The program is initiated to meet the great demand of tourism professionals and the tourism development strategy of Guizhou. It is also part of the teaching reform conducted by Japanese Department to explore an efficient way to cultivate all-round individuals through cooperation with the Japanese authorities and JTB, a leading tourism enterprise in Japan. 

    The joint program started in 2003 adopts the “3+1” mode, which means that students have three-year study in GZU and one-year internship in Japan. Students meeting the academic requirements can apply the program and then the qualified ones are selected and arranged by JTB to have their one-year internships in hotels and restaurants.

    Most students are arranged to work in hot spring hotels or where countryside tourism are prevailing. The Japanese side compiles textbooks for the internship and specifically assigns guides responsible for their internships and daily life. The internship help most students use Japanese skillfully and master basic hotel business within 6 months and the comprehensive skills needed in hotels and restaurants in 12 months.

    The Program develops smoothly and has yielded good results with the help of the Provincial Education bureau, Guizhou Provincial Tourism Administration, administrators and relative departments of GZU. By far, around a hundred students have been to Japan through the project launched in June, 2006. It is planned to select applicants once annually and send the qualified students to Japan during September to November.

    All students of the previous three batches have been employed, 50% of whom work in Japanese owned enterprises and 30% in hotels, according to incomplete statistics.

    To ensure better development of the program and involve more students in the program, public Japanese courses will be offered to tourism majors in GZU. Thus, the students with the knowledge learned in the university and the advanced management experience obtained in Japan will greatly boost the development of tourism in Guizhou.