IBSS Welcomes New PG & PhD Students

455 new postgraduate students and 12 PhD students from different countries joined the community online and offline at International Business School Suzhou (IBSS) at Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU) on Friday, 18th of September. The PG induction was divided into two sessions and students were welcomed with an information session where they had the opportunity to meet programme directors and deputy directors. Postgraduate Programme Director of IBSS, Dr Yingying Wu, served as the host of the induction ceremony.

Professor Roberto Dona, Associate Dean for Professional Engagement of IBSS, expressed his warm welcome to all students and introduced the milestones of IBSS, he commented that "IBSS has been accredited by AACSB in 2016 and EQUIS in 2018, making IBSS the youngest business school in the world to achieve the two accreditations in the fastest time. Furthermore, IBSS was one of the first members to sign up to PRME in China." Professor Dona also emphasised that IBSS as a school has a positive impact on society through its teaching, research and business engagement. He illustrated how our research output and student recruitment have rapidly grown and how business engagement supports the Teaching and Learning, Research and ERS.

Dr Bing Wu Berberich, Associate Dean of Learning and Teaching, addressed that IBSS strictly controls the quality of the courses with consistent reviews of what is taught to meet the high requirements and demands in today’s market. The learning and teaching in IBSS is practical-oriented, which has more than 50 companies academically engaged. She said, ‘We focus on knowledge application, which is not about memorizing what books are telling and simply accepting what you read from other scholars. It is more about critical analysis and thinking about what you have learnt. IBSS facilitates students' development on critical thinking, problem-solving and knowledge expansion. Meanwhile, IBSS expects students can be responsible for their own learning outcomes. Students are expected to engage in thinking and study to improve their learning performance.

After that, Mr Zhanlei Chang, Lecturer of Practice in Employability Development, shared a hand-painted video to tell the difference between conventional career service offered at many universities and IBSS employability service. The vivid video shows how IBSS employability team provide quality and comprehensive services and transferrable skills for students and help them remedy the weaknesses that they might have. Subsequently, Mr Chang further explained what the IBSS employability team could provide with regards to services and training for students in terms of self-understanding, personal competence and career path exploration.

IBSS Business Engagement team then introduced the opportunities and benefits that students can get from the team, for example, work placement, business engagement and alumni relations. IBSS has strong connections with corporates and can offer students business-related joint seminars and conferences. IBSS career service aims to create a bridge among students and companies. They provide a series of career development activities and offer students opportunities for Internships, a Full-Time job and In-Company Consultancy Projects. Furthermore, IBSS provides a series of free alumni events periodically, lifelong career support and access to the university’s online and on-campus facilities. The unique educational model of IBSS combines academic theory with real-world business practices, allowing students to participate in business practice on-campus, which reflects the vision of IBSS of being a model international business school in China, driving impact creation in the business community and the society that we serve.

Afterwards, postgraduate students met up with their programme directors and deputy directors online and offline. They introduced their learning tasks and requirements for the next year and a half as well as getting to know one and other. Students are always actively encouraged to communicate with their teachers to gain more knowledge and experience from them.

Compared to last year, the total number of students enrolled in IBSS has increased by 45%. With the rapid development of IBSS and the increasing recognition and influence from both home and abroad, nearly 30% of new postgraduate students come from Tier 1 universities. More and more students recognise and consider IBSS to be their first choice for further studies, including students from the top 30 universities in the world.