9 January. 2014, the Induction for new Manchester Global MBA students was held at the Hilton Hotel in Shanghai. Prof. Elaine Fernerly, director of MBA, Ms. Sherry Fu, regional director of MBS, Prof. Pikay Richardson and Leign attended the event.

Since its inception in 2008, Manchester Business School China Centre has launched its Global Part-time MBA class. From the first enrollment in 2009, MBS China has enrolled 880 students, all of whom excel at their work and study, have an average of 9 years’ working experience. 49 % of the enrolled are female students, while more than 35% of the class are master degree holders or above. 

Ms. Sherry Fu extended, on behalf of MBS, its warm welcome to the new students. Then support team introduced online system and briefed on the key contacts of the programme.

Followed Prof. Elaine delivered keynote speech; she illustrated students with the school’s expectations and responsibilities, as well as all the academic rules.

Same as last intake, students were assigned in different groups randomly, and played Global Tower Building Contest. Finally one group made the tallest as 2.9 meters.

Currently there are 63 GMBA students in January 2014 intake, with a stable increase rate of recruitment. Among them 33 is the average age, and range from 25 to 41. The students mostly come from mainland China, while small international groups come from Germany, Greece as well as Taiwan Area.  Manchester Business school enjoy high reputation throughout worldwide, so every intake many excellent expat in Shanghai joined MBA programme.

In the new year of 2014, MBS China plans to further widen the field of recruitment of high-quality talent throughout China.

Manchester Business School China Centre Annual Dinner was held on 18th January at ball room of The Portman Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Shanghai. The event venue adjoined new China centre, which was opened last October. The relocation to the new office area represents MBS’s long-term commitment to China as well as its confidence in the development of China to become an international education hub.

Over 300 people attended the event, with guest of Chief Global Officer Mr. Nigel Banister, distinguished faculty member Prof. Jikyeong Kang, and alumni from Manchester and different cities of China.

Ms. Sherry Fu, regional director of Manchester Business School addressed a welcome speech. She reviewed the fruitful outcomes achieved by China Centre in 2013 year, and expressed gratitude to alumni, cooperative association and social organizations. “Proudly, we launched Global Executive MBA programme at Shanghai last November, it was another milestone of both MBS and China Centre. As the business capital of fastest growing and largest economies in the world, demands of international senior management executives in Shanghai is very large. We are confident that our distinctive GEMBA will attract many excellent leaders and compose a beautiful chapter. Hereby I would say widespread supports deepen our resolve to continue good work, and we’re already looking forward to great success in the coming 2014 years.”

Represents head of Business School, Prof. Jikyeong Kang delivered a keynote speech. She emphasized the school has a longstanding tradition of recognizing the development and cooperation with Chinese prestigious schools and world-class business institutions.

 The centre video was played, followed by the evening’s programme including a delicious dinner.

 Highlight of the dinner is the photo competition award “My Story with MBS”, which demonstrate students’ cordiality and appreciation to the school. After fierce competition, Francis Hau honored this prize.

Ms. Chan Jia, founder and director of UTAIJI Center was invited to performed  “Tai Chi”. People are all excited by the smashing performance.  Chen jia has learned wushu for more than ten years since childhood with her father,then she became Chen Xiaowang's disciple and started to learn chen-style taijiquan. In 2012, she founded UTAIJI Center in Shanghai, turned to spread chen-style taijiquan.

Followed Mr. Ronghui GAO, representative of MBS alumni shared his thoughts, “besides learning knowledge and broaden perspectives, I found that one of the greatest gains in MBS is the network of friends and keep widening that circle through membership of MBS alumni community. ” MBS China Healthcare Club launched with the first industry forum, which Mr. Guo is one of the founder.

In conclusion, Mr. Nigel Banister extends a heartfelt thanks to all students, alumni and China Staff for the efforts to Manchester Business School’s development.  Upon that, MBS was awarded Distinguished Contribution MBA in China (Sina) and most influential MBA brand in China (Sohu). He granted best wishes to China Centre team to make more success in the future.

The dinner went to the end accompanied by the singing “Auld Lang Syne”……

On the occasion of the visit of a Healthcare Delegation led by The Rt Hon Kenneth Clarke, PM’s Special Trade Envoy for Healthcare, the British Consulate General Shanghai, China Britain Business Council and MBS China centre jointly hosted a Business Networking Reception on the evening of 17 Jan, 2014.

Nigel Banister, Chief Global officer of MBS and Sherry Fu, China centre director welcomed the Rt Hon Kenneth Clarke to MBS China centre and made a brief introduction about MBS's recent developments in China.

Nigel Banister, Kenneth Clarke, Sherry Fu

Senior business leaders and specialists from both Chinese and British Healthcare sectors attended to discuss the latest updates about Healthcare reform, Digital Health, Hospital Management, Elderly Care and Healthcare Professionals Training, and to demonstrate the depth and breadth of expertise that the UK and China are able to offer. It is expected that a number of collaborative opportunities between the UK and China will result.

The New MBS China centre which formally opened in last November, is not only a world-class facility but it is also works closely with the British business community in the region. This event was particularly relevant because the MBS China Alumni have a very active Healthcare Sector Special Interest Group.

Leading companies see creativity as a key employability bench mark when hiring. However, sometimes even the most creative person can miss a trick by not conveying this quality in job interviews.

Dr Mark Batey, the world-renowned creativity expert of Manchester Business School was invited by the Chamber's HR Focus Group, to lead an interactive and engaging workshop on Creativity and Careers on 22 January 2014 at Shanghai Marriott Hotel City Centre.

Dr Mark Batey is a creativity and leadership specialist and Joint Chair of the Psychometrics at Work Research Group at Manchester Business School.

Dr. Mark said, “to take your career to the next level, you need to constantly think outside the box and ensure creativity is part of your own personal brand.”

During the event, Dr. Mark utilized several cases to stimulate the creative thinking way of audience and shared his “INCUBATE” module; he encouraged people to spend time accumulating insight and evidence before generating ideas. This is where time is spent ‘brainstorming’ and generating different ideas and options.  More is always more. Then second step, using a diverse team, more ideas to choose from, the better chance that one of them will be effective. And finally, select ideas and evaluate them at the end of the process. Dr. Mark emphasized that “DO NOT evaluate too early – it kills chain reactions”. So Incubation is vital – make sure you make time for incubating ideas and evidence all the way through the process.

At the end of the session, most of the members said they have practical ideas on how better to promote themselves in a competitive job market.

Dr. PKay Richardson delivered a lecture on leadership. First of all, Dr. PKay provided a lot of live cases to illustrate the importance of Leadership. Also, he pointed out that good management is no longer enough, and increasing leadership skills are vital for steering organisations through change. According to his research: in an organisation, “Do the things right” is the responsibility of the management, while “Do the right things” is what a successful leader should be able to provide.

Therefore, the modern theory of Leadership requires a leader to be Passionate, visionary, self-confident, tolerant. The lecture by Dr. PKay inspires working professionals to think about them, how to perform better in such a turbulent business environment through development of leadership.

After Dr. PKay’s speech, Mr. Banister gave the audience an introduction on MBS. Compared with U.S. business schools, European business schools are more diversified, international and focus more on interaction between students and faculties. As part of the University of Manchester, which has produced 25 Nobel Prize winners, MBS is one of the first business schools in UK to provide MBA education and now is the largest campus based business school in UK. Triple accreditations by AMBA, EQUIS and AACSB are concrete proof of MBS excellence in research, teaching and the cultivation of leaders all around the world.

Finally Manchester Business School Ms. Fu gave a detailed introduction on MBS Global MBA programme. MBS’ MBA programme is ranked 5th globally in ROI by Forbes 2011 and DBA programme is ranked number 1 globally by Financial Times 2011. There are 50,000 alumni from over 100 countries. MBS has 7 Executive Centres for students to attend workshops - Shanghai, Manchester, Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong, Brazil and Miami. Programmes are taught 100% in English and international students and faculty, and a dedicated global careers service to help enhance students’ career have made MBS Global MBA the best choice for business education. With Sherry’s introduction, the working professionals have become increasingly interested in joining MBS Global MBA.

This event is the first and kick-off of MBS Global MBA 2014 intake recruitment. There will be more events organised by MBS China Centre, including info-sessions, weekend brunches, seminars, and workshop tasters.

The first career and alumni event of 2014 was held in Beijing on 19 Jan and  in Shanghai on 22 Jan. In these interactive and engaging sessions, Dr Mark Batey a world-renowned creativity expert from Manchester Business School, leaded workshops on creativity and career journey.

Students and alumni learned about the number-1 skill for employability and how  they can talk about their creative skills in job interviews.

They considered how to develop your personal creativity with some simple and effective coaching techniques, and learn some creative thinking tools while applying them to the career.

At the end of the session they had practical ideas on how better to promote themselves in a competitive jobs market.

On 11th January, 2014, Antai College of Economics and Management (ACEM) of Shanghai Jiao tong University (SJTU) held the 2013 Annual Dinner & Award ceremony of Strategic Partners in Shanghai.

The partners of government and institutions, state owned companies, private sector companies and representatives of consulates attended the ceremony. Manchester Business School (MBS) China Centre and The Nigerian Consulate General Shanghai were awarded the best international partners 2012-2013. Ms. Sherry Fu, regional director of MBS was invited to attend the ceremony and received the award.

MBS and ACEM became strategic partners in 2009, one year after MBS launched its China centre in Shanghai. MBS launched “Doing Business in China”(DBIC) course in 2009 in collaboration with ACEM. The well-designed DBIC course was integrated into the general electives for the MBS Global MBA programme, and is now one of the most popular courses for students from all over the world. The one week course prepares executive students about Chinese business culture today, together with the political system and its influences on overall business environment.