To construct a first-class business school, continuously promote its management level; Beijing Normal University Business School inaugurated its International Advisory Committee. On April the 9^th of 2016, the first BNU Business School International Advisory Committee Conference was held in the BNU main building conference room. Attending guests included: Liu Chuansheng, Chairperson of theBNU Council; Dong Qi, BNU President and BNUBS International Advisory Committee President; Zhou Zuoyu, BNU Vice-president; other BNUBS International Advisory Committee members and off-campus guests; as well as leaders of relevant BNU functional departments such as the President Office, the Office of Party Committee Propaganda, the Graduate School Office, the Office of Social Sciences, the Finance Office, the Office of International Exchange and Cooperation, as well as the Office of Public Resources Center. BNU Business School representatives included Dean Lai Desheng, Party Council Chairperson Sun Zhijun, Academic Committee Chairman Li Shi; and other BNU Business School Party & administrative leaders as well as teacher representatives.

Left: Liu Chuansheng, Chairperson of BNU Council; Right: BNU President Dong Qi

First BNU Business School International Advisory Committee Conference

The Appointment Ceremony of the BNU Business School International Advisory Committee was hosted by BNU Vice-president Zhou Zuoyu.

BNU Council Chairperson Liu Chuansheng gave the welcome speech to congratulate on the inauguration of the BNU Business School International Advisory Committee; also expressing a warm welcome and heartfelt gratitude to the attending guests. Ms. Liu introduced the development process of Beijing Normal University, and stated that the “General Plan of Promoting the Construction of International First-class Universities and First-class Disciplines” issued by the State Council is a great challenge to all higher education institutions; Beijing Normal University has established its aim to accelerate the pace of constructing itself into an international First-class university. Ms. Liu indicated that a First-class university must have a First-class business school. The inauguration of the BNU Business School International Advisory Committee has further enhanced the power of its external governance capabilities. Introducing the most advanced concepts and experiences both domestic and abroad to provide precious consulting suggestions in aspects such as strategic planning, international communication, enterprise contact and brand construction will have significant effects on the promotion of Beijing Normal University construction, the development and construction of the BNU Business School; as well as the promotion of BNU Business School’s internationalization, adaptive capacity of world development situations; and further contribute to the national social and economic development.

The introductory presentation of BNU Business School was given by Dean Lai Desheng. Dean Lai focused on three aspects: current development situations, development opportunities in the new period and future development plans. Beijing Normal University Business School is an important base for business talent cultivation and scientific research; according to the QS World University Rankings® 2015/16, Beijing Normal University is ranked 232, which is No.8 of all universities in mainland China. In the new period, the aim of BNU Business School is to construct a first-class institution with rich cultural heritage and profound international influences; to promote its long-term development through aspects such as: promoting disciplinary competitiveness, expand its faculty, improve its talent cultivation mode, accomplish symbolic scientific achievements, enhance international communication and cooperation, expand resource supply boundaries, also to successfully operate its alumni association and promote its management level.

Left: BNU Vice-president Zhou Zuoyu Hosting the Appointment Ceremony
Right: BNU Business School Dean Lai Desheng Giving the Introductory Presentation

The first BNU Business School International Advisory Committee Conference was hosted by Dong Qi, who is the BNU President and the BNUBS International Advisory Committee President. President Dong indicated that the inauguration of the BNU Business School International Advisory Committee is an innovation of the institutional mechanism. Currently, Chinese higher education institutions are boosting the construction of its modern university system; developing the power of academic experts and social forces is an important element in perfecting university governance structure. University education must satisfy modern society development’s requirements for talents; inviting top domestic and international experts in various fields to guide the future development of BNU Business School is a major innovation in university governance. President Dong hoped that all committee members could speak out of what they know, provide precious comments as well as suggestions on the development of BNU Business School; also contributing their experiences and wisdom to the development of Beijing Normal University.

Afterwards, the BNU Business School International Advisory Committee provided suggestions on aspects such as: development strategies, institution governance and management, talent cultivation, scientific research, social services and discipline construction.

Prof. Cai Fang, the Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences congratulated on recent development progresses made by the BNU Business School, also expressing his admiration on its international ranking. As an advisory committee member, Mr. Cai proposed that as China’s economic development has entered the “New Normal”, higher education institutions should transfer its discipline advantage to think tank advantage; apply more advanced methods which are greater in number and more precise to solve the urgent issue of research on China’s reality; thus to strengthen its advantages, form the dual-advantage of “theory and reality” as well as “general discipline development and China’s issues”.

Mr. Jiang Jianning, an excellent BNU Business School graduate,Senior Consultant of IDG Capital and Former President of CYTS Tours Holding expressed that Beijing Normal University is his development basis and the starting point of his career. Mr. Jiang suggested that BNU Business School should strengthen theoretical research while emphasizing its combination with social and economic practice; place different focuses according to the development and variation of the Chinese society; in order to provide theoretical guidance on the operation of a specific industry, promote industry development, promote social progress and generate strong social impacts.

Mr. Li Hongxin, Chairman of Shandong Sun Paper Industry Joint Stock Co., Ltd. indicated that BNU Business School should make great efforts in continuing to innovate and finding its development direction. To begin with, in terms of its humanistic connotation characteristics, BNU Business school should find a better junction of BNU’s centennial campus culture and China’s five-thousand-year traditional culture, also to continuously inherit and develop it. Secondly, in terms of international influence, an internationalized mission is required; also an open and tolerate mind, follow the education development footsteps; continuously expand its influence while focusing on Economic Management case practice.

Mr. Mao Jiye, Dean of the Business School at Renmin University of China have proposed development suggestions for BNU Business School from three aspects: the first thing is to extrude BNU Business School’s cultivation features and differentiation development based on university resources and advantages; also to combine them with dominant university disciplines such as psychology to strengthen BNU Business School’s competitive advantages. Secondly, a good disciplinary planning is required, concentrate on advantaged discipline construction, have distinctive characteristics, be more focused, balance the relationship between different discipline fields. Third, internationalization is an important driving force in promoting institutional future development, which is a mutual challenge that all universities face.

Ms. Shi Yanlai, President/Founder of the RYB Education Technology Development Co., Ltd. have raised suggestions from a practical perspective, indicating that BNU Business School development should first achieve accurate positioning, have a core focus and integrate resources, while refining alumni resources also construct anintegrated platform for research and incubation; the next step in its development process is to place focus on highlights and guidance, set up goals during the implementation process, including phasic goals. Ms. Shi expressed that she is highly interested in cooperating with her alma mater – Beijing Normal University, to carry out deep level practical researches.

Mr. Song Xiaowu, Consultant of the China Society of Economic Reform has highly praised BNU Business School’s combination of its humanistic values and economic researches. Mr. Song indicated that under the background of China being integrated into the world political and economic pattern, higher education institutions should expand their horizon, find national policy related research fields based on its own situation; also to provide relevant suggestions and contribute to the think tank construction, expand institutional influence and achieve its goal of becoming a fist-class business school both domestic and abroad.

State Council Counsellor Mr. Wang Huiyao, also the President & Director of the Center for China and Globalization (CCG) indicated that the internationalization of business schools is inevitable, he provided detailed suggestions such as: promote and expand its current brands while developing new brands, establish unique disciplines such as innovation and entrepreneurship; based on the large number of international students studying in Beijing Normal University, combine language learning with business education to enhance internationalized education; enhance international cooperation, be more active in communicating and cooperating with international organizations; organize an annual brand meeting of international management or international entrepreneurship.

Mr. Wang Mingfu, Chairman of the Hejun Consulting Group have proposed suggestions in talent cultivation and brand construction aspects: in terms of talent cultivation, teaching contents should include practical cases, to research and analyze the active economic and business activities of China, deepen observation and lead-in classrooms; in terms of expanding brand influence, a unique method should be developed, make innovations based on tradition, develop courses focusing on China’s economy and practice while introducing foreign cases, popularize these courses internationally, they might become the most popular course or case; meanwhile, the historic contributions of Beijing Normal University would also have strong national influences.

Mr. Yang Zejun, Chairman of the Silk Road Fund Supervisory Committee indicated that to construct a first class business school with rich humanistic connotations and profound international influences, the first focus is its culture construction, strengthen its centripetal force and cohesive force; in terms of international influence, not only discipline construction planning is required, but also it needs to be combined with practical work, so that the institution would have the ability to participate in government policy establishment; after making development plans, persistence is essential, the plans should be carried out accordingly; meanwhile, focus should be placed on constructing an international platform, market mechanism innovation and maintaining a virtuous circle with social interaction mechanism.

Ms. Zhao Baige, member of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, Vice-Chairperson of the NPC Foreign Affairs Committee was unable to attend this meeting and asked Mr. Tan Xiaodong to attend as her representative. Mr. Tan is the Deputy Director of the China Certification & Accreditation Institute. He expressed Ms. Zhao’s attention and support towards Beijing Normal University, indicating that he would be sharing his experiences on internationalization construction in further communication, especially cases and experiences of “One Belt One Road”. Mr. Tan also mentioned that business schools should place more emphasis on cultivating comprehensive and compound talents, combined with rich humanistic connotations, provide talent support to the internationalization of China and the development of “One Belt One Road”.

Mr. Zhong Hande, Chairman of the Maxdo Group HK Board has been dedicated to educational charities for many years, he has established multiple charity programs in Beijing Normal University, including the Maxdo College and specialized scholarships. Mr. Zhong indicated that the internationalization of higher education institutions should complement local wisdom with international vision, which could start from three aspects: inaugurate an International Advisory Committee, allow it to play a greater role; actively participate in global competition, as a university with highly distinctive features, Beijing Normal University have rich humanistic connotations, based on which, the innovation in its talent cultivation mode is an irresistiblehistorical trend; follow global trends and national strategies, promote competitiveness, this is the key to constructing a university with unique characteristics.

Group Photo of the BNU Business School International Advisory Committee

The BNU Business School International Advisory Committee is an internal advisory body formed by prestigious expert scholars, enterprisers and government officials both domestic and abroad; invited by the BNU Business School to provide consultation on institutional development strategies and major policies.

Various medias have attended this meeting and issued relevant reports, including: Guangming Daily, China Education Daily, China Education Television (ETV) and Legal Evening News…ect.

(Article Submission: Liu Yang)