of social attention. In the National Medium and Long-term Talent Development Plan also distinctly put forward the guideline that talent development should be led by high-end. Under this background, the State Education Commission (Degree Office [2011] No. 34) established a new professional master degree in tourism - Master of Tourism Administration (MTA).
The objective of MTA is to cultivate senior applied tourism management talents who have a sense of social responsibility and tourism professionalism, master the basic theory, knowledge and skills of tourism management, have international vision and strategic thinking ability, and dare to challenge the development of modern tourism industry across borders. The establishment of MTA has opened up a brand new road for the cultivation of Chinese high-end tourism talents, making the cultivation of high-end tourism talents develop from the internal cultivation of enterprises in the past to a new stage of formal professional cultivation in the college.
In September 2010, MTA was included in the national unified enrollment plan for graduate students in 2011, allowing enrollment in 57 authorized MTA sites in 24 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, marking the official launch of MTA education program in China. The Secretariat of the National Steering Committee of Master's Degree in Tourism Management Education is attached to Nankai University, and the MTA aims to cultivate complex management talents with a sense of social responsibility and tourism professionalism, international vision and strategic thinking ability, and capable of working in the modern tourism industry. Graduates will be engaged in practical work in the tourism industry and related industries.
MTA enrollment is for working people with working experience, requiring five years or more working experience for college graduation, three years or more working experience for undergraduate graduation, and two years or more working experience for doctoral graduation. MTA students are required to pass the national joint management examination in January each year, which is the same as that of MBA candidates. After graduation, MTA students can pass the dissertation defense and obtain the official national master's degree certificate and master's diploma.
