On April 8^th, 2023, the First New Business Competition of Western Higher Institutions was held on-line in LZU. The competition is hosted by Western New Business Practice Teaching Innovation and Sharing Alliance, organized by LZU, and instructed by Steering Committee of Business Administration Education of MOE, with Guangzhou First Science Technology Co. Ltd. providing technical support for the competition. Besides, it also has the support from Gansu Provincial Committee for Teaching Guidance, Accreditation, and Textbook Construction of Undergraduate Management Majors in Higher Education Institutions.

The opening ceremony of the competition was held at 9:10 am. Leaders, participating teachers and students from various business institutions in western China attended the opening ceremony. It was presided over by Li Yanxia, Deputy Secretary of LUSM CPC Committee.

Prof. Feng Gengzhong, Dean of School of Management, Xi’an Jiaotong University, addressed the opening ceremony. He congratulated the successful holding of the Competition and sincerely thanked the organizer of the competition, LUSM, and Guangzhou First Science Technology Co. Ltd., for their technical support. He pointed out that with the rapid development of science and technology, higher education faces new challenges in educating innovative business talents. The New Business Competition can not only improve students’ comprehensive abilities, but also adapt to the future laws of talent education through simulation methods. This will become a more common teaching method. He hopes that the influence of the Western Higher Education New Business Competition can be expanded continuously under the leadership of the Western New Business Practice Teaching Innovation and Sharing Alliance, and transform from a regional competition to a national competition as soon as possible.

Prof. He Wensheng delivered a speech on behalf of LUSM. He expressed his gratitude to the organizations that provided guidance and technical support to the competition and welcomed the participating teachers and students. By introducing the basic situation of LUSM, and the achievements made in the exploration of business education, he called on all institutions to integrate commercial mindset into teaching activities based on new educational concepts, aiming at comprehensive progress. Establish a “Business integration paradigm” education mode that integrates with industrial forms and business modes, committed to educating innovative business talents urgently needed in the digital economy era.

Prof. Tian Gaoliang, Chairman of the Western New Business Practice Teaching Innovation and Sharing Alliance, delivered a speech on behalf of the organizer. He pointed out that the purpose of the Competition is to promote the development of practical teaching in new business in China. The overall level of practical teaching and the quality of talent cultivation have also been improved. It is hoped that the competition organizers will be serious and responsible to ensure the smooth progress of the competition and the participating students will achieve great results.

Yang Fan, General Manager of GuangZhou First Science Technology Co. ltd, delivered a speech as a technical support unit. The preparation of the competition and the history of the company were given an introduction. He indicated that as the technical support unit for the competition, he will strive to provide comprehensive technical support throughout the entire process to escort the smooth progress of the competition. He sincerely invited teachers from institutions in the western region to discuss and study the training of new business talents and the development path of disciplines in the new era. Students are warmly welcome to take internship at the company.

From 10:00 am to 11:30 am, the participating teams held the final online. The competition was  in good order, and the participating students answered carefully and worked together as a team. It fully demonstrates the solid theoretical literacy and good spiritual outlook of all participating students.

At 14:30 pm, the closing ceremony of the competition was held. Yang Fan summarized the competition and gave a speech with the theme of “Research and Exploration of New Business Talent Education Mode”. In the constantly changing international situation, the new mode of talent cultivation in enterprises is facing challenges from various forms of enterprises. He hopes that students can improve their personal competitiveness by accumulating knowledge. He called on institutions to attach importance to the integration of production and education in order to realize the cooperative growth between institutions and enterprises.

Deng Mingming, Secretary General of the Western New Business Practice Teaching Innovation and Sharing Alliance, released the list of the winners. After automatic scoring by the system, staff review, results publicity, etc., a total of 83 winning teams were selected according to the award setting of the competition. There are 12 special prizes, 24 first prizes and 35 second prizes in the undergraduate group, 2 special prizes, 4 first prizes and 6 second prizes in the postgraduate group.

Zheng Xiaoqiang, Dean of the School of Economics and Management at Southwest Petroleum University, delivered a speech as the organizer of the 2nd Western Higher Education New Business Competition. He felt honored to take over the second New Business Competition of western institutions. The development of Southwest Petroleum University and School of Economics and Management is briefly introduced. He promised that the task of undertaking the second New Business Competition in western institutions will live up to expectations, and invited teachers and students from all institutions to date at Southwest Petroleum University in 2024.

The first Western Higher Education New Business Competition was launched on December 26, 2022. Before March 10, 2023, there was the campus-level selection competition. The final competition focuses on new business digital competence. The competition consists of two groups: graduate and undergraduate. The competition is organized as a team competition, with schools as the unit to form teams. Each school is allowed to have a maximum of 2 teams in each group. Each team consists of 3 participants, who must be students of the same education level in the same school. Western institutions’ attention has been attracted by the competition. A total of 142 teams from 69 western institutions signed up for the competition, including Xi’an Jiaotong University, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Northwest A&F University, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou University of Technology, Xinjiang University, Southwest Petroleum University, Ningxia University, Qinghai University, Chongqing Jiaotong University, Inner Mongolia Normal University and Guangxi University of Science and Technology. There are 118 undergraduate teams and 24 postgraduate teams, and 426 students participated in the competition.