On December 1^st, the 15^th International Advisory Committee Meeting was held successfully at the School of Economics and Management (hereinafter referred to as SEM). Chinese and foreign committee members shared their insights on “How to Initiate High-quality Development of Discipline by Interdisciplinary, Industry-education Integration”, seeking best solutions to future development of SEM. Prof. ZHENG Qinghua, President of Tongji University and academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering, Prof. LYU Peiming, Executive Vice President of Tongji University and Prof. LEI Xinghui, former Vice President of Tongji University attended the meeting. The meeting was hosted by Prof. HUO Jiazhen, the former dean of SEM and Director of International Advisory Committee. Prof. SHI Qian, Chairman of School Council, and all team members attended the meeting. Prof. XIE En, Deputy Dean of SEM (Interim Dean), introduced the key work of SEM in 2023.

Committee members present at the meeting hall included:  Prof. WU Qidi, Former Vice Minister of Education, Former President of Tongji University;  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; Prof. LI Yuan, Chair Professor of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Former Dean of SEM, Tongji University; Prof. Amir REZA, Dean, Babson Academy & Global Education of Babson College, US; Prof. Frank BOURNOIS, Vice President and Dean of China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), Prof. Clas NEUMANN, SAP Senior Vice President, Head of Global SAP Labs Network; Mr. LIU Xinyi, President of Shanghai International Group; Mr. XIE Wei, Vice President of Shanghai Pudong Development Bank; Mr. SUN Jian, General Manager of Yantai Changyu Pioneer Wine Co., Ltd; Mr. SHEN Xuejun, Vice President of JD Industries and General Manager of International Business; Mr. WANG Xiaoqiu, President of SAIC Motor; Mrs. LEE Hiu Hung, Executive Vice President of Bosch (China) Investment Ltd; Mr. ZHANG Lihua, President, Webasto China.

Prof. GUO Chongqing, Academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering; China, sent written suggestions for the meeting. Prof. Dr. Jens WÜSTEMANN, President of the Mannheim Business School attended the meeting online. Mr. WANG Xiaoqiu, President of SAIC Motor, and Mr. LIN Bin, Executive Vice President of Siemens Ltd., China, General Manager of Smart Infrastructure, Siemens Greater China were unable to join the meeting, and were respectively represented by Mr. ZU Sijie, Vice President and CTO of SAIC Motor, and Mr. WU Yifan, Senior Strategy Consultant, Siemens Ltd., China, Smart Infrastructure.

Prof. ZHENG, President of Tongji University attended the meeting and delivered a speech

In his speech, Prof. ZHENG thanked the members for their valuable guidance, support and concern for various undertakings of Tongji University. He said that artificial intelligence has brought new challenges and opportunities for social development, requiring management science to keep pace with the times. We need to take the initiative to find problems, needs, scenarios, and use SEM’s interdisciplinary advantages and high-level talent team to create a management discipline with Tongji characteristics, leading the development of the times, and making science and technology better serve the progress of human civilization.

At the meeting, Prof. ZHENG awarded certificates to the four new international Advisory Committee members, Prof. LI Yuan, Prof. Frank BOURNOIS, Mrs. LEE Hiu Hung, Mr. ZHANG Lihua.

In response to the recommendations made by the committee members in the previous year on talent cultivation, disciplinary development, internationalization, social influence and other aspects of SEM, Prof. XIE reported on the initiatives and results taken by SEM in the corresponding areas in 2023. Prof. XIE said that it is urgent to transform and innovate the educational model and the function of knowledge creation, In the face of the great challenges brought by the new generation of information technology to the economy and management. SEM would continue to rely on its resource advantages, explore mechanism innovation, further promote interdisciplinary research, while innovating its talent training model and improve the level of international talent training to meet the needs of national and social development.

During the panel discussion session, members offered their thoughts on “How to Initiate High-quality Development of Discipline by Interdisciplinary, Industry-education Integration?” from different perspectives. Prof. LYU, Executive Vice President of Tongji University and Prof. LEI, former Vice President of Tongji University, put forward suggestions and requirements for the development of SEM.

Prof. LYU said that the valuable suggestions of the committee members are of great significance to the management optimization and reform of SEM. In the face of the challenges and opportunities of the new era, he hopes that SEM can accurately identify changes and implement precise policies, adhere to its characteristics in keeping with the general trend of the development of the times, promote the innovation of the evaluation system of the integration of production and education, and strive to lead a new round of transformation and reform.

Prof. LEI stressed that SEM should grasp the law of interdisciplinary development, pay attention to the enrollment and training of undergraduates, take talent training as the core, scientifically plan as soon as possible in the aspects of interdisciplinary integration, and cultivate the growth points of emerging interdisciplinary disciplines.

Prof. SHI Qian, Chairman of School Council, responded to members’ suggestions.

Prof. GUO Chongqing in his written suggestions, put forward that in the face of the coming of the artificial intelligence technological revolution, how should universities do, how should teachers teach, and how should students learn? SEM must embrace the transformation of artificial intelligence, industrial transformation and China’s economic transformation, sort out the organizational structure, subject connotation and scope of SEM. It should also build a platform-oriented and ecological governance structure, seize the development opportunity of “carbon neutrality”, and contribute to the power of science and technology, education and quality.

Prof. WU Qidi fully affirmed the development achievements of SEM in the past year, especially many domestic and international high-level papers published by faculty members and students. She encouraged the faculty members and students actively absorb international achievements, not only focus on the theoretical issues at the forefront of the discipline, but also strengthen the application of research, and create truly practical Chinese management theories.

Prof. YU Lijuan put forward suggestions from two aspects: discipline construction and talent training. She said that SEM should focus on the main strategy of serving the country, actively integrate into the overall situation of local economic development, strengthen the integration of resources inside and outside the school, and build a first-class discipline with international influence. Based on our advantages of disciplines, we should pay attention to social needs, focus on specific areas, and effectively promote cross-disciplinary and industry-education integration to achieve substantial progress.

Prof. ZHOU Zhen pointed out that the rapid development of artificial intelligence may bring subversive changes, and SEM should take the initiative to assume the mission of the times, promote the combination of technology and management, let technology benefit mankind, and make a difference in the training of composite talents.

Prof. LI Yuan encouraged SEM to build a platform to create an interdisciplinary atmosphere, so that faculty and students can consciously and actively integrate other disciplines, not only to undertake research and projects that serve the national strategy and regional economic and social development, but also to carry out independent thinking and critical academic research, and share diverse academic achievements.

Prof. Dr. Jens WÜSTEMANN expressed his hope that SEM would invest more resources in publishing excellent papers for doctoral students, and suggested that SEM should build more bridges with enterprises and provide more support and services for students in employment. He also hopes to further strengthen cooperation with SEM in the future.

Prof. Amir REZA said that business is currently facing some challenges in the market demand, but on the positive side, the overall demand for learning is still rising, and innovative approaches are needed, such as through short-term training courses and multilateral international cooperation, to explore new development opportunities.

Prof. Frank BOURNOIS proposed that international cooperation and interdisciplinary cooperation should be carried out continuously with the aim of serving students and utilizing superior resources. He stressed that doctoral programs are the foundation of future education and can be further made better through domestic and foreign cooperation.

Prof. Dr. Clas NEUMANN stressed that attention should be paid to artificial intelligence, which will play an important role in many aspects such as logistics supply chain and sustainable development in the future, so students should understand and learn this new technology from multiple perspectives such as technology, legal framework and decision-making science.

Mr. LIU Xinyi believes that the essence of management is to solve the constantly emerging “new problems” and the “real problems” that always exist. Whether it is interdisciplinary, theoretical breakthrough, international cooperation or inter-school cooperation, it is very important to discover and solve new and real problems in the digital age.

Mr. XIE Wei believes that strong interdisciplinary disciplines are the intersection of advantageous disciplines and hot disciplines, considering that social hot spots will change, and students’ solid basic ability is fundamental, the setting of interdisciplinary disciplines should not be too detailed, so as not to restrict students’ future employment choices.

Mr. SUN Jian suggested the establishment of a deep integration mechanism between production and education, and the appropriate extension of students’ practice time in the enterprise. He believes that the talents urgently needed by enterprises and universities are students with strong ability to start and pay attention to actual combat.

Mr. SHEN Xuejun believes that in the change of the times, it is necessary to focus on the future bold vision, at the same time, ideal pragmatism is needed to cultivate talents who can quickly understand the underlying logic of an industry and discipline, and establish their own core skills through interdisciplinary.

From the perspective of industry needs, Mrs. LEE Hiu Hung suggested that SEM cultivate cross-sectional talents who master in software, hardware and project management skills through “economic management +” and “+ economic management”. In terms of the integration of industry and education, she hopes to strengthen cooperation with Tongji University in the field of internship bases in the future and build channels for talent transmission at all levels.

Mr. ZU Xuejie believes that the purpose of interdisciplinary research is to cultivate the ability of dialectical thinking. SEM can make use of the profound basic advantages of Tongji University’s engineering, combine the systematic thinking of management, integrate the international experience, and innovate management concepts and organizational forms to cope with the development of the times.

Mr. WU Yifan suggested strengthening students’ education on career planning to enhance their understanding of different careers and industries, which may be more practical for their future career choices. This includes encouraging entrepreneurship and assisting students to build their core competencies amid the uncertainty brought about by technological change.

As for the suggestions of the members, Prof. SHI, secretary of the Party Committee of SEM, said that SEM will seriously study the insights put forward by the members, continue to deepen cooperation with partners and industry with an open mind, and seek innovative cooperation models and new paths for high-quality talent training in the opening-up.

Prof. XIE said that in the future, SEM will continue to focus on serving national strategy and regional economic and social development, embrace technological change, build interdisciplinary platforms, focus on business practice, improve the level of internationalization, and further improve the quality of talent training.

In addition, leaders, department heads, faculty representatives, administrative department heads, and student representatives attended the meeting.

Established in 2008, the International Advisory Committee Meeting of the School of Economics and Management of Tongji University is an important part of the school’s governance structure. It is composed of domestic and foreign experts with rich experience in education and management practice and important influence in the field of economics and management. So far, 15 meetings have been held. The Advisory Committee provides advice and guidance on major issues related to the long-term development of SEM’s strategic development, personnel training, academic research, etc., and promotes exchanges and cooperation between SEM and domestic and foreign government agencies, well-known enterprises and top business schools.