Dear students, alumni and friends of the Centre,

It has been an unusually cool summer in Shanghai, yet the enthusiasm has been unrivaled coming from our students and alumni. We had an excellent new cohort joining us this July while our graduating students attended graduation ceremony in Manchester. It is hugely satisfying to see the growth and aspiration of the alumni and students. In addition to Global MBA, series of blended-learning masters’ programme will be open for applications to aspiring professionals in China region.

Coming up next month, China Centre will be celebrating our 10th Anniversary. In 2008, the Centre was established as an overseas arm for the Business School’s part-time MBA programmes. In 2016, we were the first centre to be inaugurated as The University of Manchester Worldwide Centre by Prof. Dame Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice Chancellor of the University. The celebration will be comprised of a gala dinner, a social responsibility forum and complimented with amazing performances. We are honored to have invited our President Prof. Dame Nancy Rothwell, Mr. Matt Knowles, Director for East China at British Council, Mr. David Percival, Chairman of Manchester China Forum, Mr. Yuehua Chen, Director of Shanghai Municipal Government Creative Industry Office, along with outstanding business leaders from the alumni community and Centre’s long-term friends. We hope to see you at the celebration!

Sherry Fu

China Centre Director

On 6^th July 2017, the new intake of Manchester Global MBA students was welcomed by China Centre team at the start of their 2-year MBA journey. The induction session was hosted by Ms. Sherry Fu, China Centre Director. Dr, Jiyao Xun, Associate MBA Director of AMBS addressed the group with academic guidance. Members from Student Support Team also introduced key information to the new MBAs.

The cohort comprised of students from 6 countries and 7 different cities in China with diverse industry backgrounds from automobile, consulting, finance, IT services, Pharmaceutical, Retail, trading and more.

“Congratulations on joining an exclusive MBA programme at the University of Manchester! From today, you will expect to work hard and be rewarded with expanded vision, completed management knowledge, extended network resources and a lot more. Soon celebrating 10^th year in China, China Centre is home to over 1000 Global MBA alumni and students, at the same time having become the 2^nd largest University of Manchester overseas centre. I hope you can all take the most out of this prestigious MBA programme!” said China Centre Director Ms. Sherry Fu.

The pursuit of Manchester Global MBA takes students one step closer to their career and personal goals. Na Yi, Marketing Director Greater China for BMC Software shared that “I hope to spend the 2 years’ of MBA study to grow my vision and to achieve a more comprehensive outlook on the world of business. In addition to my own business area, I hope to meet more like-minded colleagues via the programme!"

“Manchester Global MBA is a good choice for me at the current phase of my career considering my professional and personal aspirations. I wish the coming learning journey will help me enrich knowledge in different areas, to refine and restructure my thinking, and ultimately help shape the future of my career.” said Hong Jiang from AstraZeneca.

Manchester Global MBA programme has over 60,000 alums from 176 countries and very diverse backgrounds. During the programme, students will have the option to study in our global locations in San Paulo, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Manchester and Washington D.C. It is a genuine platform of creating a global network.

The University of Manchester China Centre was first established in 2008. It will celebrate its 10^th anniversary this year. On 25th September 2016, the Centre was officially reopened as UoM China Centre by Professor Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor of the University. Various partnerships have been formed with local and international institutions.  In addition to the jointly delivered programmed with Shanghai Tong Ji University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the Centre also accepts applications for Dual – degree Kelley-Manchester Global MBA, MSc International Healthcare Leadership and short-term executive training programmes. Please visit www.uom.ac.cn or dial 021-6279 8660 for more information.

On 22^nd July, the 2018 cohort of Kelley-Manchester dual – degree Global MBA programme embarked on their 2-year MBA journey. The induction welcomed over 40 senior professionals from 19 countries and regions.

The programme is jointly delivered by Alliance Manchester Business School and Kelley School of Business, Indiana University, which is proudly an Ivy League University established in 1820. The welcome induction was hostly at the beautiful Bloomington campus of Indiana University.

Daniel Jiang who joins the July 2018 intake Kelley-Manchester Global MBA shares his experience with us:  “The orientation and first workshops of Kelley-Manchester Global MBA program just started this week at Kelley School of Business, Indiana University Bloomington. It’s a really international program, and I was impressed by how diversed the group is. There were over 40 participants and they came from 19 different countries.

After a student registration process on Sunday July 22 2018, we quickly began our first day orientation. Unlike the regular induction, the orientation was conducted in a very impressive way. We had a chance to tour Indiana University Bloomington and discover the history and heritage of this great American university. The gorgeous Sample Gate, magnificent limestone architecture, elaborated designed layout and full eye of green woods, were really jaw-dropping. We immediately indulged ourselves in the beauty of the campus and amazed by the culture conveyed here.”

A welcome dinner was hosted by Idalene Kesne, Dean of Kelley School of Business. Shared by one of the students,”What left the most significant influence during the start day was the welcome dinner speech made by Idalene Kesner, the first female Dean of Kelley School of Business. It was strongly resonating. We were thrilled and touched by her mountain climbing story, the heart and soul she put into each of the programs Kelley offers, and the three characters the school dedicated to cultivate - talent to succeed, humility to grow and tenacity to preserve.

Kelley produced No. 5 most number of CEOs of Fortune 500 companies and No. 1 of CFOs. I won’t regret my choice to pursue this program. And already, there are a lot things waiting ahead for me to explore further.”

Kelley-Manchester Global MBA programme combines British and American business teaching within one programme, delivered by a top faculty with jointly over 150 years of expertise in management education and business expertise. Students will have the option to study in eight global locations including home campuses in Manchester and Bloomington, overseas centres in Brazil, Dubai, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore, as well as facilities in Washington D.C. It is a truly global MBA!

On Thursday 7th June, China Centre have invited Ms. Sandy Wong, VP Consulting and Career Management Practice Leader at Right Management to deliver and insightful session on career development.

The vast majority of our MBAs have started their Manchester Global MBA journey with an aspiration to take their career to the next level or to facilitate a career transition. The depth of management knowledge and the active involvement in alumni and career activities prepare our MBAs in achieving career development goals.

With over 20 years in corporate leading front-line operations and over 10 years in people management consulting, Sandy's talked about 1. Strategic Career Management 2. Career Success Model. Attending candidates and alumni also joined a discussion after to share their personal experience.

On Wednesday 11th July, Prof. Peter Kawalek delivered an interactive session on Strategic Management. Peter is an academic and practitioner experienced in exploring the inter-connection between Information Systems, social media, organizational change, technological impact and strategy.

On July 21, Saturday, the University of Manchester China Centre hosted an afternoon tea networking session at Mcloud for new intake to gain career advice from and meet with senior alumni. Two active GMBA alumni were invited to share their career stories.

Ms. Sherry Fu shared with new students the rich offering of club activities at the University of Manchester China Centre Worldwide, Mintroduced cloud as an alumni event venue, explained Shanghai Overseas Returned Scholars Association as an officially-organized alumni community and invited students and alumni to join the upcoming spectacular celebration of China Centre 10th Anniversary & Alumni Gala Dinner 2018 (click here to learn more and purchase tickets). Ms. Fu encouraged student to make use of the resources provided by the Centre and take advantage of the rich global alumni network in the future. Following the Director’s sharing were alumni talks delivered by active GMBA alumni Aileen Wei and Aries Li.

With great passion for marketing, Aileen Wei co-founded UoM China Centre alumni Marketing Club. She has 12 years top executive experience in various multinational companies, and established her own business in digitalization services. Aileen shared her experience in marketing, business development, and brand digital transformation, and different take-aways from leading digitalization projects for various industries including FMCG, Chemicals, Automobiles, Health and Financial Service. After her sharing, students were intrigued by how smooth her career development went and questions were raised such as how to survive office politics especially as a senior management level minority lady in multinational companies.

Aries Li, co-founder of UoM China Centre alumni AI and Big Data Club, shared his extensive knowledge in PR sector reflecting on his own somewhat “bumpy” changes of career path in industry-leading companies such as Microsoft, Carrefour, Decathlon, and now Masterkong. Considering that audience have only attended two workshops and expressed their concerns about course difficulties and language barriers, Aries gave honest suggestions for new intakes regarding how to manage time and balance work and study, how to study more efficiently and effectively by forming study groups, and other practical advice.

The 3-hour afternoon session was information-packed. As one participant commented in the end, “hearing from alumni during the induction period truly calms me down and leads me thinking about various possibilities in future career planning.”

On Friday 27^th July, the University of Manchester China Centre Director, Ms. Sherry Fu was interviewed by Tencent Education for her views on transnational education and an increasingly modern format of learning, blending in digital classrooms and highly interactive face-to-face workshops.

During the interview, Ms. Fu was asked to review the impact of the University of Manchester China Centre has made in the regional market, bringing Manchester’s international management education to Chinese professionals.

“As one of UK’s first Business Schools, we introduced the Global MBA programme to Chinese professionals in 2008 by establishing a regional Centre at the heart of Shanghai. Currently our MBA is ranked 4^th in UK, 10^th in Europe and 36^th globally by Financial Times in 2018. From senior management professionals to innovative entrepreneurs, we have been facilitating career successes of over 1000 China-based students and alumni, adding to the Manchester Global MBA international alumni network of over 60,000 students and alumni from 176 countries. From focusing on business school programmes, we took responsibility to become the University’s overseas centre on 26^th September 2016.”

When asked for views on the increasingly popular format of digital learning, Sherry shared her views with efforts and achievements that have been made at Manchester.

“The impact of digitalization is huge on all industries and our daily life. This has also been highly noticeable in education. The amount of information made accessible to students via digital platforms has multiplied greatly over the years. As a result, this makes it possible for traditional lecturing to be replaced by information assembly on the web. In Manchester teaching today, we emphasize on interactive workshop learning, where students work together and learn from each other. If I may quote Prof. Peter Kawalek, one of our leading academics in digitalization and strategy, ‘Thanks to technology, we can liberalize classroom with more socialization, interesting discussions, workshop, and problem-solving.’ In other words, human experience is enhanced using digital methods of learning. Our students are offered a state-of-the-art online learning platform to access rich literature and learning tools, at the same time, highlights the learning experience with highly interactive residential workshops.”

Sherry also shared key points featuring Manchester Global MBA during the interview.

“We are a two-year part-time global MBA programme delivered by a highly reputable international faculty of academics and business practitioners. We follow the ‘Manchester Method’ where practical knowledge is at the very heart of the programme. Students will have the option to study in seven global locations including home campus in Manchester, overseas centres in Brazil, Dubai, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore, as well as facilities in Washington D.C. We are a truly international programme!”

Towards the end of the interview, Ms. Sherry Fu also shared that the Centre was dedicated in strengthening partnerships with local Universities, Shanghai Tong Ji University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University in providing jointly delivered programmes. The Centre has also formed and is building up more strategic relationships with corporates in providing more tailored talent solutions. In addition to Manchester Global MBA, Kelley-Manchester Global MBA, a list of specialist Masters programmes will officially be launched soon. Application for MSc International Healthcare Leadership programme to start in March 2019 is now open. More details are available on website www.uom.ac.cn and from the official wechat account mbs_china.