British school gets down to business with Chinese counterparts
King’s Business School (KBS) signed a memorandum of understanding recently with the Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF) of Shanghai Jiao Tong University to establish a strategic partnership.
The two parties will have student and faculty exchanges, joint research and other forms of academic collaboration, said Professor Stephen Bach, the inaugural dean of the central London-based business school.
The agreement is the first of its kind signed with a Chinese educational institution. The KBS was created last year out of the School of Management and Business of the King’s College to become the college’s ninth faculty.
“The Chinese market is very important for us. We have many students from China,” said Bach. “And China is one of the leading economies in the world. So understanding the business environment with China is very important so that should be reflected in our curriculum and activities. It also reflects that KBS is a global business school. I think it is a really valuable experience for our students to work with students from different countries. And working with students and the faculty from China can enrich our education.”
Professor Bach believes the world is moving east and south.
“In our teaching, we look at practice in China, Asia and other parts of the world,” he said. “We have an undergraduate program in international management, in which the China Institute at King’s even teach students mahjong.”
He said KBS was going to sign agreements with leading universities around the world and the purpose was three-fold. The first is to encourage student mobility.
“We think it’s very important for our students to learn together with other students from around the world so they can have an understanding of business in different contexts,” he said. “So by signing agreements with institutions like SAIF, it allows us to bring our students from KBS to Shanghai and for students from Shanghai to come to London to learn business in China and the UK.”
The second is to increase academic staff mobility.
“It is for our faculty to work on joint research projects with faculty and teaching staff in Chinese universities on really important issues of the day, and to bring that into our education,” said Bach. “It’s very important for us and our education is very rigorous but also very relevant. So by working with colleagues around the world, we can make sure we are tackling really important issues such as poverty, mass migration, cyber security and bring that into our curriculum.”
The third fold is to develop academic talent.
“King’s College has partnerships with a number of Chinese universities, we take advantage of those partnerships,” he said. “But the purpose of us being here is to go deeper, to look at really concrete programs, such as to offer double diplomas. For example, Chinese students with MBA in finance could come to KBS and deepen their knowledge in marketing or entrepreneurship.”
Bach said KBS and SAIF had many issues in common, especially in technology development, and emphasized the importance of students understanding the changing global business environment.
Professor Bach pointed out that the world is changing very fast in terms of technology, while economic nationalism and populism were re-emerging in some countries.
“I think changes and uncertainty bring tremendous opportunities and make it even more important that we continue to innovate as a business school, to develop our curriculum,” Professor Bach said. “The role of all universities in the first place is to keep pace with change. We are in a very period of rapid technological change and there is no doubt that jobs will be reconfigured and some jobs will be replaced. But it will create other jobs and there is always need for human judgment and emotional intelligence. The role of business schools is to look ahead to make sure we are adapting our students to that changing environment.”
To fulfill the mission, KBS has been introducing new programs, such as those in digital marketing, entrepreneurship and innovation, and bringing people from business sectors to engage with students about how the world is changing.
One thing that concerns Professor Bach is the growth of economic nationalism and populism in some countries, which is not welcomed in the world, but he said universities had a unique contribution to make by creating a counter voice, opening students’ minds and creating an integrated global community.
“KBS bring together students from 80 nationalities around the world,” said Bach. “Studying with some from France, some from China and some from Uganda, you are learning about people’s different cultures. It makes you a more open-minded individual, a better business person and a citizen of the world.”