Introduction

Being the first professional school devoted exclusively to food service and travel industry management in Taiwan, the National Kaohsiung University of Hospitality and Tourism (NKUHT) has consistently advanced its four founding principles: Professionalism, Entrepreneurship, Humanistics, and Internationalization. NKUHT is continually engaged in the innovation and refinement of its food service and travel industry education, so as to equip students with a professional working capability,as well as learning and innovation abilities. Through these means NKUHT seeks to develop elite students with a competitive edge in the job market of their respective industries.

Indeed, with the booming development in the food service and travel industry, job vacancies currently outnumber human resources, both domestically and Internationally.
In addition, with advancements in new technologies and human civilization, the concept of the “global village” has been well accepted, and mastering international languages has become the best instrument to “connect to the world.”
Therefore, to meet the job demand in the food service and travel industry, to catch up with the upgrading of national industries, and to conform to the development characteristics of this college, NKUHT administration has
(1) established links with the food service and travel industry,
(2) collected suggestions from scholars and experts, and
(3) come to know that practice-equipped elites with foreign language ability are the human resource that this field longs for.

In view of the above, NKUHT decided to establish the Department of Applied Foreign Languages in 2006.
After the proposal was agreed to in a meeting of the Student Recruiting Committee, the Academic Affairs Division was assigned to begin initial planning, which was finally passed in the School Affairs Meeting.
In the beginning, there were only about fifty students admitted from senior vocational schools and senior high schools. In 2009, the Department of English Language will be established.

The development principle and direction of department-centered curriculum

Through training in food service and hotel English, and professional kowledge in other fields, we seek to nurture and develop professional elites with the English language ability required to compete in the international job market immediately upon graduation. In addition, we aim to equip students with the professional practical skills needed to lead Taiwan's food service and travel education in Taiwan, and promote its tourism and leisure industry.

Teaching objectives

1. To integrate academic theories and industry practices in order to reinforce the professional training of students in hospitality and travel.
2. To develop humanist qualities and job-respect within the hospitality and travel field.
3. To train and develop professional management elites with creative thinking and international vision.
4. To develop the professional English communication ability of students, and assist them with obtaining a language proficiency equal to TOEIC 785.

Curriculum NKUHT
curriculum complies with the standards laid down by MOE for departments of applied English languages at colleges under the framework of the Nine-Year Compulsory Curriculum, as publicized. After consultation with representatives in related industries, academics, and our own alumni, NKUHT offers the following course curriculum:
1. Food Service and Travel Industry Management
2. Intensive Basic English macro-skills (speaking, listening, reading, writing).
3. English for Specific Purposes (ESP) – includes professional English for food service and travel, including the food service and travel module, the travel service module, and the language and culture module.
4. Student Group Projects.
5. Professional Translation and Interpretation.
6. Second Foreign Language.
7. Cooperative teaching by native and non-native speaking faculty members.

Related Measures
Other measures adopted in establishing this department are as follows:
1. Curriculum discussion and planning will be finalized by mid-2009, with the curriculum then delivered to MOE for examination before July 31, 2009.
2. Recruiting of new faculty members with excellent English specialties is in progress.
3. Faculty members for this department will be provided with training and internship opportunities in our cooperative enterprises to view and emulate current the practices within the hospitality and travel industries.
4. We continue to search for sister schools and endeavor to offer our faculty members and students opportunities for study and/or study tours abroad.
5. We take advantage of the ‘sandwich' curriculum design, thus arranging for students to take their internship overseas.
6. We encourage students to minor in other departments, thereby strengthening the overall English proficiency of all NKUHT students, and enhancing their competitive ability in job-hunting and/or advanced education.

Expectations
1. Through integrating professional language proficiency and practical job skills, we aim to nurture and develop graduates with a competitive edge in the fields of international food service and travel.
2. We expect that excellent students and faculty members will help construct a rich environment for learning foreign languages on campus.
3. We provide students of other departments, who are interested in enhancing their own English proficiency, with opportunities to minor in English, so as to reach greater achievements in internationalization.
4. With a highly skilled professional team, we aim to develop NKUHT into a model training and assessing center for foreign language skills in the field of food service and travel.

After Graduation
1. Advanced Education For those graduates who plan to continue with advanced education, they can sit the examination for entry into NKUHT graduate schools and other domestic or overseas universities.
2. Employment in the Job Market
   (1) Middle to high-ranking management staff in related occupations in the food service and travel industries.
   (2) Receptionists for public relations departments, customer service departments, coordination departments, and foreign guest departments in restaurants and hotels.
   (3) Interpreters and conference service workers with profession English proficiency in the fieldof food service and travel.
   (4) English-speaking tour guides, tour managers and workers in charge of contact and coordination tasks.
   (5) Ground service staff and flight attendants for airline companies.
   (6) English-speaking guiding instructors for all units.
   (7) Teachers with required credits for education programs who can teach in high schools or engage in the English–teaching jobs.
   (8) Students who minor in food service and travel can work in other occupations in the food service and travel field.
   (9) Secretaries and workers for other English-related jobs.