Earthquakes, avalanches, SARS… How should the government react after such tragedies? The first emergency management major in China was established in Guangzhou-based Jinan University this year. The first batch of 100 students will be enrolled from Guangdong Province.

The emergency management major provides a diversity of courses designed to give students the theoretical and practical knowledge necessary to help save lives and property from the potentially devastating impact of large-scale disasters. Only three foreign countries have set up this major up till now, according to Guangzhou-based newspaper Information Times.

Lin Yuming, Director of Politics and Public Administration Department at Jinan University said that, all teachers in this new major are associate professors or above. Now 47 universities in America have this major. The new teaching materials and methods will be translated and imported by Jinan University Press.

The emergency management major is a new cross-subject major. The courses of this new major are related to management, journalism, law, information technology, medical care, psychology, sociology, statistics, finance, disaster science and so on.

Editor: Yan