FC: The goal is to connect theory with practice. We know this is an ‘old’ topic, but we have a new way to push this goal one big step forward. There are two models of research: one is discipline-based and the other is industry-based. Discipline-based research is the traditional model. As Business Schools, we have various disciplines – finance, economics, accounting, marketing, management, operations, and so on. These are discipline models of doing research and we want to build on top of this traditional model with another layer – another model of knowledge creation. We called this industry research. Horizontal research is discipline-based, and vertical research is industry-based. In 2018, we established the institute for industry research, and we want to use this platform to promote industry research within the Business School. This initiative was supported tremendously by our alumni. It’s almost as if our alumni base was ignited by the idea that the School is using industry research as a strategy. Faculty support has also been huge. We have 180 faculty members and, of these,110
programmes, PhDs, MBAs, EMBAs, executive education, and a DBA programme. It’s a full spectrum of programmes and the scale is increasing as we speak. The international dimension is also developing very rapidly, but it has been impacted by Covid-19. We have a few programmes that relate to international students and have established programmes and partnerships with overseas Schools. We’ve seen a huge development in business education in China in general – and Antai College in particular. So, you can measure that in terms of faculty, students, alumni, and various international outreach programmes. ZW: Fangruo, in 2019 at the AMBA & BGA Global Conference in Istanbul, you gave an interesting presentation on how business education can be linked with industrial sectors, and industrial sector upgrading, as well as how business education can be embedded into industrial innovation. Can you share any recent progress, given the Covid-19 challenge?
In China, most students say that they don’t like online teaching and consider face-to-face teaching to be much better
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Ambition | BE IN BRILLIANT COMPANY
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