From April 14 to 20, at the invitation of The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), Prof. He Wensheng, Dean of LUSM, Prof. Wang Kangzhou and Prof. Lang Mei, representatives of the faculty, as well as Yan Xuefei, Director of the Office of International Cooperation and Accreditation, attended the 2024 AACSB International Conference and Annual Conference (ICAM), and visited the peers and partner institutions in the United States.

From April 15 to 17, the delegation attended the ICAM held in Atlanta, which bringing together more than 1,200 business school representatives and exhibitors from 58 countries and regions around the world.

The Conference consists of two keynote speeches and fourteen parallel sessions. Under the theme of “Scenes from the Future: A Forecast for Business Schools”, Prof. Amy Webb, CEO of The Future Today Institute, Professor of Strategic Foresight, Stern School of Business of the New York University, in her keynote speech, provides a thought-provoking series of snapshots into the near and far future of business and society, offers insights for how your business school can achieve its preferred future, and puts forth probable answers to tomorrow’s most pressing questions about work, relationships, and our way of living; Shawn Achor, Author of Big Potential and The Happiness Advantage, on the topic of “The Power of A Positive Mindset In the Midst of Challenges”, describes how students and educators can create a stronger emotional immune system to buffer against the negative, use a positive mindset as an advantage, enhance the ecosystem in order to create virtuous cycles, and help the brain find more meaning and social connection in the midst of challenge. During the discussion, delegates worldwide conducted deep exchanges on the frontier academic topics in business education such as AI, societal impact, assurance of learning, sustainability, and systemic mindset, etc. In addition, the participants shared their insight and practical experiences on the content of the trend of international accreditation, the latest accreditation standards, and the next plan on continuous improvement.

During the Conference, Stephanie Bryant, the Executive Vice President, Chief Accreditation Officer, and Managing Director of AACSB highly recognized the active efforts made by LUSM in its AACSB construction process, and congratulated the School for earning the accreditation through a certificate awarding ceremony. In addition, the delegation also had an in-depth exchange with Gregory Mosier, Dean of the College of Business, University of Nevada, Reno, one of LUSM’s partner universities.

On April 16, at the invitation of Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University, the delegation went to the School for an exchange visit. Prof. Thomas J. Vicino, Dean, Prof. Yang Liu, PMAP Chair, Can Chen, PhD Program Director, and Peter Bluestone, Associate Director of Public Finance Research Cluster participated in the discussion. The two sides had an in-depth discussion on the educational practices in the field of public administration, and exchanged views on topics such as scientific research cooperation and exchanges.

On April 18, the delegation was invited to Rutgers University-Newark to visit the School of Business and the School of Public Affairs and Management. In the morning meeting, Lei Lei, Dean, Prof. Yaw Mensah, Interim Vice Dean, Dr. Dietrich Tschanz, Assistant Dean for RBS International Programs, and Monica Giron, Business Manager for RBS International Programs of Rutgers Business School had an in-depth exchange with the representatives of LUSM, and both sides had a warm discussion on the cooperation of faculty and short-term training programs. The two sides had a warm discussion and agreed that the visit provided valuable exchange opportunities for the teams and teachers of both sides and laid a solid foundation for future academic cooperation between the two institutions.

In the afternoon, the delegation visited the School of Public Affairs and Administration (SPAA), where Kaifeng Yang, Dean, Pengju Zhang, Director of International Programs, Suzanne J. Piotrowski, Director of the MPA Program, and Aaron Gibbs, Associate Dean  participated in the meeting. The two sides reviewed the past cooperations and had in-depth exchanges on how to further promote the cooperation between the two schools in terms of joint scientific research and students training.

On April 19, the delegation visited John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY) of the City University of New York (CUNY) to meet with Yi Lu, LZU Cuiying Professor, and discussed on further strengthening the team cooperation.

Through the visit, LUSM further strengthened exchanges with well-known business schools at home and abroad, expanded the scope of international cooperation, and gained valuable experience in business education theory and practice from numerous domestic and foreign institutions. It has a positive promoting significance for the School to understand the latest trends in business education, future trends in international accreditation, key areas of innovation and entrepreneurship education in the new era, and the application of digital teaching in MBA education, which provides new development ideas for the School's continuous improvement and innovation in strategic development, international cooperation and accreditation, and the development of all level degree programs.