From May 17th to 19th, hosted by International Business School Suzhou (IBSS) at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU) and the Business School of Changzhou University, the 2nd Annual Meeting of the China Academic Committee for RME and Forum on RME and Sustainable Development (hereafter “the meeting”) was held in Suzhou. Themed on Embracing Global Management Education Transformation-Responsible Leadership, the meeting aims to deepen the awareness of Chinese universities and colleges on RME and to cultivate leading talents with social responsibility, sustainability, and green leadership. WU Rui, international accreditation coordinator, and LEI Jieni, undergraduate counselor of LUSM, attended the meeting at the invitation of the organizing committee.

Consist of 12 sessions of its schedule, the meeting, focus on themes including RME, responsible leadership, sustainable development, and business education transformation, has provied platforms for schelors, young faculty, staff, and students from home and abroad, to share best practices and to learn the newest trend on RME through sessions of keynote speeches, dean’s forum, youth forum, cross-boundary forum, roundtable discussions, academic seminars, and parallel workshops.

On May 17^th, two parallel workshops themed on “Facing 2030: the Responsibility and Mission of Youth” and “the Transformation of Business School Education” were held at IBSS. By topic discussion and experience sharing, students and graduates have demonstrated their participation of advance with times with the perspective of global citizen, and the ambition of promoting social development. On May 18^th, the opening ceremony of the meeting was started with the video speeches recorded by leaders and experts from home and abroad. Prof. RUAN Zhoulin, vice president of Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, prof. LU Hualiang, director of the international research center for sustainable development of Changzhou University, chairperson of China Academic Committee for Responsible Management Education, and prof. HUANG Haifeng, board member of PRME of the UN Global Compact, delivered welcome speeches respectively. They expressed warmly welcome to all the delegates and participants, and elaborated the mission and opportunities on higher education’s integration with sustainable development, and expected to build the new innovation platform for RME and sustainable development through joint efforts together with government,industry,academic and research institutions.

Prof. Mette Morsing, head of PRME Secretariat of UN Global Compact, and prof. Mohan Munasinghe, former vice-chairperson of UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2007 Nobel Peace Prize Co-Laureate and Winner of the 2021 Blue Planet Prize, delivered keynote speeches respectively, expressing the idea of jointly building a cooperative bridge between RME and sustainable development, and the expectation of promoting exchanges and mutual learning among "global civilizations". Prof. Mette pointed that universities should not only cultivate innovation and practical talents with professional skills, but also have a mission to help prepare and inspire students to be ethical, innovative, and engaged leaders who positively impact the community, both locally and globally. She expressed her sincere thanks and immense gratitude for the greater PRME Chapter China journey, as it is just beginning. She also expressed her welcome for excellent universities and management schools to join the UN PRME family. Prof. Mohan Munasinghe mentioned that multi-polarization benefits to the achievement of globalization, he expressed his hope that with the guidance of PRME, and by engaging in partnership and dialogue,  the China Academic Committee for RME and PRME Chapter China would support and expend the impact of PRME in Chinese higher education institutions. He congratulated to the further major step in the shared journey towards sustainability.

On May 19th, the youth forum, themed on “Youth are the leading force for sustainbale development--The Power of Responsibility and Influence” was held at IBSS. Youth representatives shared their understandings of RME and the practices of SDGs from their commitments to the sustainbale development. During the meeting,  the lacuching ceremongy for the Regional Centres of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development (RCE) Suzhou, and the opening ceremony for the Establishment of the China Institute for Responsible Management Education and Sustainbale Development were susccessfully conducted in Suzhou and Changzhou respectively.

LUSM signed PRME in 2008 and been listed as the advanced signatory in 2019. In 2021, prof. ZHAO Yanhai, associate dean of the School was appointed the member of the China Academic Committee of RME. As the only PRME signatory in western China, LUSM will continue to adhere to the university’s motto of “constantly improving, blazing our own path”, and will always forces on PRME’s trends and progress. LUSM is committed to promoting regional sustainable development and enabling RME through methods such as international accreditation, high-level research on sustainable development, and diversified stakeholders’ interaction, so as to make innovative exploration for developing leaders with global perspective, local commitment, and social responsibility for western China and beyond.

[Background Information]

Principle of Responsible Management Education (PRME) was initiated by the United Nation in 2007. It aims at fulfilling and supporting the responsible management education, researches and leadership in thinking patterns through six principles on purpose, value, method, research, partnership, and dialogue. For now, more than 860 business faculties and management education institutes from 99 countries accept and sign the principles. Among which are 28 Chinese institutions, and LUSM was the 10^th signatory of China.