May’s events all centred on one urgent question: How do we stay relevant as AI reshapes every industry?

We began at AMCham’s Women Leadership Event, where Dr. Sherry Fu, Founding Director of the China Centre, joined the panel discussion while the Centre hosted a booth, connecting with the international business community during a vibrant season of exchange.

This month, AI strategist and thought leader Xueping Chen also challenged us with the idea of “AI Compression” — and the urgency to transform before being transformed.

At our joint event with ACCA, Jason Ma, Finance Head and alumnus of our MSc Financial Management programme, shared with ACCA members how AI is reshaping finance functions, linking naturally to our Finance Accelerated MBA and MSc Financial Management programmes.

Later in the month, we visited ByteDance (TikTok)’s Hefei office, where alumnus and Global MBA student Songyan Li shared insights on building AI-driven content platforms.

We closed May with David Ries, European market expansion specialist, who offered practical perspectives on entering European markets and turning data into products.

From women in leadership to AI transformation and global expansion, the conversations throughout May reflected one clear theme: the need to adapt, lead and grow with a global perspective.

Manchester’s global, part-time MBA is built for exactly this moment.