University to offer major to train Disneyland performers

A local university plans to offer a performance major that aims to prepare students to work for the planned Disneyland resort in Shanghai, local media reported Monday.

The Xiejin Film and Television Art College at Shanghai Normal University decided to create the major after a discussion with a delegation from The Walt Disney Company last week, according to a report in the Oriental Morning Post. The school plans to open the major to an initial class of 30 freshmen in 2013.

The Disneyland resort, which is expected to open by the end of 2015, will need to hire 200 to 500 performers who will need to undergo training similar to what the major provides, according to the report. Disney and Shanghai Normal University will design the curriculum together.

Zhao Bingxiang, the institute's dean, said students in the major will do an internship at the resort in their junior years to practice what they have learned.