'These figures do not take into account any staff turnover figures. So, if we look at the next five years for example, our total needs in regard to supervisory and management-level employees will be about 5,000.' Mr Stephenson, who has more than 20 years' experience in human resources management, is responsible for recruitment, training and management development of 27 Shangri-La hotels and resorts and also the new properties being built in China.

The Beijing Second Foreign Languages Institute is the hotel group's partner in the programme under which a hotel management centre is being set up.

Professor Chang Dianyuan, the president of Beijing Second Foreign Languages Institute, and Cao Wan Tong, chairman of Kerry Holdings (China), signed an agreement recently to set up the training centre.

The Beijing Second Foreign Languages Institute will house the training centre.

Anthony Erb, Shangri-La's newly appointed director of hotel institutes in China, will oversee the curriculum.

Developing mainland talents would be the primary goal of the programme.

Shangri-La managing director and chief executive David Hayden said: 'Experienced supervisors and managers in China are not readily available.

'To ensure we maintain our high standards of hospitality and in response to our continuing development in China, we are taking a pro-active stance by developing this training centre.' Mr Hayden said the programme would help Shangri-La fulfil a responsibility to 'train and develop local people' for supervisory and managerial positions.

Besides the initial outlay of $2.2 million to set up the management training centre, Shangri-La will spend about $5 million annually on the new human resources programme.

'What we have done is set up a structure which will take us through, probably, the next 10 years,' Mr Stephenson said.

Apart from the training centre in Beijing, another institute has been proposed for Shenzhen. A site is yet to be found for a centre in the southern city.

'This is a manpower development project in essence. We have planned two hotel institutes,' Mr Stephenson said. 'One is about to open in Beijing, which we call the Shangri-La Management Training Centre, and the second part of the project is planned for 1996.

'We want to locate a site in Shenzhen where we can build a management institute. This is a much bigger project.' The Beijing training centre will train the group's staff for supervisory and junior management levels and the proposed Shenzhen institute will help develop staff at middle-management level.

Joanne Watkins, the group public relations manager, said the programme was also in line with Shangri-La's policy of helping local staff advance to managerial positions, rather than hiring foreigners.

'We want to have local managers, particularly in secondary cities like Changchun and Shenyang,' she said.

Properties in Changchun and Shenyang are expected to open in 1996.

Mr Stephenson said analyses and studies had shown that most supervisory and management staff would be needed in food and beverage and rooms operations areas of the group.

The capacity of the centre is 150 students. Staff with a minimum of one year's service will be chosen for the eight-week training programmes.

'The curriculum will take staff through various stages. The first will be basic supervisory skills, and then we have an introduction to management, programmes relating to hotel organisation and business management. It will be a combination of skills and knowledge of the industry,' Mr Stephenson said.

The programme placed emphasis on the educational component as opposed to skills training, he said. This would mean management and organisational theory, business management, a broader understanding of the business environment among other topics.

Those who complete the eight-week programme would then be allowed to gain experience in-house for one or two years.

'Then they could be eligible to proceed to the next level of education - the middle-management programme we have planned for Shenzhen, which is a 48-week programme,' Mr Stephenson said.

The training programme would lead to globally recognised educational qualifications in the hospitality field.

'We are looking for accreditation from an educational institute so that, after completing the programme, employees could be eligible for an internationally-recognised hotel diploma,' Mr Stephenson said.

'Once we establish the curriculum for the Shenzhen training centre, we will apply for international accreditation. We have had preliminary discussions with an organisation called CHRIE, an international educators' body.' For the programme conducted in Beijing, there will be 15 lecturers, 12 of whom will be from the Beijing Second Foreign Languages Institute.

'The Beijing Second Foreign Languages Institute has experienced hotel management lecturers. The other three lecturers will be expatriates, employed by Shangri-La,' Mr Stephenson said.

Shangri-La employs more than 6,000 staff in seven hotels in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Xian.