To deepen international engagement and contribute to the global discourse on management education, Professor CHEN Fangruo, Dean of the Antai College of Economics and Management (ACEM) at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, recently concluded a visit to the 33rd CEEMAN (Central and East European Management Development Association) Annual Conference in Durres, Albania, followed by meetings with leading academic institutions in Belgrade, Serbia.

Under the theme “The Role of Business Schools in a New World Order”, the event gathered around 120 leaders from academia, business, and policy representing more than 30 countries.

Dean CHEN, as a speaker in a panel discussion, addressed the critical question of how business schools can maintain their “relevance” in a rapidly evolving global landscape. He shared ACEM’s forward-thinking approach and practices especially in industry research. First, Dean CHEN explained how ACEM has elevated industry research to a strategic priority for the entire college, which ensures that academic research is deeply connected to the real-world challenges and opportunities faced by businesses and society. Second, he detailed how this strategy is operationalized through a groundbreaking “horizontal (academic) and vertical (industry)” evaluation system.

Building on the momentum from the conference, Dean CHEN’s visited Belgrade, Serbia, on September 29, to fortify ties with key partners in the region. He visited two of the nation’s leading institutions: the Faculty of Economics and Business at the University of Belgrade, and FEFA (Faculty of Economics, Finance and Administration as a part of Singidunum University). The visits facilitated productive dialogues with academic leadership, exploring opportunities for future cooperation in areas such as student and faculty exchange, joint research initiatives, and executive education programs.

The trip reaffirms ACEM’s unwavering commitment to leading the global conversation on the future of management education and to building a robust network of international collaborators to cultivate business leaders for a new world order.

About CEEMAN

Founded in 1993, CEEMAN was established to accelerate the growth in quality of management education in Central and Eastern Europe. Over the past three decades, it has evolved into a global network with particular emphasis on emerging markets and economies in transition, with over 200 members from more than 50 countries across Europe, North America, Latin America, Africa, and Asia.