Ms. Wei Shi, student of the MU Vienna MBA in Tourism Management program, was selected as the winner of the Scholarship of Hope 2009. She has been selected at the discretion by the Committee for the Scholarship of Hope which acts as a reviewing body of students' project proposals.

What is Scholarship of Hope? The Academy of Hope is an initiative of various tourism schools around the world that have recognized the students' needs to effectively manage change in order to lead the industry in the future. Thanks to a donation from Professor Daniel Fesenmaier, Director of the National Laboratory for Tourism & eCommerce and Program Director of the Tourism and Hospitality Management Program at Temple University, USA, MU Vienna is happy to award a € 1,500 grant ('Scholarship of Hope') to the students who come up with an original, innovative idea for a development strategy in tourism that meets the needs of the present and improves the welfare of future generations. All MU Vienna undergraduate and graduate students in tourism were eligible to apply for this scholarship. More information on this and other scholarships can be found on MU Vienna website (http://www.modul.ac.at/scholarships).

Among the many interesting contributions which were handed in for this year, Ms. Shi's proposal with the title "Keep Culture Diversity for the Sustainability of Tourism" features the clearest developmental strategy in tourism, has a good potential to be put into practice and to produce sustainable benefit for the region.

Congratulations Ms. Shi!