On December 3^rd, 2021, the 13^th International Advisory Committee Meeting was held successfully at the School of Economics and Management (hereinafter referred to as SEM). Prof. FANG Shouen, Chairman of University Council of Tongji University attended the meeting and delivered a welcome speech. Prof. LI Yuan, Dean of SEM, briefed the past development and future plan of SEM, and gave close attention to the advice made by advisory members on “Internationalization and High-quality Development of Economics and Management Education in the New Era”. The meeting was hosted by Prof. HUO Jiazhen, the former dean of SEM and Director of International Advisory Committee.

Committee members present at the meeting hall included:  Prof. YU Lijuan, Vice President of Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Shanghai Committee; Prof. ZHOU Zhen, Former Executive President of Tongji University, Former Dean of SEM, Tongji University; Mr. LIU Xinyi, President of Shanghai International Group; Prof. Clas NEUMANN, SAP Senior Vice President, Head of Global SAP Labs Network; Mr. XIE Wei, Vice President of Shanghai Pudong Development Bank; Mr. SUN Jian, General Manager of Yantai Changyu Pioneer Wine Co., Ltd; Mr. CHEN Xiaodong, Former Secretary of BOD, SAIC Motor Co., Ltd.

Committee members present online included: Prof. WU Qidi, Former Vice Minister of Education, Former President of Tongji University; Prof. Amir REZA, Senior Vice Provost of Babson College, US; Prof. Fiona DEVINE, Dean of Alliance Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, UK; Mr. SHEN Xuejun, Vice President of JD Industry and General Manager of Region East. Prof. GUO Chongqing, Academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering; China, sent written suggestions for the meeting.

In his welcome speech, Prof. FANG Shouen expressed his gratitude towards the guidance and support from the Committee members on the development of Tongji University and SEM. He said that Tongji University is actively promoting a new round of “double first-class” development. The key to the development of “double first-class” university is to adhere to the fundamental task of moral cultivation, build a high-quality personnel training system, establish a university with Chinese culture, while at the same time, draw on the wisdom of global higher education to constantly improve our education. To train socialist builders and successors who are well-developed morally, intellectually, physically, aesthetically, and artistically to serve the development of the country and society.

Prof. LI first thanked the members for their valuable suggestions, which includes promoting interdisciplinary talent cultivation, development and transformation, as well as cross-industry, cross-discipline and cross-national cooperation. He then briefed the development and achievements of SEM in 2021, and pointed out that SEM would continue to opening-up, strengthen collaboration, promote innovation and focus on transformation, and strive to achieve the goal of high-quality construction in the 14th Five-Year Plan.

During the panel discussion session, members offered their thoughts on “Internationalization and High-quality Development of Economics and Management Education in the New Era from different perspectives.

Prof. GUO Chongqing in his written suggestions, pointed out that digital civilization and green civilization are the starting point of economic transformation. Tongji University should actively seize this once-in-a-century opportunity of “carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals”, strengthen interdisciplinary integration, and strive to become a leader of open, platform and ecological digital green projects and an integrator of engineering project value chain.

Prof. WU Qidi said, Tongji university always had advantages in international cooperation with Germany, Europe and other countries and regions, SEM also has maintained close contacts and exchanges with international organizations over the years. In an international metropolis like Shanghai, Tongji SEM can actively grasp the advantages and opportunities of various international exchanges, continuously promote internationalization and realize the sustainable development.

Prof. YU Lijuan pointed out that, when it comes to personnel training and discipline construction, Tongji university should pay special attention to the important industries in the post-epidemic era such as digital economy, smart and healthy economy. Tongji university should actively integrate itself into Shanghai’s development strategy of jointly promoting urban digital transformation, and actively use its disciplinary advantages to expand space and enrich teaching modes, cultivate high-level innovative talents and application-oriented talents for the integrated development of industry and education, and continue to make greater contributions to serving Shanghai and the country.

Prof. ZHOU Zhen suggested that the school should stick to the right development direction and focus on China’s economic and management experience, establish a Chinese management context, and tell “China story” well for the international stage while adhering to internationalization.

Mr. LIU Xinyi said that in theoretical research, we shall pay attention to what changes the current digital transformation brings to the traditional management theory, thus assist enterprises to achieve continuous innovation in management methods or tools.

Prof. Clas NEUMANN proposed to further strengthen the cooperation with the school in intelligent manufacturing and other related industries, including sharing the latest cutting-edge development of the industry with students, allowing students to participate in digital and artificial intelligence technology research and other projects, and exploring different working modes to participate in enterprise research.

Mr. XIE Wei believes that the interdisciplinary talent training of the school has a promising future in line with the current economic and social development hotspots, regional strategies and industrial strategies. For talent training, he proposed that students’ comprehensive skills such as humanistic quality can be improved through discipline design and community organization.

Mr. SUN Jian, as an outstanding alumni representative of our college, provided strong support for the meeting. He took the internationalization process of Changyu in recent years as an example to encourage SEM to continue to achieve high-quality development through internationalization and inclusiveness, further strengthen the integration of alumni resources and network, and enhance the integration of industry, university and research.

Mr. CHEN Xiaodong pointed out that management talent cultivation requires further cooperation with the industry, strengthening the combination of theory and practice, and promoting the dual-tutor system at different levels. He also suggested that more attention should be paid to high-quality university resources in countries along the Belt and Road in recruiting teachers.  

Mr. SHEN Xuejun said that both Chinese enterprises going global and international enterprises operating in China have a great demand for international talents. In addition to the traditional mode of joint education, he hopes that the college would have the opportunity to run schools abroad in the future, or promote high-quality talents trained in China to the international stage with the support from domestic enterprises.

International advisory committee members who were not able to attend the conference also expressed their suggestions via zoom.  Prof. Amir REZA pointed out that despite the impact of COVID-19 on the university’s internationalization process, the university still needs to continue to introduce international faculty, strengthen collaborative research, encourage students to study and work abroad, and innovate international cooperation methods to expand the international influence.

Prof. Fiona DEVINE stressed that in the face of uncertainties caused by COVID-19, universities need to embrace new changes, balance offline and online teaching, pay attention to students’ real needs for different forms of teaching, and ensure international exchange opportunities for students.  She also suggested expanding the school’s international influence by holding international conferences.

Professors from Tongji University that present at the meeting also included: Prof. SHI Qian, Chairman of School Council; Prof. RUAN Qingsong, Deputy Dean; Prof. DONG Bianlin Deputy Dean; Prof. CHENG Mingwang, Deputy Dean; Prof. ZHANG Xiaoning, Department of Management Science and Engineering, and Prof. Jérôme BON, Department of Marketing.