Applicants' call to cruise through MBA

Shanghai will enroll the first 20 students in Asia to have the chance to earn a master's degree in cruise ship management from the Asian Cruise Liner College in no more than two years, local authorities at Shanghai Maritime University, which is launching the program, said Thursday.

The MBA and EMBA programs, which is accepting both Chinese and foreign applicants, is being launched by the Shanghai-based university in cooperation with privately owned British Seatrade Communications and State-owned Shanghai International Port Company.

The two-year part-time programs are expected to provide students with a concentration on both theoretical and practical training with a focus on cruise ship-oriented tourism to cover management, marketing and financing skills. Students will also be required to take a compulsory internship that will provide real experience in the cruise ship industry at home or abroad.

The tuition fees have not yet been set, but are likely to cost more than other MBA degrees in China due to overseas exchanges that are involved in the programs, said Cheng Juehao, professor of the School of Economics and Management at Shanghai Maritime University, who is also in charge of the new degree programs.

"The new courses are designed to fill a growing need for professional workers in the cruise ship sector as the industry continues to see remarkable growth in the city," he told the Global Times Thursday. "Moreover, the cruise ship tourism market is further expected to develop in the future and such expansion will require the support of suitable talents."

Local officials said earlier that the development of Shanghai's cruise ship tourism market is expected to contribute between 5 billion yuan ($793 million) and 8 billion yuan to the local GDP by 2015.