The signing ceremony took place on 22 March 2011 at the new SHTM premises was presided over by Mr Ho Kwon Ping, Executive Chairman, Banyan Tree Holdings Ltd, and Professor Kaye Chon, Dean and Chair Professor of the SHTM. This strategic collaboration is in keeping with the two parties? common interests in promoting executive education for those already in the hospitality workforce, research for product and service innovation, and industry attachment for students who aspire to join the hospitality industry upon graduation, on the basis of mutual understanding and support between both parties.

In the first MOU, the SHTM will provide Banyan Tree?s associates with executive education either at the SHTM or any of the Banyan Tree properties. Both parties shall pursue collaboration of further training on the basis of mutual understanding and agreement.

In the second of the MOUs, the SHTM and Banyan Tree will work together in the area of student internship and training, with Banyan Tree offering internship attachments each year to a number of SHTM undergraduates. The number of student interns will be determined by mutual consent each year. Banyan Tree will also offer one-year industry attachments to Chinese mainland students who are eligible for admission to the SHTM?s MSc programme on the basis that they successfully complete the attachment. Both MOUs are signed for a period of five years. Mr Ho Kwon Ping, Executive Chairman, Banyan Tree Holdings Ltd, elaborated: ?Both the SHTM and Banyan Tree see this collaboration as a win-win arrangement. We get to send our associates to attend on-going skills development and job-relevant training in a hotel school that is highly regarded in Asia for its standard of excellence, as well as provide a channel for industry internship which the undergraduates will need, and also future employment in the hospitality industry for these young, aspiring students hoping to join the trade. With Banyan Tree Macau opening in May 2011, we are growing rapidly in China with as many as 13 new hotels opening between now and 2013. Such an arrangement can only benefit service and industry standards as we move ahead.?