Introduction to International School of Cultural Tourism of Hangzhou City University

Hangzhou City University enthusiastically promotes tourism development by systematically following the“Cultural and Tourism Integration” policy of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People's Republic of China and the “New Liberal Arts” construction policy of the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China. International School of Cultural Tourism (ISCT) was established on February 13, 2022. It is the first of its kind in Zhejiang Province, with on and off-campus facilities and a mission to achieve academic excellence during the digital era. Under the leadership of Professor Hanqin Qiu, a leading scholar with more than 30 years of experience in teaching, research and management at universities in China and abroad, the ISCT will grow from strength to strength.

The predecessor of ISCT was the major of tourism management at Hangzhou City University founded in 1999. The major of tourism management had been awarded as a first-class undergraduate construction site in Zhejiang Province, a new major in Hangzhou, and its discipline (Business Administration Discipline: Tourism and Leisure) had been selected as a first-class discipline in Hangzhou. In September 2021, the “Digital Cultural Tourism Characteristic Class” , the first of its kind in universities in Hangzhou was developed. As of 2023, the major has provided undergraduate study for 21 years and delivered nearly 2,200 professionals to society.

ISCT has hired 25 full-time faculty members, more than 90% have senior professional titles and doctoral degrees. Besides, all of them have overseas study experience. ISCT faculty members have achieved many honors, including Double-Qualified-Talents from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China, “151” Talents in Zhejiang Province, Zhijiang Youth of Zhejiang Province, Leading Talents Training Program for colleges and universities in Zhejiang Province, “131” Talents for the New Century of Hangzhou city, and Outstanding Talents in Social Science of Hangzhou city. In addition, our faculty members have sector-specific qualifications, for instance, Star ratings for Zhejiang Province hotels, Registered Planner, International Certified Hospitality Trainer and STR certification. Professor Lingqiang Zhou of Zhejiang University has been appointed as a Distinguished Professor of Qianjiang Scholar. 11 professors from well-known universities at home and abroad are employed as visiting or part-time professors, and more than 40 industry executives are employed as industry consultants.

Centering on the three major goals of “a strategic pillar industry of the national economy, a modern service industry that the people are more satisfied with, and a world tourism powerhouse”, ISCT focuses on the major development priorities of China's cultural tourism industry, guided by the construction idea of “new liberal arts”, centering on “wisdom, sharing and openness”, guaranteed by system reform and mechanism. The school brings together outstanding innovation teams, gathers resources of various types and levels, and deepens international cooperation and exchanges. With an outstanding international education system, innovative digital cultural tourism features, new types of talents cultivation mode, excellent faculty structure, and optimized disciplinary layouts as the characteristics of development, the school is committed to cultivating high-quality application-oriented and innovative tourism talents who can adapt to the integration of culture and tourism, and have innovative thinking, international vision, digital literacy, and humanistic sentiment. The school's goal is to build a first-class tourism discipline in China with multi-disciplinary development and “new liberal arts” characteristics and to become an international cultural tourism school with “Zhejiang characteristics, first-class in China and internationally renowned”.