Introduction
is known as the "cradle of China's foreign economic and trade talents", and has built a comprehensive undergraduate, master and doctoral talent training system with distinctive characteristics and outstanding advantages, and has cultivated a large number of high-level, applied, and international economic and trade talents. Under the school-running philosophy of "student-oriented and academic-oriented" at Shanghai University of International Business and Economics, the school's MBA education has also exported a large number of high-quality new business elites to the national economic development.
At a time when social competition is becoming increasingly fierce, many people in the workplace choose to return to campus to study for an MBA in order to broaden their learning circles and improve their management capabilities. Shanghai University of International Business and Economics is deeply favored by candidates for its strong school management and high-quality teaching services. This issue of "Voice of Business School" specially invited Jiang Xiuzhen, Dean of the School of Business Administration of Shanghai University of International Business and Economics, to analyze the development and changes of MBA education to the majority of candidates, interpret the talent trends under the new situation, and explain the characteristics and training concepts of the college and MBA projects.
distinctive features
attaches importance to the connotation of the word "foreign"
China MBA Education Network reporter:
Shanghai University of International Business and Economics is known as the "cradle of China's foreign trade talents" and focuses on business education for 60 years. What advantages and characteristics have your school’s MBA education formed in its development over the years? In what aspects does its unique competitiveness reflect?
Director Jiang Xiuzhen:
Shanghai University of International Business and Economics is the only university of foreign trade in East my country, and is one of the two earliest undergraduate universities set up by the former Ministry of Foreign Trade. In 2009, it was selected as the first batch of the world's first WTO lecture colleges in China; in 2019, it was qualified as the WTO Asia-Pacific Training Center, becoming the only regional training partner established in mainland China among the 7 training partners of the WTO around the world. After more than 60 years of development, the school has become one of the high-level local universities that are key to construction in Shanghai, and is the Ministry of Education’s “Innovative Practice Base for High-level International Talent Training” in 2020.
From this, we can understand that the MBA school characteristics of Shanghai University of International Business and Economics are very distinct. The MBA project is rooted in the historical heritage accumulated by the school in the cultivation of foreign economic and trade talents, abides by the school motto of "integrity, tolerance, erudition and pragmatism". Relying on the advantages of high-level faculty and disciplines, it has formed the competitive advantage of high-level compound management talents who are brave enough to pursue new management knowledge, serve social development, have an international vision, innovation and entrepreneurship ability, and have a sense of social responsibility. It has a good market reputation and can provide talent support, intellectual support and innovative guidance for the economic and social development of the country and Shanghai.
China MBA Education Network reporter:
In the current economic globalization process, the trend of internationalization of MBA education is unstoppable. So how is the internationalized education of MBA at Shanghai University of International Business and Economics implemented?
Director Jiang Xiuzhen:
Currently, the internationalization of higher education has indeed become an important indicator to measure the level of a school's operation. Under such a background, Shanghai Education insists on opening up to the outside world, strengthens the improvement of opening up level, strengthens international academic and cultural exchanges, actively participates in global education governance, and leads the coordinated development of integrated education in the Yangtze River Delta, and is constantly accelerating the formation of a new situation of open and integrated development of education. For Shanghai University of International Business and Economics, the school attaches great importance to the expansion of the connotation of the word "outi" in the school name. As an financial institution, is also more distinctive because of such a word "outi". The school’s School of Business Administration has formed distinct international characteristics over the years, with strong cross-cultural communication skills, broad international vision and profound humanistic qualities. Specifically, the implementation of internationalized education in schools' MBA education is mainly reflected in two aspects.
First, build an inter-school exchange platform for teachers and students, jointly cultivate international talents, base themselves on the needs of international business talents, and effectively expand international exchanges and cooperation. The MBA program has successively carried out cooperation with 12 world-class universities in the United States, France, Canada, Germany and other countries and regions, and currently has 5 formal inter-school cooperative student projects.These include , the University of California, Riverside, , the University of Palermo in Italy and the University of Quebec in Canada, etc., including doctoral degree programs, undergraduate and master degree programs, exchange student programs, visiting study programs and study tour programs, and normalized cooperation and exchanges have been achieved.
Second, establish a cross-school cooperation system and improve research and service capabilities. The college has jointly established research institutions with many overseas prestigious universities in North America, Europe and Asia, and has successively jointly trained doctoral and postdoctoral fellows with well-known universities such as Bayreuth University and IPAG Business School in Germany. It actively encourages teachers and students to cooperate with foreign experts to carry out scientific research projects and strengthen inter-school education cooperation in key areas of management science. In addition, the college and the cooperative universities have achieved multiple visits between the school, building a comprehensive and in-depth cooperation platform for students, focusing on the management transformation issues under the new normal.
Deepen case teaching
Promote the combination of theory and practice
China MBA Education Network reporter:
Shanghai University of International Business and Economics MBA Education Center attaches great importance to the development and research of case teaching. In business education, how do you view the status and role of case teaching and development in MBA education? What work has the college carried out to improve teachers' case development and teaching ability and ensure teaching effectiveness?
Director Jiang Xiuzhen:
First, case teaching is necessary in MBA education. Master of Business Administration (MBA) education is an education that focuses on the cultivation of composite and comprehensive talents, and pays special attention to the cultivation of practical abilities. It requires students to have comprehensive abilities such as adaptability, prediction, and organization after graduation, and be able to continuously develop in the changing global integration of global economy and international competition. At the same time, case teaching is the integration of theory and practice, knowledge and ability, an important way to improve students' ability to analyze and solve real economic management problems, and a key link in colleges and universities to cultivate the comprehensive quality of MBA students.
Therefore, in order to further optimize and improve MBA education, the School of Business Administration of Shanghai University of International Business and Economics established the Case Development and Research Center (hereinafter referred to as the "Case Center"). The Case Center was founded in 2001 with the teaching practice of Ivey's English case and was officially established in September 2018. It is one of the earliest institutions in China to carry out business administration case teaching and case studies. The Case Center follows the concept of "integration of knowledge and action, erudition and erudition", and is committed to building a bridge between theory and practice, based on typical cases of Chinese local enterprises, and encourages teachers to develop original cases in-depth enterprises. The original cases developed by the Case Center have won the "National 100 Excellent Management Case Award" by the MBA Teaching Steering Committee of the Ministry of Education, many of which were included in the case library of the internationally renowned Yiwei Business School. The original cases over the years were officially compiled and published in Economic Management Publishing House in 2021. In addition, more than 20 cases were included in the China Business Administration International Case Library and the China Management Case Sharing Center Case Library. Three cases were selected as one of the final cases of the first, sixth and eighth "National Management Case Elite Competition". In addition, the Case Center also hosts the "Shanghai University of International Business and Economics Case Day" event every year, and invites industry elites and academic experts in the form of forums and seminars to share industry trends and academic frontiers, which effectively promotes the exchange and promotion of experiences between case studies and case teaching.
China MBA Education Network reporter:
In addition to classroom teaching, practical teaching is also one of the key points of professional master's training. What practical teaching platforms does Shanghai University of International Business and Economics have? In the process of talent training, how can the college better promote the combination of theory and practice and cultivate compound applied management talents?
Director Jiang Xiuzhen:
In the process of talent training, the MBA of Shanghai University of International Business and Economics mainly achieves teaching training that combines theory and practice from the following three aspects, with remarkable results.
First of all, excellent teachers are the core elements of talent training. The college has always insisted on improving teachers' practical teaching ability, supporting teachers to actively participate in theoretical and practical research, and strengthen their understanding of the characteristics, dynamics and impacts of sustainable social, environmental and economic values.For example, some teachers discussed the dynamic effects between industrial structure and water consumption and water environment in response to the impact of social activities on the water quality of major cities around the world, taking the Yangtze River Delta region, especially Jiaxing City as an example, and analyzed the feedback process and interactions between the primary industry and the tertiary industry. These practices play a very important role in promoting talent cultivation.
Second, the college has always attached importance to establishing connections with enterprises. By signing school-enterprise cooperation agreements with nearly 30 enterprises, using the deep integration of industry, teaching, research and learning, gradually improving the curriculum settings and innovating the curriculum teaching model. It is specifically reflected in the college's opening of various industry-education integration activities such as "enterprise classroom", entrepreneurship lectures, and career planning, and has produced certain positive impacts and results. In 2015, the "Shanghai University of International Business and Economics and Economics MBA Alumni Branch" was established. The college carried out 1-2 times of return to school every semester. With the encouragement of outstanding entrepreneurs and alumni, more than 20 MBA students started their own businesses. In addition, the 2018 alumni "Online and Offline O2O Overseas Study Institution Platform" project won the " Creating Youth " National College Entrepreneurship Competition MBA Special Competition Excellence Award and the second prize of the "Entrepreneurship Seed Award Plan" of Shanghai University of International Business and Economics, which shows outstanding results.
Finally, we attach importance to guiding students to carry out specialized practices within the framework of management decision-making, business management and other disciplines, and form business understanding and comprehensive analysis capabilities that serve the intelligent development of the industry. The school encourages students to participate in influential events. From 2017 to 2021, students of the School of Business Administration won many awards in the National College Student Mathematics Modeling Competition, the " Challenge Cup " National College Student Extracurricular Academic and Scientific Works Competition, the China International " Internet + " College Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, and the "Jianfeng Moment" National Business Simulation Competition.
Follow the pulse of the times
Strengthen the cultivation of international, digital and compound talents
China MBA Education Network reporter:
The mission of the Shanghai University of International Business and Economics MBA project is to cultivate high-quality new business elites with "strategic thinking, courage to make decisions, and mind to reflect". How do you understand the connotation? What new requirements have been put forward for business talents in the VUCA era? In order to adapt to this era's development and talent needs, what adjustments and improvements has the college made in the construction of the talent training system?
Director Jiang Xiuzhen:
The world's major changes that have not been seen in a century are developing in depth. The global pandemic of the new crown pneumonia epidemic has accelerated the evolution of major changes. Economic and social development is facing profound changes in the internal and external environment. Changes in the global governance system and economic and trade rules are also promoting new opportunities brought by economic globalization. As a frontier window of reform and opening up in my country and an international metropolis, Shanghai is developing rapidly with the contents of high-level reform and opening up, digital transformation of cities, comprehensive improvement of urban energy levels and new city construction as the core. Faced with the new global pattern and the new development tasks of Shanghai, we urgently require a large number of high-end global economic governance talents who understand my country's national conditions, are well-versed in international rules, and are proficient in international negotiations, and connect with high international standards and high levels. At the same time, this also provides new opportunities to meet the international talent training needs that match Shanghai's international metropolis, better serve Shanghai's economic and social development, and accelerate the cultivation of talents in high-quality international organizations. Therefore, the MBA program of Shanghai University of International Business and Economics is committed to cultivating high-quality new business elites with "strategic thinking, courage to make decisions, and mind to reflect". This is the essence of the connotation and significance, which is closely in line with the new requirements for business talents in the VUCA era.
In actual implementation, the college relies on the first-level discipline master's degree program in business administration, and aims at the major opportunities of the world's new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation. It emphasizes that through the intersection of disciplines, it focuses on cultivating strategic management talents who can respond to the challenges of the world's new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation and have a global pattern and vision.At the same time, in order to better cope with the challenges of the VUCA era and meet the needs of economic development and the market for high-quality composite management talents, the MBA Education Center has continuously deepened the reform of the talent training system and opened two types: full-time (2 years) and part-time (2.5 years), taking it as its responsibility to create a group of high-quality new business elite talents. The MBA project focuses on cross-cultural communication capabilities, social practice, and case education. It starts from the three aspects of "internationalization, digitalization, and compound", pays attention to the combination of theory and practice, emphasizes the cultivation of abilities and qualities, highlights case teaching and interactive teaching, and strengthens the cultivation of high-level compound management talents.
China MBA Education Network reporter:
In order to adapt to the development and changes of the digital and intelligent era, what reforms and innovations has the college MBA education made in teaching and research, curriculum design, teacher creation, platform construction, etc.? What are the new development ideas?
Director Jiang Xiuzhen:
Under the development of the digital intelligence era, society is more pursuing personalized learning resources. New technological revolutions such as "Big Data+" and " artificial intelligence +" are reconstructing human values and production and lifestyles, bringing us a profound learning revolution and educational transformation. The urgent situation of scientific and technological innovation and industrial transformation has also significantly enhanced the level of education in supporting economic and social development. Under this situation, MBA education faces huge challenges in reforming traditional education boundaries, teaching organization forms, knowledge acquisition methods, and teacher role positioning. It is necessary to build a comprehensive system of knowledge complexity, discipline integration, and innovative practice by providing a human-cultural learning environment, more warm educational services and ubiquitous and flexible learning experience to meet the diverse needs of high-quality innovative talents in economic and social development. In order to cope with the rapid development status of society and meet the needs of diversified talents, MBA education in the college has introduced corresponding new development measures.
On the one hand, the college actively carries out discipline reforms in the context of Internet, big data and intelligence, actively explores the setting of big data management courses, and offers data management courses such as "Data Science and Management", "Management Game Theory", "Enterprise Management Data Visualization and Intelligent Decision", and "Digital Marketing". By cultivating students to systematically master the basic theories and methods of data science, modern data governance , artificial intelligence and related professional fields, and train students to be proficient in using various big data analysis technology methods. Students can initially have professional knowledge and skills in application fields such as data management, data mining, and big data analysis architecture design, and form intelligent decision-making capabilities based on the application of big data technology.
On the other hand, the college cooperates with French IPAG in the field of "artificial intelligence and management" to provide students with more fields and more international training. On December 13, 2019, our school signed a five-year "Memorandum of Understanding" with the IPAG Higher Business School of (Institut de Préparation à l’Administration et à la Gestion). The memorandum explains the cooperation between the two parties in providing academic and research opportunities to professors and students. The two parties hope to seek cooperation opportunities in multiple fields such as student exchanges, faculty exchanges, learning and teaching improvement research. Relying on the first-level discipline of business administration, the college teachers serve as instructors of the "Doctoral Program of Business Administration" and "Master Program of Artificial Intelligence" of the French IPAG Business School, which is also conducive to improving the overall level of MBA school management.
——Chinese MBA Education Network edited and edited
