On May 11-12, LUSM has successfully held AAPBS 2021 Academic Conference. Affected by the pandemic, the event was organized online. Experts and scholars from more than 10 countries and regions were invited to participate in the conference and it has attracted over 100 participants from Asia-Pacific and global business schools.

With the theme of "the Cooperation and Program Development under the Belt and Road Initiative for Asia-Pacific Business Schools", the conference aimed to stimulate the innovation vitality of business schools in the post-COVID 19 era, accelerate the integration of digital technology and business education, and further promote regional academic cooperation by sharing the latest cutting-edge theories and best practices.

The conference was chaired by Zhao Yanhai, associate dean of LUSM. At the opening ceremony, He Wensheng, Dean of LUSM and Mr. Robin Gauld, President of AAPBS delivered welcoming speeches respectively. Dean He extended a warm welcome to the guests and the audience, he fully affirmed the significance of the meeting on strengthening the cooperation of the business schools in the post-COVID 19 era, pointed out that the digital education is the direction of business schools of the future, hoped that the meeting can deepen academic cooperation between member schools and promote the curriculum reform and program development through the integration of digital technology. President Robin welcomed the participants and thanked the School for the preparatory work of the conference. He pointed out that AAPBS, as a young organization, continues to emphasize innovation, cooperation and development. While COVID-19 has brought many uncertainties to the mobility of universities around the world, it has also brought new opportunities for cooperation. He looked forward to the meeting providing useful ideas for the academic cooperation of the Asia-Pacific business and management schools.

Then, during the two-day meeting, experts and scholars from the Business School of Nagoya University of Commerce & Business, School of Business, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management, Aston Business School, EDC-Bled School of Management, University of New South Wales Business School, College of Business and Economics, Western Washington University, College of Business, University of Nevada, Reno, School of management of Zhejiang University, School of Management, Fudan University, Xuanhuai School of Entrepreneurship, Tianjin University, Business School, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University have focused on four topics: Curriculum Innovation Driven by New Digital Technology in Business Education, Sustainability Research for Asia-Pacific Business Schools in the Era of Great Changes, How Does Business Education Adapt to The Changes in The Post-COVID-19 Era? Opportunities and Challenges Brought by “B&R” Initiative for Asia-Pacific Business Education and have made speeches and discussions on opportunities and challenges brought by “B&R” Initiative for business education in Asia Pacific. The meeting ended successfully in the invitation of the annual meeting by Faculty of Business Administration, Chiang Mai University.

The Association of Asia Pacific Business Schools (AAPBS) is a regional association of management schools. With the goal of strengthening joint academic research and management education development, AAPBS was established in 2004 by 17 well-known institutions in the Asia Pacific region including Korea Advanced institute of Science and Technology, Tsinghua University, National University of Singapore, Keio University, Chulalongkorn University. LUSM joined the AAPBS in 2005 and obtained the right to host the conference in 2019. The conference is one of the two important activities of the AAPBS. The right to host the conference also indicates that the management discipline of our university has a certain influence in the Asia Pacific and even international related fields. It is also an important embodiment of Lanzhou University's initiative to adapt to the new normal of international competition in higher education and continuously improve the level of international exchange and cooperation.