On 12th December, “Manchester Global Part-time MBA” was awarded “Most Innovative MBA” at the Best Education of China Awards. The annual celebration of outstanding education institutes and educators were held at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse. The Best Education of China Awards was considered the education award of year organized by China Internet News Centre to honour professionals that have made great contribution in the education industry across levels, specialty and regions. The entire event was set up to recognize and appreciate the great work that education workers from remote primary school teachers to heads of distinguished universities. As the solo overseas institute, it is a great honour for UoM China Centre to be invited to this event.

The University of Manchester China Centre Director, Ms. Sherry Fu, joined representatives from a selective group of institutions, well-known educators and education entrepreneurs at the annual award ceremony.

On December 7th 2017, the University of Manchester China Centre First Social Responsibility Forum was held in Shanghai, hosted by China Centre and Development and Alumni Relations Office at the University of Manchester. Ms. Sherry Fu, the University of Manchester China Centre Director, moderated the forum. Distinguished panelists include: Professor Fiona Devine OBE FAcSS FRSA (Head of Alliance Manchester Business School and Professor of Sociology at the University of Manchester), Professor Peter Mao (President of Shanghai Overseas Returned Scholars Association UK Branch), Mr. David Percival MBE (Chairman of Manchester China Forum and the Managing Director of Deloitte’s China International Business Development Group), and Mr. Ian Crawford (Senior Alumnus at the University of Manchester and Vice Chair at The British Chamber of Commerce Shanghai CSR Committee). They shared views and experiences of implementing social responsibility projects in university, enterprise and society.

Professor Fiona Devine, Head of Alliance Manchester Business School paid a visit to China this December. Together with Deputy head of AMBS, Professor Stuart Hyde, Global MBA Director, Mr. Xavier Duran, the group visited long-term partners and joined China Centre alumni annual dinner in Shanghai.

On 14th November, Professor Clive Agnew, Vice President for Teaching, Learning and Students of  the University of Manchester visited The University of Manchester China Centre, the first University of Manchester Worldwide (UMW) overseas Centre. Joining the Professor was Professor Elaine Ferneley, Director of UMW, Mr. Richard Cotton, Head of Student Recruitment and Outreach and Ms. Sherry Fu, China Centre Director.

25 Global Accelerated MBA delegates from Manchester, Shanghai, Singapore, Dubai and Hong Kong attended their second residential workshops - OCV and S&C from 7-10 Sept in Shanghai.

During their workshop, China Centre and AMBS alumni office jointly organised executive talk by Mr. Phil Roebuck, executive director of the British Chamber of Commerce, Shanghai. Phil gave students a brilliant talk about the challenges and opportunities in China, introduced nowadays China society background and expanded on company business strategies and plans in China. About 20 delegates joined this talk and showed strong interest in doing business in China and had enthusiastic interaction with the speaker.

On 14th Dec, UoM Chirstmas gathering was organized in Woker's Statium in Beijing. A light buffet was arranged in a bar-styled restaurant by the Centre. Joining the group, there were new students from the new Jan 2018 intake and long-time alums that have been actively involved in alumni communitiy in Beijing. The event was well received and provided a perfect opportunity for waming-up and networking among the Beijing students and alumni.

On 18th Nov, the University of Manchester China Centre co-organized the UK-China Entrepreneurship & Innovation Forum with British Chamber Shanghai and E-startup. Ms. Sherry Fu, Director of the University of Manchester China Centre, was invited to discuss with audience education about and for entrepreneurs and innovation as academic fields in university curricula. During the Q&A sessions, Ms. Sherry Fu gave advice on how to tackle obstacles to entrepreneurship and welcomed audience to try out induction modules offered at China Centre. As Sherry emphasized, classmates can sometimes become partners when starting a company and classrooms are often incubators for good business ideas

On 18th Nov, Tilman Rieger, a certified executive coach，was invited to share with alumni on the importance of non-violent communication. Alumni from AMBS, UBC, University of Hong Kong, and Jiao Tong University attended the forum and engaged in heated discussion on the issues of violent behaviors they observed or experienced in everyday communication. Tilman illustrated through examples and case studies that non-violent communication can be a great way to support you with positive intentions because it has the power to transform your life and life of the people around you while developing an attitude of mutual respect. Alumni worked in teams to think of how to convey a critical or difficult message in a constructive and less costly manner and Tilman gave detailed feedback on pros and cons in each approach. In the 3-hour talk, heated debate revolved around topics such as across-cultural communication and meditation effects between conflicting parties.

On 6th September 2017, Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, FRS, President and Vice-Chancellor, hosted Shenzhen alumni dinner to mark her second visit of the year to China where not long ago she hosted another well-received alumni dinner in Beijing. More than 200 alumni and their guests from around China gathered at reunion and networked with friends old and new. 

As a value-added offering to current students and potential candidates to the Global MBA programme, in China Centre we traditionally invite tutors to deliver taster sessions of the MBA programme. On 6^th Sep Strategic Management taster was deliver by Dr. Rick Audas. As one of the key element looking into strategies and behavior of firms in various types of markets, the session welcomed a great turnout of candidates and interested students to take on this course.

On 13th Sep, Operationalising and Communicating Values taster session was hosted by Dr. Alison Ashton, one of the most popular academics among Global MBA students. The new course perfectly focuses on the inter-play of Operations with Marketing; what independently weight they bear in the running of an organization and how they both work interact. The session was very well received with interesting discussion at the end.

On 11th Oct, China Centre welcomed Regional Director for Brazil to deliver a taster on one of the electives, Leadership. Ever year, an extensive list of optional modules are offer for students to study during their second year of the programme .Leadership was one of the popular ones, together with courses such as Negotiation, Digital Marketing, Big Data, Strategic Management and many more. Let us extend our gratitude towards the tutors that have delivered the sessions! 

They say Manchester has everything but a beach, and some graduates just can’t keep away. Paul Wood, Executive Principal at YK Pao School Secondary Division, Shanghai, recently started his fourth University of Manchester degree, joining the Global Part-time MBA July intake thirty years after he started his first degree in 1987.

The internet age began comparatively late in China. Just over 20 years since Chinese home computers first started connecting to the world wide web, we spoke to Seamon Shi (Global MBA Finance 2014) about e-commerce trends in what’s now one of the globe’s biggest online marketplaces.

On December 7, 2017, the inauguration ceremony of “Manchester Cloud” (Mcloud) was held at the Silk Elite, Shanghai’s fashion and cultural landmark on Wuyi road in the city centre. Distinguished guests from the British Consulate General in Shanghai, the Manchester-China Forum, the University of Manchester Alumni clubs, Alliance Manchester Business School, Xu Beihong Painting Academy, and the Silk Elite attended the ceremony. Affiliated to Manchester-China Forum and the University of Manchester China Centre, Mcloud links Chinese and British government organizations, Sino-UK talents in arts, science and technology to build a bilateral people-to-peoplediplomatic platform. Mr. Wai Kit Ho, Consul Bilateral at the British Consulate General in Shanghai, delivered a speech. Ms. Sherry Fu, Founder of Mcloud and Director of the University of Manchester China Centre, emphasized in her speech that the establishment of Mcloud is a result of the deep-rooted Sino-UK partnerships that are moving towards a"Golden Era".