Bulletin Spring‧Summer 2001

the entire development cost of the h o t e l as w e l l as its o p e r a t i ng expenses. The ownership of the land and the buildings w i l l reside with the Un i v e r s i t y . I n the meantime, the students o f the hotel management programme are using the training facilities at the Vocational Training Council in Chai Wan. An Arm to Support Research and Executive Training The school has its own research arm, the Centre for Hospitality and Real Estate Research, whose mission is to conduct research relevant to the hospitality and tourism industries, initiate policy discussion, and organize executive t r a i n i n g programmes. The centre w i l l hold a conference entitled ‘The International Hospitality Industry Evolution 2001' from 12th to 14th January 2001 at the Grand Hyatt in Hong Kong j o i n t l y w i th the Centre for Hospitality Research at Cornell's School of Hotel Administration. This w i l l be the first hospitality- themed academic conference for both schools, the primary objective of which is to provide a forum for educators, researchers, and executives to exchange i n f o r ma t i on across a spectrum o f hospitality and tourism topics, including IT in the hospitality industry ， e-commerce, hote l real estate investment decisions, financial management, and social and economic impacts o f tourism. It is expected that the conference w i ll attract around a hundred participants from around the world. A senior executive training programme w i l l also be launched j o i n t ly w i t h the Ho n g K o n g Hotels Association in early 2001 targeting at hospitality personnel of general manager level. Other Ambitious Moves in the Pipeline In the realm of graduate studies, the school's Ph.D. and M . P h i l , p r og r amme s have been approved by the University Senate for introduction in the 2 0 0 0 -1 academic year. The f i r st Ph.D. candidate ， a graduate from Peking University, w i l l begin studies at the University in September this year. On the school's agenda for 2001 is also the e s t a b l i s hme n t o f a c adem ic l i n k a g e s w i t h institutions in mainland China. Other plans to be f i na l i z ed includ e staff exchange w i th Cornell University and setting up a recruiting pool for graduates of the school. Meantime the school w i l l continue to promote itself to secondary schools t h r ough school visits, i n f o r ma t i on sessions, distribution o f brochures and CD-Roms to top secondary students, so as to attract the best students who w i ll one day be the cream of Hong Kong's and perhaps Asia's hospitality industry. HK: One of Top Ten Cities Every Traveller Should Visit Hong Kong has recently been selected by the National Geographic as one o f the top 10 cities i n the world that every traveller should visit in a life- time. To deserve such recognition, Hong Kong must try its utmost to preserve and increase its a t t r a c t i v ene s s , w h i l e the Sc h o ol o f Ho t el Management at CUHK w i l l strive for excellence in its efforts to train the experts capable of meeting such a challenge. Centre for Hospitality and Real Estate Research According to director of the centre Prof. Lee Kam-hon, the centre will conduct research projects tha t are relevant to the hotel, restaurant, airline, tourism and related hospitality industries, and take part in policy discussion. It will also disseminate research findings and review frontier knowledge for executives operating i n Hong Kong and the Asia Pacific region. Research projects may initially come from the industry. They may als o come from academic researchers. Ongoing projects includ e star rating systems for hotels in Hong Kong, m a r k e t i n g of H o n g Kong to tourists on a one-to-one basis, tourism policy for Hong Kong, and D i s n e y l a nd i n H o ng Kong. The New S c h o o l of H o t e l M a n a g e m e n t at C U H K 27