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Disneyland Paris director Philippe Bourguignon has revealed that the leisure park may open a "service university" in 1997, offering a two or three-year course alternating with work in the park.

The Disney students would be paid the minimum French wage. Although Disney parks in the United States do a lot of training, none has a fully-fledged "university" envisaged for Disneyland Paris. "Our training needs are highly complex. We have visitors from all over the world and 80 per cent of our staff come from other European nations than France," explained Philippe Ravanas, of the communications department. "Our language training alone could be the best in Europe."

"We have 800 different service professions on site, representing the fields of tourism, performing arts, applied arts and many more," he added. "A university could involve other service companies and would let us identify students with Disney career potential."

Disneyland offers a new work contract to students of the Paris region. The part-time, annual contracts pay a regular monthly wage, but require work only during peak periods like the school holidays.