On December 14th, 2024, the School grandly held the 2024 Mentor Appointment Ceremony and Career Development Forum. Marking the 15th anniversary of the Career Mentor Program, the school appointed 204 professional mentors and 19 entrepreneurial mentors. They will join previous mentors to witness the school's significant breakthroughs in business education and talent cultivation, and jointly open a new chapter of school-enterprise cooperation and joint talent development in the new era. The event was presided over by Prof. Zheng Qinghuan, Vice Chair of the School Council.

Prof. Hou Limin, Chair of the School Council, delivered the opening speech. She elaborated on the significant role of the Career Mentor Program as a new model of integration of industry, teaching, and research, especially its key function in promoting school-enterprise cooperation, and shared the school's fruitful achievements in the domestic and international business education arenas in recent years. She pointed out that the Career Mentor Program is a concentrated reflection of the school's educational philosophy, not only deepening the integration of industry and education in all aspects but also innovating the talent cultivation model, illuminating the career development path for ECUST students.

Dean Fan Tijun introduced the school comprehensively and in-depth from multiple dimensions such as academic disciplines, faculty, research achievements, characteristic programs, and development strategies. He mentioned that after years of development, the school has successfully passed three international authoritative accreditations and ranks among the top 1% of business schools globally. In degree education, the full-time international MBA program ranked 9th in mainland China in the 2025 QS rankings and has received many other honors. In faculty development, the teaching team has undertaken 9 national-level natural and social science major projects and has published papers in top domestic and international journals multiple times. In international cooperation, the school has established cooperative relationships with more than 50 international institutions. Dean Fan emphasized that in the future, the school will focus on characteristic talent development projects such as "action learning" and adhere to the "iBEST" talent development philosophy, committed to reshaping the business education system and promoting the integrated and innovative development of educational resources.

Based on this, he further introduced the school's "iBEST" talent development model, which takes the integration of business with engineering, science, and technology as the core of education, guiding each individual (i) to become a compound talent pursuing excellence (BEST). This innovative model combines business education, business research, and business practice, aiming to lay a solid foundation for cultivating high-quality business talents that meet the requirements of the new era.

The School has always adhered to the same frequency and joint answers with leading enterprises in various industries, continuously deepening the connotation of school-enterprise cooperation and promoting the close connection between educational development, industrial upgrading, and talent cultivation. Therefore, the event specially set up a career development forum, where mentors had a lively exchange around two major topics: "Enterprise Talent Demand and Cultivation" and "Personal Growth Path of Professional Mentors," offering suggestions and strategies.

Regarding the talent demand of enterprises under the new economic situation and the way of joint talent cultivation between schools and enterprises, Duan Mei, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Shanghai Xuhui (Group) Co., Ltd., Han Zhihai, General Manager of Shanghai Xynos Life Health Technology Co., Ltd., Jenny Li, Group Vice President & CFO of SB Industrial Technology Group Co., Ltd., Wang Zhaolin, Chairman of Zhejiang Zhiyi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Wang Zhiben, Chief Human Resources Officer of Tianli Education Group, Wei Yugang, Co-founder and President of Suzhou Gaiya Information Technology Co., Ltd., and Zhang Weibin, China Audit Partner and Central Region Operations Partner of PwC, had an in-depth discussion, providing beneficial references and insights for promoting talent cultivation and deepening the integration of industry, teaching, and research. The sub-forum was presided over by Pei Qinyu, Executive Director of Human Resources at Huayu Automobile.

Professional mentors, while providing career guidance and support to students, also grow and improve themselves through multi-dimensional interactions with students, achieving a virtuous cycle of mutual teaching and learning. On this, Dai Yuanshen, Global Vice President of Battery Operations at BASF, Fang Rangqing, Chief Organization Development Officer at Shanghai Yiyao Technology Co., Ltd., Han Tao, Chairman of Jin'an Guoji Group Co., Ltd., Liu Hua, Director of Human Resources and Regional Development at SPIC Zhongdian Huayuan Nuclear Power Engineering Technology Co., Ltd., Wang Xiling, former Deputy General Manager of Yanfeng Automotive Trim Systems Co., Ltd., Yin Xuelin, General Manager of Shanghai Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Zhang Xiaobo, President of Shanghai Jiaotong University Industry Investment (Group) Co., Ltd., and Zhen Cheng, Chairman of Beijing Social Science Saisi Education Technology Co., Ltd., warmly shared their growth and value gained in the guidance process under the theme of "Experience Sharing and Path Exploration of Professional Mentors' 'Adulting and Self-improvement'," opening up new ideas and enlightening wisdom for newly joined professional mentors. The sub-forum was presided over by Shang Shouzhun, China Area Human Resources Director at American Express Global Business Travel.

With the joint efforts of schools and enterprises, the Career Mentor Program of ECUST Business School, since its launch in 2009, has cultivated a batch of high-quality and compound business talents. To express gratitude for the mentors' long-term selfless dedication and to show recognition and respect for their work, a grand appointment ceremony for professional and entrepreneurial mentors was specially held at the event. At this glorious moment, Dean Fan Tijun issued appointment letters to hundreds of professional and entrepreneurial mentors for 2024, hoping to continue to work together with everyone to jointly promote students' career development.

Over the past 15 years, thousands of lectures and activities have been presented, countless exchanges and communications have been warmly conveyed, and more than 5,000 students have benefited from this. The Career Mentor Program, as a characteristic of ECUST Business School, reflects the new concept and model of educational cooperation with deep integration of industry and education and joint development of schools and enterprises. Looking to the future, ECUST Business School will continue to deepen the integration of industry, academia, and research, fully exert the positive role of the Career Mentor Program platform, and join hands with all sectors of society to continuously deliver elite talents for the booming new economy and contribute to promoting the high-quality development of Chinese business.