On the morning of August 14, Wei Wang, Secretary of the Party Committee of the Business School at the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology (USST), Laijun Zhao, Dean of the School, and Kai Zhu, Secretary of the Office of the School, visited the School of Management at Xi’an Jiaotong University (XJTU), and were warmly received by Gengzhong Feng, Dean of School of Management at XJTU, and Yuedong Zhao, Deputy Director of the Office at XJTU. The two parties exchanged ideas on the construction of teachers and administrative teams, strategies for developing professional degrees, the establishment of think tanks, and the main issues faced in school development.
First, Dean Gengzhong Feng gave a detailed introduction to how the School of Management at XJTU built their faculty and administrative teams. In recent years, with the strong support of XJTU, the School of Management at XJTU was allowed to adopt the “One School, One Policy” approach in terms of the school’s talent recruitment policy. Thus, through the “Young Talents Outstanding Program” and the “Young Talents Recruitment Program”, the School of Management at XJTU were able to improve the compensation packages for talents to the best of their abilities, attract young people to join the faculty team, and open up various channels for teacher promotion. At the same time, the School’s assessment and reward policies have also kept pace with the times, and undergone constant reform and adjustment. By increasing rewards for scientific research and hourly payment for teaching, the School has truly achieved the goal of “giving more rewards to those who work more, and those with better performances.” Dean Feng also said that it is necessary to pay attention to the inheritance and construction of the school culture, and create an environment where the faculty and staff are united in the reform and development of the School. Additionally, Dean Gengzhong Feng introduced the development of the administrative team, professional degrees, and think tanks. Dean Feng said that the ultimate role that a think tank should play is to serve the society and provide forward-looking, timely and accurate suggestions for the country’s policy making.
Dean Laijun Zhao introduced the Business School at USST. Dean Zhao first introduced the development history of the School from 2017 to 2020. In May 2018, the School officially passed the AACSB accreditation, making USST the first one to pass the AACSB accreditation among universities that are not directly under the Ministry of Education. This accreditation marked a milestone in the School’s journey of going on a fast track of development at full power. The School is now applying for EQUIS accreditation. Meanwhile, he made a brief introduction to the School's work during the epidemic. Dean Zhao said that in terms of faculty construction, the School still has problems such as the age structure of faculty and the lack of core force. They should learn from the School of Management at XJTU by recruiting more talents, and introducing fresh blood into the School. At the same time, Dean Zhao concurred with Dean Feng’s point of view on the use of funds for professional degrees. He said that he must abide by the national and local policies, use every penny on practical areas, effectively increase the salary and compensation of the faculty and staff, improve the quality of teaching and research, and strive to provide the professional degree education with local characteristics of Shanghai. Dean Laijun Zhao also proposed a plan to build a “joint think tank”. He hopes to combine forces with XJTU’s School of Management to jointly build a new type of think tank with Chinese characteristics, solve the difficult problems of reform, development and stability, deal with the complexity and arduousness of global issues, and provide solid intellectual support for the Party and the government.
After listening to Dean Feng’s plan on the construction of the administrative team, Secretary Wei Wang said that although the construction of the faculty is an essential work in the development of colleges and universities, the management and training of the administrative team cannot be ignored. The administrative staff have the dual functions of management and service, and play an irreplaceable role in the school’s development. To this end, the School must make great efforts to build an excellent administrative team made up of talents who hold firm political beliefs, play an outstanding leadership role, and possess good physical and mental attributes so as to ensure the great development of the school.
The atmosphere of the entire meeting was lively and friendly, which laid a good foundation for the cooperation between our school and the School of Management at Xi'an Jiaotong University. After the event, the two parties took a group photo.
Photo taken on site
Group Photo
Translator: Jianjia He
