From January 8th to 9th, an International Assessment Committee conducted a comprehensive review of the School of Entrepreneurship and Management (SEM)’s first five years since its launch. The committee consisted of five internationally distinguished experts, chaired by Professor Richard Lyons (Chief Innovation & Entrepreneurship Officer and Former Dean of the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley). The other members of the Committee were: Professor Cai Hongbin (Dean of Hong Kong University School of Business and Former Dean of Guanghua School of Management, Peking University); Professor David Hsu (Richard A. Sapp Professor of Management at Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania); Professor Pan Jiaofeng (President of Institute of Science and Development, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chairman of Chinese Association of Development Strategy Studies, and Fellow of World Innovation Organization); and Professor Xiong Wei (Dean of CUHK Shenzhen School of Economics and Management and Professor of Finance, Princeton University). The international assessment was meant to provide a comprehensive evaluation of the school’s faculty growth, education and curriculum development, academic disciplines and research achievements, governance structure and administrative effectiveness, etc.
On morning of January 8th, ShanghaiTech University Council Chairman Li Ruxin expressed a warm welcome and thanks to all the distinguished experts at the opening meeting. ShanghaiTech Vice President & Provost Yin Jie briefed the Assessment Committee on the university’s development strategy and achievements in recent years including recruiting high-quality faculty, developing an innovative tertiary education system, pursuing research excellency, building world-class research facilities, and nurturing international cooperation. On behalf of the university, Provost Yin looked to the Assessment Committee for a critical review of the overall situation of the SEM from the perspective of frontiers of international business education top world-class university standards. He told them he looked forward to receiving constructive opinions and suggestions from the committee on future development of the school.
SEM Dean Fang Hanming delivered an overview of the school’s vision and mission, its five-year development timeline, organizational structure, faculty composition, and research capacity. He inspected and analyzed SEM’s advantages and weaknesses, as well as the challenges and opportunities presently faced by the school. SEM Vice Dean Lu Ding introduced the school’s achievements and progress in curriculum development, student education, executive training programs, and institutional alignments. Afterwards, 24 SEM faculty members presented on their academic research interests, achievements, and agenda and answered questions and comments raised by the committee members. During the assessment, committee members also visited the three SEM labs, and held discussions with the school's administrative and teaching supporting staff as well as students enrolled in SEM minor degree programs to solicit their opinions and suggestions on the school’s development.
On the morning of January 9th, the Assessment Committee reported its preliminary assessment and feedback to ShanghaiTech President Jiang Mianheng and Vice President & Provost Yin Jie. The committee members concluded that SEM earnestly carried out its mission in the past five years by establishing a distinctive curriculum system, building a capable administration and a faculty team full of vitality and potential. While impressed by the school’s achievements and foundation, the committee experts suggested that SEM should build a clear vision for its future, make long-term plans, and learn from the valuable experiences of the world’s best business schools. Vice Provost Jiang Ge, Human Resources Director Zhou Yu, and the SEM deans participated in the discussion.
