介绍:
Topic 1: Usually served spicy with a cold beer on hot summer nights in China, crayfish has now jumped from dining tables to classrooms.
>>>>>>A vocational college in central China's Hubei Province has enrolled students in in a crayfish major which will see them receiving official certificates after graduation. The aim of the program is to produce more cooks and managers for the booming crayfish industry.
The first group of 86 students will begin two to three years of study at the crayfish school in the autumn. The school is affiliated with the Jianghan Art Vocational College in Qianjiang City.
Each student was given a choice of three majors: crayfish cooking and nutrition, catering management, and marketing. They are expected to work in major crayfish restaurants or start their own businesses after they graduate.
Established in March, the school's predecessor was a private training center set up in August 2015. Its short courses have already taught more than 1,580 people how to raise and cook crayfish, but they did not receive official diplomas.
Xia Zhongzhi, the director of Jianghan Art Vocational College's recruitment department, told The Beijing News on July 20 that the crayfish cooks and breeders were trained one-on-one.
"Old cooks taught young cooks, and some private cooking schools were also popular," he said. "[People with] crayfish skills are in urgent need in China, and we saw the necessity of making it a major in an art vocational college."
Talking points:
1. Xia said the Jianghan Art Vocational College is the first in China to create a major targeting the crayfish industry. He said that the students would also have classes including English, computer and business management in addition to learning crayfish related subjects. The students will also be given a job offer right after enrollment.
2. According to a report released by the Ministry of Agriculture in June, Chinese consumption of crayfish has jumped by about 33 percent to 879,300 tons a year over the past two years. Annual output reached 899,100 tons in 2016, making China the world's largest producer of crayfish, accounting for over 70 percent of the world's total. Raising and processing crayfish and related service industries provided nearly 5 million jobs in the country.
Chu Chaohui, a researcher at the National Institute of Education Sciences, said in the Beijing News report that colleges and universities in China are increasingly flexible in creating new majors, which is a good thing. However, he said there are concerns about whether the major is needed and how the college will ensure the quality of instruction. He suggested that the college strictly evaluate the new major on the quality of teaching, the academic achievement of the students and whether the graduates get good job offers over several years.
