Sector: Private Sector Development
Region: North and Central Asia
Funded by:
Bombardier Inc.
Total Value: C$0.9 million
Partners and Counterparts:
In Canada: Holland College, Prince Edward Island
In Tibet: Tibet Academy of Agriculture and Animal Sciences
In China: Changzhou Institute of Technology
Tibet Autonomous Region, People’s Republic of China, Bombardier Tibet Tourism Training Program: July 2007–August 2010
Purpose
To ensure that Tibetans benefit from the increased tourism the Lhasa-Qinghai railway is bringing to Tibet. The program provides training for Tibetans to become management professionals in the hospitality sector.
Challenge
Although tourism is the fastest growing economic sector in Tibet, the sector is poorly managed and few Tibetans are benefiting from it at present. Most are employed in low wage jobs with the lion’s share of benefits accruing to non-Tibetans.
Approach
Agriteam’s approach is to build the capacity of Tibetans in tourism management. The first phase of the project involves training at the Changzhou Institute of Technology (CIT), which has an educational joint venture with Holland College, Prince Edward Island, Canada. Through the joint venture, Holland College-trained CIT staff members teach Holland College’s hotel and restaurant management curriculum. Students graduate with dual diplomas from CIT and Holland College, recognized in both Canada and China.
The second phase of the project is currently being prepared. It will see Agriteam helping to build the capacity of Lhasa Vocational College, which has just started its own hotel management program. This will provide Tibet with the training and skills required for sound, sustainable tourism development and the opportunity for Tibetans to control their own development.
Project Description
Agriteam is presently managing this scholarship program to train Tibetan students—economically disadvantaged recent high school graduate trainees from rural areas of Tibet—in hotel and restaurant management.
Students spend the first year of the diploma program at CIT in intensive English-language training. Instruction in years 2 and 3 is in English and Chinese, and follows the Holland College curriculum. By the time they graduate, students are trilingual—English, Chinese and Tibetan—a distinct advantage in the Tibetan tourism industry. During the second half of the third year, students undertake an internship in a hotel. They conclude the program with a course in ecotourism conducted in Tibet and surrounding regions to ensure they understand the principles of environmentally sustainable and socially conscious tourism. This supports the protection of the Tibetan culture and environment while also allowing Tibetans to benefit from tourism.
Results
The first class of Tibetans is currently being trained in hotel and restaurant management at the Changzhou Institute of Technology. Students from this class will receive dual Chinese and Canadian diplomas upon graduation.
Project Manager
Robin D’Arcy
rdarcy@agriteam.ca