On December 8^th 2017, the 9^th International Advisory Committee meeting was successfully held at the School of Economics and Management, Tongji University (hereafter referred to as Tongji SEM or SEM). Prof. WU Zhiqiang, Vice President of Tongji University participated in the meeting on behalf of the University. The committee members present at the meeting included: Prof. HUO Jiazhen, Director of the Advisory Committee and Former Dean of Tongji SEM; Prof. GUO Chongqing, Academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering; Prof. WU Qidi, Director of Department of Management Science, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Former Member of the Committee of Education, Science, Culture, Health and Sports, National People’s Congress of China, Former Vice Minister of Education, and Former President of Tongji University; Prof. ZHOU Zhen, Former Executive President of Tongji University and Former Dean of Tongji SEM; Mr. SHEN Xuejun, Senior Vice President of Siemens Ltd. China; Mr. LIU Xinyi, President of Shanghai Pudong Development Bank; Mr. ZHU Qingmin, General Manager of Human Resources Department, SAIC Motor Co., Ltd.; Mr. Clas NEUMANN, Senior Vice President, Head of Global SAP Labs Network, Head of Fast Growth Strategy Group, SAP; Prof. Fiona DEVINE, Director of Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, UK; and Prof. Amir REZA, Senior Vice Provost of Babson College, US etc. Besides, Prof. LI Yuan(Dean) and Prof. JIN Fu’an (Senior Deputy Dean) also attended the meeting, together with other members of the management team, department chairs, as well asfaculty and student representatives from SEM.

The 9th International Advisory Committee Meeting of Tongji SEM Successfully Held

The meeting was presided over by Prof. HUO Jiazhen. Prof. WU Zhiqiang extended warm welcome and gratitude to all the members on behalf of Tongji University. Prof. WU indicated that this year marked the 110^th anniversary of Tongji University, and the development of Tongji had always been closely connected with the destiny of China and its people over the past 110 years. Under the guidance of the new development situation and concept, Tongji University should take “innovation, harmonization, openness and sharing” as the guideline for its endeavors to build a “Double First-class” university, and determine the right focus of quality improvement as a way to advance the improvement of the national scientific and technological strength. He highly recognized SEM’s efforts and achievements in international development, and expected SEM to work harder and contribute more to Tongji’s aim to build a world-class university deeply rooted in China.

Vice President, Prof. WU Zhiqiang extended warm welcome.

Prof. LI Yuan briefed the committee on the recent development of the School in the new era. He pointed out that under the guidance of the “spirit of the 19^thCPC National Congress”, SEM should actively meet the national strategic demand and serve the modern economic system in terms of talent development, scientific research, social service, cultural inheritance as well as domestic and international influence etc. Following an introduction of SEM’s overall development target and tasks in the new stage, Prof. LI gave an analysis of the external constraints on SEM’s development, reported various reform measures of the School and summarized the focus of our work in the near future.

Prof. LI Yuan, Dean of SEM, briefed the committee on the recent development of the School.

The committee members proposed valuable advice following the Dean’s report. Prof. GUO Chongqing gave full recognition to SEM’s new development strategy and action plans in response to new challenges and opportunities, and suggested SEM should further advance reforms to adapt to the development of the times under the critical situations of new technological revolution, industrial reform and social transformation. Prof. WU Qidi encouraged the School to emancipate the mind and continue to expand the international cooperation and international influence while maintaining Chinese characteristics and offering solutions to China-related problems. She also reminded the School to place an emphasis on the development and cooperation of talent teams. As former dean of Tongji SEM, Prof. ZHOU Zhen reviewed and analyzed of SEM’s development history and applauded the new targets and development ideas proposed by the School. He advised that SEM should strengthen the efforts to import high-level talents on one hand, and stimulate internal vitality to achieve differentiated development on the other hand in the new development stage. Prof. HUO Jiazhen proposed the idea of setting up comprehensive bases for international cooperation in Europe and the U.S., and advocated the undertaking of scientific researches, innovation and entrepreneurship activities and university-enterprise cooperation jointly with top-level overseas partners. Mr. SHEN Xuejun advised SEM to enhance the researches on new enterprise management models and business models, and improve the quality of student training in collaboration with enterprises. Prof. Amir REZA shared the experience of U.S. business schools, and suggested SEM should take full advantage of big data to improve the services to faculty and students and strengthen the guidance on entrepreneurship by providing resources (e.g. business incubator) to students. Prof. Fiona DEVINE advised that SEM should further determine its differentiated competitiveness, and shared her experience in facilitating the cooperation between business schools and their universities. Mr. Clas NEUMANN provided valuable advice on the development of students’ practical abilities from the perspective of a multinational company. During the meeting, Prof. WU Zhiqiang issued the Certificate of Appointment to Mr. LIU Xinyi and Mr. ZHU Qingmin, two new members of the advisory committee. Mr. LIU Xinyi proposed the practicability, advancement and innovation of future development of the School, and suggested SEM should strengthen research activities as well as a favorable atmosphere for academic research, which could drive the development of the School in an all-round way. Furthermore, Mr. ZHU Qingmin expressed the wish to work with the School in future and establish new platforms to facilitate the long-term and in-depth university-enterprise cooperation. The faculty and student members present at the meeting also offered their views and advice on the development of the School.

Prof. WU Qidi gave a speech.

Prof. Fiona DEVINE gave a speech.

Prof. Amir REZA gave a speech.

Prof. HUO Jiazhen gave a speech.

The International Advisory Committee of Tongji SEM was founded in 2008. As an important part of SEM’s governance structure, the committee is comprised of renowned experts from home and abroad who boast rich experience in education and management practices as well as significant influence in the field of economics and management. The International Advisory Committee meeting is held once a year since 2009. Its main function is to provide consultation and guidance to the School on key development issues such as strategic planning, talent development and academic research etc., and promote SEM’s exchanges and cooperation with government agencies, renowned enterprises and first-class business schools worldwide through its own expertise and resources sharing.