On Dec 17^th, 2016, the 8th International Advisory Committee Meeting was held successfully at the School of Economics and Management (hereinafter referred to as SEM). Prof. GU Xianglin, Vice President of Tongji University participated the meeting on behalf of the university. Present at the meeting are members: Prof. HUO Jiazhen, the new Director of the Advisory Committee, former dean of SEM and the former secretary general of the Advisory Committee; Prof. WU Qidi, Director of Department of Management Science, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Chairman of National Supervisory Committee for MBA Education, Former Vice Minister of Education, and Former President of Tongji University; Prof. GUO Chongqing, Academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering; Prof. Amir REZA, Senior Vice Provost of Babson College, US; Prof. ZHOU Zhen, Former Executive President of Tongji University; Former Dean of SEM; Mr. LI Ruicheng, Senior Vice President, Managing Director of SAP Labs China, as representative of Mr. Clas NEUMANN, Senior Vice President of SAP, Head of Global SAP Labs Network, Head of Fast Growth Strategy Group, SAP; Mr. SHEN Xuejun, Senior Vice President of Siemens Ltd. China; Mr. GU Feng, CFO of Saic Motor Co., Ltd. Prof. JIN Fu’an, the secretary general of the Advisory Committee and the Director of SEM attended the meeting together with SEM’s management team, international and new faculty representatives and student representatives.

The meeting was hosted by Prof. HUO Jiazhen. Prof. GU Xianglin extended warm welcome and gratitude to all the members on behalf of Tongji University. He gave full recognition to SEM’s achievement in the international accreditations and its development. He indicated that SEM has created management knowledge and develop leading professionals for the society who are capable of solving practical problems with strong social responsibilities, especially in the fields of urban development and service management. He extended wishes that advisory members could provide more guidance for the school. Prof. JIN Fu’an briefed the development of SEM over the past one year in regards to new faculty recruitment, output of scientific research, social contributions, alumni, international cooperation and rankings. Prof. JIN also responded to the issues raised by advisory members last year on its marketing, in which the school has established its own marketing department to closely work with social media. When the school got the international accreditations of EQUIS and AACSB, hundreds of foreign and local media reported this great news. Besides, SEM has been awarded with Corporate Social Responsibility Communications Award 2016 by PR Newswire. In the following Q&A, the advisory committee members gave lots of useful suggestions. For example, Prof. WU Qidi advised to enroll more international students to the MBA and EMBA programs to solve the low recruitment of local students caused by the newly launched national admission exam of EMBA program. Mr. LI Ruicheng pointed out more potential collaborations on the academics-and-industry to be explored. Mr. GU Feng expressed his idea on tracking the career development of SEM’s graduates for 10 years or even longer, based on which SEM could better improve its curriculum plans. Academician GUO Chongqing indicated that the education should closely connect with science and technology. Students should not only have academic knowledge but also be an innovative person with open mind.

The panel discussion focused on the internationalization of SEM’s education under the national strategy of “One Belt One Road”. Prof. CHEN Song first introduced the background of this national strategy of “One Belt One Road” and SEM’s willingness to help train and educate relative professionals for Chinese and international companies. Prof. REZA shared Babson’s programs in China, Russia and India which provided students with global insights as well as the abilities of coping with intercultural communications. Prof. WANG Guangbin suggested that SEM should work closely with big national owned companies such as the China Railway company, who need management professionals while setting up oversea business. Mr. LI Ruicheng said that an academic team of SEM taking its advantages to give consultation for the companies will be much appreciated. Prof. HUO Jiazhen advised SEM IEDP Program to give management training for employees with engineering background in SIMENS, SAP and other well-known companies. Mr. SHEN Xuejun shared SIMENS’ experience to collaborate with Malaysia and Bangladesh companies that necessary foreign culture background and local law regulations should be learned before starting business to ensure smooth communication. With the closing remarks by Prof. JIN Fu’an, the 8^th International Advisory Committee Meeting was concluded successfully .

The International Advisory Committee of SEM, Tongji University was founded in 2009. Its members is comprised of influential government officers, entrepreneurs, presidents of universities, deans, experts and professors renowned in the fields of economics and management both home and abroad. The International Advisory Committee Meeting is held once a year. Its main function is to provide consultations on crucial decision-making for SEM’s medium-long term development planning, and offer propositions for SEM’s developing strategy.