On November 1st, 2024, the 10th Action Learning Forum, themed "Action Learning: Boosting iBEST Talent Cultivation," was successfully held. This forum was guided by the National Steering Committee for Business Administration Professional Degree Graduate Education and the Ministry of Education's Undergraduate Business Administration Teaching Steering Committee. It was jointly hosted by East China University of Science and Technology, the Shanghai Business Administration Professional Degree Graduate Education Steering Committee, and the Shanghai Management Science Society. ECUST School of Business and the Action Learning Special Committee of the Shanghai Business Administration Professional Degree Graduate Education Steering Committee undertook the event. The conference was conducted in the form of an online live broadcast, with over 60,000 views. The forum aims to focus on the new challenges brought by technological innovation and business transformation, using the application of action learning as a starting point to actively explore talent cultivation models that meet the needs of the new era.

At the opening ceremony, Prof. Yan Haifeng, Vice President of East China University of Science and Technology, Wang Ping, Director of the Secretariat of the National MBA Education Steering Committee, Secretary-General of the Business Administration Education Working Committee of the China Degree and Graduate Education Society, and Deputy Secretary-General of the High-quality Certification Secretariat of the Ministry of Education's Degree Center, and Shi Qian, Secretary of the Party Committee of the School of Economics and Management at Tongji University and Deputy Director of the Shanghai MBA Teaching Steering Committee, delivered speeches, respectively. The opening ceremony was presided over by Prof. Fan Tijun, Dean of ECUST School of Business.

On behalf of the University, Prof. Yan Haifeng expressed gratitude to the guests participating in the forum. He pointed out that with the rise of artificial intelligence technology and green technology, business education is facing brand new challenges. In particular, "management" has now been elevated to one of the production factors as important as traditional elements such as labor and capital, profoundly influencing and reconstructing the cultivation of business talent and the construction of institutional mechanisms. This has indicated a new direction and opened up new space for future business education and research. He looks forward to the exchange at this forum to build consensus and contribute together to promoting the transformation of business education with Chinese characteristics.

Wang Ping commented on how to better respond to the national development strategy and the transformation of business education in the new era, especially the call for innovation in MBA education, is an important issue that the field of action learning needs to think about and explore urgently.

Shi Qian emphasized that China's MBA education has achieved significant accomplishments after more than thirty years of exploration and innovation. The Shanghai MBA Education Steering Committee has continuously expanded the talent training model that integrates industry and education by establishing a special committee for action learning, which has strongly promoted the vigorous development of Shanghai's MBA education.

In the keynote speech session, Prof. Wu Baijun, Dean of the Institute of Advanced Social Sciences, and Dean of the Chinese Modernization Research Institute, titled his speech "Catalysis and Boundlessness: Reflections on the Transformation of Professional Degree Education Methods in the Intelligent Age," highlighting the importance of establishing a catalytic education system and a "boundless" professional degree training approach. Prof. Zhao Shuming, a senior professor in the humanities and social sciences at Nanjing University, Honorary Dean of the Business School, and Dean of the Xingzhi Academy, shared the challenges of the digital world in the context of the intelligent and interconnected era, and the construction direction of new liberal arts, especially business education, under the topic "Business Administration Discipline Development and Talent Cultivation." Prof. Fan Tijun, Dean of the School, introduced the School's commitment to integrating business (Business) with engineering (Engineering), science (Science), and technology (Technology) as the core of education, guiding every individual (i) to pursue excellence (BEST) in the concept of compound talent training. The keynote speech session was chaired by Prof. Jiang Zhiqiang, Vice Chair of the School Council.

Subsequently, Prof. Huang Yasheng, a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, Liu Junyong, Secretary of the Party Committee of the School of Accounting at Central University of Finance and Economics, Prof. Feng Yunxia, a professor at the Business School of Renmin University of China, and Prof. Yang Yong, Deputy Dean of the School of Economics and Management at East China Normal University, discussed the theme of "Business School Talent Cultivation Model in the Intelligent Age," exploring the distinctive practices of various universities in business talent training.

In addition, the special workshop of the Action Learning Committee held in the afternoon included two sections: "Expert Sharing" and "Case Study." Xu Jingyue, Director of the Case Center at the Business School of Renmin University of China and Deputy Director of the China Social Science Case Center, Ma Xiaolei, Director of the Case Teaching and Research Center at the School of Economic Management at Dalian University of Technology, Chen Yu, a member of the expert group of the "Chinese Characteristic Case Standard Research" by the Academic Degrees and Graduate Education Development Center of the Ministry of Education and an associate professor at the School of Business Administration at Shanghai Lixin University of Accounting and Finance, Liu Junyong, Secretary of the Party Committee of the School of Accounting at Central University of Finance and Economics, Du Weiyu, Director of the Industry-Education Integration Center at the Business School of East China University of Science and Technology, and Chen Wansi, Director of the Action Learning Case Center at the Business School of East China University of Science and Technology, successively shared insights on "Action Learning + Case," providing in-depth analysis and practical guidance for case teaching to the attendees.

In recent years, the country has attached great importance to the innovative development of the education sector, especially in business education, encouraging universities to actively explore talent training models that meet the needs of the new era. On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Action Learning Forum, the business school has delivered an excellent report on the high-quality development of college education with the release of the "iBEST" talent training system. In the future, the business school will continue to delve into the field of action learning, promote innovation in educational models, and cultivate more high-quality business talents to meet the needs of the new era.