From April 14 to 16, Prof. Bai Changhong, Dean of NKBS, and Cui Lianguang, Director of International Certification and Quality Improvement Program, were invited to attend the AACSB (The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) International Conference and Annual Meeting (ICAM) 2019 held in Edinburgh, UK. The AACSB ICAM is the largest summit for elite business schools in the world, attended by business school deans and related leaders from more than 50 countries and regions. This year’s conference was themed “Challenging Core Foundations”, and had plenary sessions and parallel sub-forums.

Dean Bai and his delegation attended all plenary sessions and ten thematic parallel sub-forums, sharing and exchanging ideas with deans of well-known business schools in Europe and America in respect of digital transformation, classified management of teachers, influence of research, past and future of management education, and lifelong learning. Professor Peter Tufano, Dean of Oxford University Business School, enlightened the future development direction by reviewing the development history of business education, and pointed out after the historical analysis that Harvard Business School’s reputation began with wartime service during the World War II and remains today. Therefore, the business school mission should be set in close relation to the theme of the times. In addition, Professor Howard Yu from International Institute for Management Development analyzed the industry changes of piano manufacturing and biological medicine in his keynote speech, and proposed that the leader should reflect their own businesses and then learn about new knowledge field in a jumping mode to transform and gain competitive advantages. The proposed jumping mode plays an important role in transformation of business schools.

In the conference, Dean Bai shared his experience in accreditation and school construction with deans from University of Graz, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Jönköping University, Sun Yat-sen University, Lanzhou University and Tianjin University. Besides, he also exchanged cooperation intentions with Professor Tugrul Aamer, Vice President of EMLYON Business School, and discussed the direction of future cooperation.

This AACSB ICAM effectively promotes the further exchange and cooperation between our school and well-known business schools at home and abroad, and its theme helps us grasp the latest situation and trend of international management education. At present, we are in the critical period of AACSB re-accreditation and we have an understanding of new AACSB accreditation standards and related re-accreditation procedures through this conference.