There is an old Chinese saying, “No sycamore, no phoenix.” To speed up the implementation of our talent strategies and raise our international popularity and teaching staff construction level, on Dec. 8, Shanghai Business School (SBS) grandly held the First “Shang Shang” Cloud Forum for International Young Scholars in the lecture hall at Fengpu Campus. Present at the forum were SBS Secretary of the Party Committee Shen Daming, President Tang Haiyan, Vice President He Ying, Vice President Chen Jianfeng, leaders of various functional departments and faculties, and young scholars from all over the world who attended the forum online. The forum was directed by Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee Lao Xiaoyun.

SBS Secretary of the Party Committee Shen Daming presented a welcome speech at the opening ceremony. As he pointed out, SBS is a time-honored school with a history of more than 70 years. Over the years, members of the SBS family have marched forward regardless of trials and hardships, and committed themselves to achieving the goal of building a high-level application-oriented business school with their wisdom, perseverance, and strong sense of responsibility. In recent years, by continuously advancing its main strategy of “strengthening the school through talents”, the school has taken a more open-minded approach to attracting, gathering, and utilizing talents, further improved its talent strategy layout and talent development support system, innovated its talent development mechanism, and strengthened all kinds of supporting measures. The aim is to create an ideal professional ladder and development platform for young talents to broaden their vision and improve their capabilities. Shen Daming also made invitations to young scholars both at home and abroad on behalf of SBS, and expressed his sincere wish that young talents from all over the world would join hands to engage in innovations, pursue their dreams, grow with SBS, and make great achievements with the city!

President Tang Haiyan delivered a keynote speech at the opening ceremony. In the speech, he introduced the history, achievements, and future orientations of SBS to our guests both at the scene and online. In the past 70 years, SBS has adhered to its mission of cultivating talents for the Party and the country, implemented its fundamental task of fostering character and civic virtue, upheld its school motto of “strive for virtue and knowledge, govern and benefit the people”, practiced its “business science-based and application-oriented” educational philosophy, and highlighted its features of “application, innovation, and internationalization”, aiming to build a high-level application-oriented business school with distinctive characteristics by its 80th anniversary. As rightly pointed out by President Tang, the key to high-quality talent cultivation lies in constructing a high-level teaching staff. SBS is about to launch its “Shang Shang Scholars” program for the cultivation and introduction of excellent talents, and further perfect its teacher honor system by conducting classified teacher management reform, professional and technical post and appointment system reform, and personnel and distribution system reform. In recent years, the school has created a discipline layout based on applied economics and business administration and aimed at multi-disciplinary coordinated development, energetically built a featured business discipline and specialty group, and planned to offer two new Master’s degree programs (international business and tourism management). The school also takes it as its mission to offer social services, meet social demands, and serve the “Belt and Road Initiative” of the state. By building the Academy for International Business Officials (AIBO) under MOFCOM, promoting the internationalization of education, and developing a domestically first-class, internationally known new academy of hospitality administration through cooperation with EHL, the school has effectively practiced its “student-oriented” educational philosophy, and continuously improved the enrollment and employment quality of its students. In the end of the speech, President Tang sent warm invitations to young scholars both at home and abroad, and expressed the wish to join hands with talents in various fields in jointly starting a new chapter in the history of SBS and stepping on the new journey of reform and development!

Shao Xiaoping, Director of the Personnel Office, talked about the talent policies and location and policy advantages of Shanghai Municipality, and introduced the talent policies of SBS in terms of talent gathering, development, and retention. He also stressed that the school would offer preferential policy treatment, good living conditions, ideal working environment, and an excellent development platform for young scholars, and expressed his hope that young scholars would choose to grow and develop with SBS.

In the follow-up academic reports, scholar representatives and SBS representatives presented reports and exchanged opinions about personal growth, scientific research achievements, and SBS.

This forum included a main forum and several sub-forums. The sub-forums, undertaken by various faculties, listened to the discussions of young scholars about frontier issues and hot-spot research topics.

In the gentle and pleasant breeze of the Huangpu River and the fragrance of plum blossom beside the Hangzhou Bay, SBS will follow the requirements of the Party and the state for higher education in the new era, take a new starting point of high-quality development, and invite talents from all over the world to jointly plan for the future, striving to build a high-level application-oriented business school with distinctive characteristics.

Writer: Yao Yao

Photographer: Academic Bridge

Reviewer: Shao Xiaoping

Editor in Charge: Tang Xinhui