Manchester Business School China Centre was first established in 2008. It will celebrate its 10^th anniversary next 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, strategic alliances have been formed with Ren Min School of Business, Renmin University and Kelley School of Business, The University of Indiana to launch jointly delivered international MBA programmes.

 “Learning by doing” has been at the heart of Manchester Global MBA. Management teaching has been always built around practical studies. During the first year, students will start their MBA study by familiarizing with a comprehensive picture of the business word, and will be taking a journey to understand the main disciplines of Business Management. Over the second year students will be given the opportunity to choose optional courses during and further explore in relevant areas of management as well as to demonstrate their learning through handling a real-life project.

As an academically stringent institution, academic integrity has always given first priority. Dr. Jiyao Xun then moved on to preparing the students with the expected Academic Code of Conduct throughout the duration of the programme. Ms. Roya Zhang, Careers and External Relations Manager also explained to the students the resources that are available to students during and even after their MBA studies from local and the international network that The University of Manchester offers to students and alumni.

The overall induction session was the first face-to-face contact to prepare the MBA students for the challenges over the next 2 years. We wish them great many achievements to come during and after their MBA study! To find out about Manchester porgrammes, please visit http://www.uom.ac.cn  or contact 021- 6279 8660.

Dame Nancy Rothwell made the opening speech. She mentioned nearly half of the international alumni were from China and the number was increasing year on year. Most Chinese alumni came back to China, active in politics, business, academia etc.. She also mentioned that Manchester is one of the important cities in Northern England and the University of Manchester was top academic and research centers in this area. For example the National Graphene Institute (located in the UoM) already had closer collaborations with Chinese counterparts. Alumni were one of the key drivers for the development of the UoM. She encouraged our alumni to make higher achievements and became the ambassadors and bridge between the UoM and those in China.

Dr. Qian Ouyang, President of the UoM China Alumni Association, represented the China alumni to make a speech on the development of alumni and association in China. Sherry Fu, Director of the UoM China Centre also delivered a speech. As the founder of the China Centre, she looked back the development and major achievements made since its establishment in 2008. She also mentioned the SORSA UoM Alumni Association. Last year, Dame Nancy Rothwell visited Shanghai and announced the rename and launch of the UoM China Centre, showing the importance the UoM attached to China. The Centre would be endeavored to further collaborations in research and businesses, and would continuously support the alumni activities as usual.

Other distinguished guests from Manchester included Professor Martin Schroder (Vice-President and Dean of the Faculty of Science and Engineering and Professor of Chemistry), Professor Ian Greer (Vice-President and Dean of The University of Manchester's Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health), Sir Kostya Novoselov, Helen Archibald (Senior Officer of Alumni Office). 

Over 1800 MBA students and alumni from 81 business schools (including those from countries like Singapore, UK and Australia) joined the competition. Yashasai has gradually become one of the best-known outdoor sports among MBA alumni in Asia Pacific regions. Among all prizes, Shaou Trophy represents the highest honor. It requires every team member to walk through the desert （70 kilometers）in two days. Anyone who gives up for any reasons during the competition will lead to the failure of the whole team. 

This time, the Alliance Manchester Business School team was composed of 24 students and alumni, 21 from China Centre and 3 from the Singapore Centre. All the team members fought hard to conquer all difficulties in challenging the dessert. With a strong will, faith of success and team-work, every team member completed the competition safely and successfully. This is the first time our school got Shaou since participating in this competition for four years. Their hard work leads them to success as all team members have spent the whole year practicing and training every day to enhance their overall physical conditions. 

The People's Government of Alxa and the Yasha Organizing Committee jointly hosted the Chinese Foreign University President Forum – The first Chinese Sports Tourism Economic Development Summit. The forum was held the day before the competition and attracted government official, MBA alumni and some key Medias. Ms. Sherry Fu, Director of the UoM China Centre, was invited as a guest speaker and joined panel discussions. Ms. Fu represented the UoM China Centre to encourage AMBS tem to make their best in the competition at the welcome dinner.  

The final performance of the Alliance Manchester Business School team was in the 1^st place among all the overseas business schools. This is not only the greatest encouragement for all team members, but also represents a good work-life-study balance practice by our MBA students and alumni. 

About Asia Pacific Business School Desert Challenge Yashasai

Asia Pacific Business School Desert Challenge Yashasai was a top outdoor sport among business schools from Asia Pacific regions. The first competition was held in 2012 in the Tengger Desert, Inner Mongolia. It has been successfully held for 6 consecutive years, covering a large Asia Pacific Business School MBA community of 100 thousand students and alumni. Over 80 schools have participated, and over 4000 MBA students and alumni joined. The Sixth Asia Pacific Business School Desert Challenge was held in May 2017, with 81 top business schools from Mainland China, Taiwan, Hongkong, Macao, Singapore, UK, and Australia advocating vision of Environmental Protection, Coordination, Persistence and Responsibility. 

Mr. Ben Metcalf and Mr. Richard Han closed the meeting by inviting all members to enjoy the cute panda cake, celebrating the 20th Anniversary of British Business in Southwest China.

UoM China Centre, as Sherry mentioned in her speech, will continuously support Chamber events especially on the education sector, contributing the regional economy by offering world-class education programmes in Southwest China.

Working with the Lixin Charity Association (a fully registered NGO) and the local Lixin hospital, and with the full support of the local government, Birtish Chamber along with members have scoped the whole project with the clear aim of member engagement throughout. Using medical equipment provided by the Chamber, the eye testing were conducted by ophthalmic technicians who visited the schools on behalf of the Chamber. There are 290 primary schools in Lixin County each having approximately 300 students, of which approximately 10% will require prescription glasses. The glasses (including lenses, frames and a protective case) will last for at least two years and each child will be supplied an extra pair to allow for breakages and loss.

China Centre representatives conducted group activities with preschoolers as well as reached out to students with disabilities and provided them with additional tutoring. During the visit, toys and books have been supplied to the students. For those with impaired vision, eye-testing were arranged. Representatives were also involved in this activity to help setting up tests.

This was the first time China Centre was involved in this particular project. It has been an honour to support this collective initiative with a purpose to help children from underprivileged backgrounds.

Simon facilitated the whole event and inspired the alumni to think over how we ever developed our career path. After an external expert were invited to address the topic, a panel discussion was held to further refresh alumni’s minds and ask how to sustain the career path, externally or internally.

During the tea break and after the event, alumni from both business schools had a casual networking and exchanged ideas. There were some alumni from Columbia Business School as well. They were impressed by the joint event and hoped to be engaged further in the future. 

Katherine, VP of Sales and Marketing, from naked Group introduced the development of naked Group, and various brands they’ve established. She mentioned funny stories around the company name. Most alumni were aware of the brands and some already tried their products varying from resorts to shared office space.

Vivienne, Founder of Shanghai WOW!, shared with alumni her career development and how she began her entrepreneurship journey. Her interests in gourmet led her passion to create services and best experiences to customers, hence her current business opportunities. She introduced how they innovatively create products and brands, and made their fame on the market.

Both companies quickly capture new and popular trends and create innovative products on the market. They both leverage most efficient channels to market. Their stories inspired our alumni and many questions were raised during Q&A session.

Mr. Eric Chen, who works for Microsoft and an active big data advocator, and Mr. Leopold Li, who’s Solution Architect from IKEA, introduced the core concepts of big data and its applications in organizations. They analyzed with sufficient case studies. Mr. Hong Zhang, who were from TNS and had vast experiences in marketing and financial services, explained the disruptive technologies and their impact in financial industry. Mr. Wei Chen, Dean of Guanshan Tech Institute, shared on their research works on what he quoted as ‘Insight Tech’ and its applications in various related occasions.  

The speeches were followed by heated brainstorming. Alumni felt the topics quite useful. Aries Li, Initiator of the BDAI Club, has planned the next forum to be held end of May and will invite more VIP speakers to join. 

The delegation was guided to the exhibition hall and demonstration rooms. They got an overview of the development and business strategy of whole group. Afterwards, our alumni also got a chance to have a meeting with Mr. Yue and his team. It was an enjoyable afternoon. Our alumni were impressed by the fast development of this indigenous Chinese company and its overseas strategy.

A closer observation of a great company gave alumni a unique chance to go inside and gave an insightful overview. A talk with senior leaders of a great company was also inspiring. 

After a casual self-introduction among alumni, Lisa and Gate, two of our alumni shared their knowledge and experiences on this topic.  Live broadcasting was adopted so that alumni not able to present were able to watch it live or by playback.

The club’s mission is to lead and encourage alumni to continue study by teaching each other, or discussing together; explore a way to use what have been learnt to management practices.

Ms. Sherry Fu, Director of the UoM China Centre, kicked off the event by welcoming all coming alumni and updated on the development of the Centre and the university. It was followed up by Ms. Shelley Lai, current President of the China Centre Healthcare Club. She gave a brief introduction of the Club’s committee members, mission and vision.

With a solid knowledge and vast experiences in pharma industry, Lisa took all alumni in retrospect of the past year of 2016. Though rising incomes, improving healthcare infrastructure, and enhanced insurance systems have propelled the Chinese pharmaceutical market to become the second-largest in the world, China pharmaceutical market slowed down and saw a single-digit growth in 2016. The event lasted till late as alumni had heated discussions on various questions.

The Club has a plan to hold at least four club events in this year, to serve as a business and educational platform for our alumni in the life science industry.

Sherry spoke highly of the recent achievements in both the Business School Outdoor League and Asian Business School Dessert Competition. Especially the former, though the first time to join, our alumni got three awards, namely: a Champion and a second place for individual awards, and a Champion for a team award. Timo Lei, President of SORSA UoM Alumni Association and Chief Business Development Officer of PwC, also a fan of outdoor sports, shared his experiences and encouraged more alumni to participate in the outdoor sports. Mr. Xing, founder of a leading outdoor sports company, was also present and offered to support our alumni in the future.

The afternoon tea concluded with an impressive sightseeing down the Huangpu River on a yacht. 

Out of the 12 members of Centre staff and alumni who joined the walkathon, all 12 members completed 20KM and 5 finished the whole distance of 50KM. It raised public awareness of the charity initiative through posting related articles and photos on corporate and inidividual social media accounts. The 22,000 fund-raising target was hit and outperformed by RMB 1,000. China centre staff was interviewed by the organiser and excitedly shared geniue remarks on participating in a charity event of this kind.