The Department of Tourism Administration was set up in 1988 under the idea of developing applied liberal arts and creating special majors. It bean to enroll undergraduates after the approval from the State Education Commission in 1994. It finished the State Education Commission evaluation in the end of 1996 firstly. In 1996, the Department of Tourism was set up formally. In 1997, it was listed in “the top 10 universities with tourism education in Nanjing district. In 2000, the first MTA station in Jiangsu Province was set up. From 2004, it begins to enroll doctoral candidates majoring in cultural heritage protection and tourism planning with the first-level discipline doctor station of the Department of Building. In 2010, SEU was among the universities which firstly gained the right to confer MTA, and only two universities in Jiangsu Province have the right currently.
The Department of Tourism Administration has numerous excellent teachers. Above 70% of the 11 full-time teachers are associate professors or professors and 60% are doctor student or have already gained the doctor degree. Famous scholars, such as the professor Bao Jigang, Wu Bihu, and Song Haiyan are invited as part-time professors. Dr. Yuan Ding, the deputy director of Jiangsu Tourism Bureau, and Dr. Mu Genglin, the deputy secretary general of Nanjing municipal government, are invited as part-time tutors of MTA. With unremitting efforts, the faculty has edited and published the first set of Jiangsu tourism higher education textbook (11 kinds) and the general higher education tourism administration textbook of the eleventh five-year plan, published above 30 academic books, issued above 300 academic tourism papers in national and international journals, achieved the national natural science fund, national social science fund, the Education Ministry liberal and social science fund, and the Jiangsu social science fund, and hosted and anticipated above 50 tourism planning and programs.
The Department of Tourism Administration especially focuses on students’ extracurricular researches and practical activities. In recent years, this department gained excellent achievements in Challenge Cup and other extracurricular academic technology activities, which shows the talent and elegance of the faculty. For example, in 2011, Li Youjun and other students once won the grand prize in the 15th Zhishan Cup Student Extracurricular Academic Technology Work Contest (Southeast University). The students also showed strong strength in the World Heritage Protection Forum and other activities.