Twelve deans from global business schools share views on integrating Chinese and Western thoughts

The 2015 International Partnership Deans Forum held its grand opening on Nov 5 at the Fudan University School of Management in Shanghai during a celebration of two anniversaries: the university's 110th and the School of Management's 30th since its restoration.

The Fudan University School of Management has long collaborated with many international institutions to establish programs that aim to foster talent in management, contribute to new management methods and promote the development of management-related efforts.

Initiated by the FDSM, the International Partnership Deans Forum, under the theme "Global Management Education", brought together 12 deans from leading global business schools to integrate Chinese and Western cultures and exchange thoughts and wisdom.

The forum also gathered experts from various business schools to exchange views on personnel training, integration of resources and international cooperation.

Edward A. Snyder, dean of the Yale School of Management, during his keynote speech, shared his views on the development of business schools and analyzed the challenges and opportunities they face.

The forum then featured two roundtable discussions called "Innovation & Persistence in Global Business Education" and "Challenges and Opportunities of Business Education in the Ever-Changing Global Context".

More than 10 deans, including Inge Jan Henjesand, president of the Norwegian Business School; Jake Cohen, senior associate dean at the MIT Sloan School of Management; and Eric C. Chang, head of faculty of business and economics at University of Hong Kong, participated in the discussion.

Apart from their attention to the development of management education, guest speakers provided forward-looking recommendations for the FDSM and shared their opinions with faculty, students and alumni.

The speakers focused on global development themes, revealed ways to tackle global challenges and explored sustainable paths for courses in management in China and throughout the world.

At the end of the forum, the deans held a joint press conference, addressing the development, opportunities and challenges of the global business landscape.

The FDSM has established profound friendships with the world's top-notch business schools over the past three decades, said FDSM Dean Lu Xiongwen, who highlighted the joint-degree programs with more than 10 participating institutions at the forum.

He said through such collaboration, the FDSM has learned about leading education philosophies, teaching experiences, research methods and administrative capacities from other schools.

The FDSM also hopes to fully leverage the meeting into continuing to foster management educators with an international vision.

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(China Daily 11/13/2015 page17)