February 17^th, 2023, Shanghai – the Welcome Ceremony for New International students of SEM was held successfully online. In Spring semester 2023, SEM has welcomed 32 new international students from 8 countries, including 5 degree seeking students.

Come to SEM and embrace the difference

At the opening ceremony, Prof. WANG Hongwei, Deputy Dean for International Relations of SEM, on behalf of the school, delivered a welcome speech. He elaborated on the over 100-year development history of Tongji University and the school’s core value and mission，and inspired freshmen to think about the role of business schools in solving complex social problems in the context of COVID-19. In addition, Prof. WANG introduced international faculty of SEM, as well as the school’s emphasis on scientific research, high-quality internationalization, training outstanding management talents and promoting sustainable development. The spring semester has seen a number of international freshmen resume offline international exchanges, however, many international students currently still have to study online. The school is making every effort to get students well prepared for both online and offline study. At the same time, it is important for the students to adjust themselves to distance-​learning format, keep positive and healthy to embrace the semester ahead.

Then, the staff from Undergraduate and Postgraduate Administration Center of SEM gave an introduction on the academic regulations, including course credits and selection requirements. The international student instructor from Student Affairs Office briefly introduced the history, humanities and scenery of Shanghai, and shared photos and videos of some wonderful moments of international students studying at SEM in the past.

Come to SEM and enjoy a culture journey

To help international students to get better understandings on China and Tongji SEM, the opening ceremony has a number of cultural interaction activities. The International Cooperation and Accreditation Office organized “Picking My Favorite Culture Element” video sharing, which strengthened students’understanding on each other’s culture. The introductory video on Tongji university was also played to help students learn about the development history, campus scenery and community activities at Tongji.

It is worth mentioning that, the pandemic has not stopped the development of internationalization at Tongji SEM in recent years. The international influence and the quality of international students has been continuously improved. Its Master in Management program ranked 21th in the world and 2nd in China in the 2022 Global Masters in Management (MiM) Ranking released by Financial Times, one of the globally recognized authoritative rankings in the field of business education. SEM has been ranked among the top 50 in the world for seven consecutive years. In 2021, Tongji SEM has also successfully obtained EQUIS and AACSB 5-year Re-accreditation. In July 2022, the “Economics and Business” discipline ranked the top 1% in ESI global rankings. The college has surpassed the international accreditation standards in terms of high-quality personnel training, high-level teaching and research and in-depth internationalization. SEM would continue to build an open sharing international exchange platform, innovate and improve the educational mode of internal and external cooperation, promote education and teaching quality improvement, enhance international influence, and cultivate outstanding management elites with international vision.