On February 16th, 2023, the School of Tourism and Hotel Management received an official confirmation email from the UNWTO Tourism Education Quality Certification Centre, stating that all three undergraduate programs in Tourism Management, Hotel Management, and Exhibition Economy and Management have successfully obtained the UNWTO.TedQual Certification. The School has become the first tourism undergraduate institution in Central China to receive this international certification, marking significant progress in developing national first-class undergraduate programs.
The UNWTO.TedQual Certification is the only global certification for tourism education. Its objective is to enhance the quality of international tourism education, training, and research programs and promote global tourism ethics and values. The certification covers five major modules: employers, students, faculty and staff, teaching systems, and teaching management. The certification process includes application, pre-registration, submission of self-evaluation reports, submission of assessment reports, preparation of supporting materials for on-site (or online) inspections, on-site (or online) inspections, professional certification analysis, and announcement of results. This certification demonstrates high standardization, quality, and internationalization in tourism education. Obtaining this certification indicates that the three programs have established a high-level and internationalized professional education system, fully demonstrating the effectiveness of the School's educational efforts in recent years and further enhancing the international reputation and influence of the School.
The School initiated the certification process in early 2021 and received full support from the University. With the concerted efforts and mobilization of all faculty and staff, multiple discussions were held to facilitate the certification work. Visits to several schools were conducted, and industry experts were invited to provide guidance. In September 2021, the application and registration were completed, followed by submitting a self-evaluation report to the certification committee in January 2022. In September 2022, the assessment report and supporting materials were submitted. From November 2nd to November 4th, 2022, Dr. Edith M Szivas, an expert appointed by the certification committee, conducted the online inspection as part of the certification process. During the online inspection, Hong Fu, a member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee of the University and Vice President of the University, attended the certification review meeting. Various functional departments of the University, including the School of Foreign Languages, School of Information Engineering, Experimental Teaching Center, Online Education Center, Library, Logistics Group, external cooperation institutions, enterprises, and alums associations, provided enthusiastic support and assistance.
In 2019, the Tourism Management program was successfully selected by the Ministry of Education as one of the first batches of national first-class undergraduate programs. The successful completion of this international certification has laid a solid foundation for developing national first-class undergraduate programs. It has been a significant exploration of comprehensive teaching reform and internationalization of the School. In the coming years, the School will continue to improve and strive for further progress based on this certification. Efforts will be made to enhance communication and cooperation with world-renowned universities through the platform of the World Tourism Organization, deepen comprehensive reforms including undergraduate education and teaching, and promote high-quality development of the School in the new era.