Brief introduction

Shanghai Institute of Tourism (SIT) was founded in 1979 and is the first independent tourism institute in China. In 2003, SIT was incorporated with Urban Science & Tourism College of Shanghai Normal University (SNU) to establish Shanghai Institute of Tourism/School of Tourism SNU and carried out academic education at all levels from associate degree to master degree. At the same time, SIT was still kept as an independent legal entity to develop higher vocational education at the junior college level. In 2011, SIT became the only model vocational institute  of tourism in the country.

SIT has 1 master degree program of first-level discipline, 2 master degree programs of second-level disciplines, 2 professional master degree programs, 3 undergraduate programs, and 21 diploma programs.

Corresponding to the goal of Shanghai to become a global city and enhance the core functionalities of Five Centers, SIT has formed its own education characteristics by actively responding to the Four Brands Strategy, targeting to construct the top-ranking tourism discipline, concentrating on the improvement of professional tourism specialty, and setting the cultivation of high-level applied talents with an international perspective as the goal of talents cultivation. Since the establishment of SIT, the vast majority of the nearly 100,000 graduates have grown into elites in their industries and more than two-thirds of them are managers in department of tourism, hospitality and other related departments in corporates.

Student Development

Upholding the educational philosophy of “face the global market, rely on the industry, and serve the sector” and guided by the demand of talents in modern service industry, SIT focuses on the intrinsic value construction.  Through the teaching model of real scene, real situation, and real field and the combination of theoretical knowledge with professional skills, SIT has cultivated a batch of applied talents featured with tourism characteristics of proactive service awareness, high professionalism, and solid professional knowledge at the large industry level. The graduates of SIT have been widely praised by the industry and employers.

Faculty

SIT has a team of high-qualified teachers with solid professional knowledge, rich industrial background, and international standards.  SIT has more than 300 faculty staff, 200 of whom are full-time teachers.  76% of the teaching staff hold a master and doctor degree and 30% are professors and associate professors. 

Scientific Research

Targeting at the discipline construction, SIT strengthens the discipline construction of master degree of the second-level discipline and professional degree of tourism management (Master of Tourism Administration, MTA) and constantly innovates the discipline development model. At the same time, the platform has been built up to further enhance the disciplinary discourse by developing basic research and applied research.

Global Cooperation

Through cooperation, SIT has promoted the internationalization of talents cultivation and been constantly improving the global reputation and influence of SIT. SIT has formed the cooperative relationships with 53 schools and organizations from 23 countries and regions. Now, SIT offers 1 Sino-Canadian educational joint program and is actively building up the oversea platform for students to study overseas. SIT has already built up the education system allowing students to upgrade their degrees from associate degree to bachelor degree, master degree, combined bachelor and master degrees, and dual master degrees. SIT has vigorously carried out various foreign exchange programs, such as the exchange students program, short-term visiting program, oversea internship program and so on in order to enhance students’ global perspectives and abilities.

SIT employs long-term and short-term foreign experts from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Germany, Spain, Korea and Japan to carry out professional teaching and exchange, train young teachers to promote the internationalization of teachers. SIT has developed more than 40 overseas programs such as exchange student program, overseas internship programs and joint-degree programs,etc. SIT has launched joint master degree training with Lincoln University in New Zealand, joint master degree program with Griffith University in Australia, and Sino-Canadian Education Cooperation Program in Hotel Management and Digital Operation major with George Brown College in Canada. Internationalization has been deeply integrated into the talent training system to enhance students' competitiveness in global employment.

SIT has played important roles in many international organizations. SIT is an affiliated member of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the vice chairman of the executive committee of the Network of Asia and Pacific Education and Training Institutes in Tourism (APETIT), the member of Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), the member of International Exhibition Industry Alliance (IEIA), and the member of the China-ASEAN Tourism Education Alliance.

In May 2023, 4 Programs (Undergraduate Program of Tourism Management, Undergraduate Program of Events Economics and Management, Diploma Program of Hotel Management and Digital Operation, Diploma Program of Events Planning and Management ) passed UNWTO TedQual certification and the certification duration is the maximum period of four years . UNWTO TedQual Certification System is the only and authoritative global tourism education quality certification issued by the United Nations World Tourism Organization. It aims to improve the quality of global tourism education, tourism training and tourism research projects, promote global tourism ethics and moral standards, and is of great significance for evaluating and improving the teaching and comprehensive management level of tourism schools. In tourism education quality control, procedure standardization, content quality and vision of the international aspects have a very high degree of display.

Social Services

By tracking the trend of social development, focusing on the characteristics of talents, serving China with the advantages of its disciplines and teaching forces, SIT has promoted the development of tourism industry and contentiously expanded its industrial radiation and social influence. 

 SIT focuses on vocational education, deepens the integration of industry and education, establishes the concept of lifelong learning and diversified talent training, and cultivates high-quality management and technical talents for industrial development. It is training unit for various provincial and municipal culture and tourism bureaus, large tourism and hotel enterprise groups and industry associations. SIT is a training partner with the Ministry of Education, China Tourism Education Association (CTEA) on professional teacher training of higher education institutions. It is also an institute providing the professional training and authentication services for the tourism related professionals and has been successfully selected as one of the first batch of national instructor training bases of research and travel.

Campus Culture

Based on the philosophy of “harmonization of scenery and campus and integration of learning and practice,” SIT has constantly striving for the optimization of campus environment. Through the buildings and venues featured with the characteristics of professional tourism, SIT aims to develop a good educational environment, thus helping students enhance their professional awareness, cultivate moral sentiments, foster innovative spirits, and promote the healthy physical and mental development.

( Note: The data in this brochure is collected by May 2023)