IBSS Joins the EMBA Consortium

IBSS Joins the EMBA Consortium

International Business School Suzhou (IBSS), part of  Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU), has recently joined the EMBA Consortium becoming the 12^th academic member worldwide (Member list: https://embaconsortium.org/our-members/ ).

The EMBA Consortium is a collaboration between leading business schools in major cities and regions around the world. Its aim is to enrich students’ learning by offering a global portfolio of location-focused programmes. By confronting the realities of doing business in very different settings, participants reinforce prior learning and gain a critical, international perspective on business innovation. By living in and learning in different markets, with new academics, peers, companies, government institutions and cultures, even within a short period of time, can be transformative for senior executives and have a lasting impact.

International Week

Each September, around 250 students travel worldwide to join programmes hosted by member schools and to meet peers from across the globe. For example, a participant from Japan might attend in Germany and meet classmates from Italy, South Africa, Poland, the USA, Peru, Brazil and the UK.

Although each programme lasts just one week, the impact is long-lasting: over 90% of recent participants rated their experience “outstanding” or “very good” and said they would participate again. Every programme focuses on a specific theme reflecting a regional or global challenge. Through a mix of lectures and discussions, extended simulations, company visits and cultural activities, participants work together to widen their network and develop new knowledge, skills – and friendships.

Examples of recent themes include:

• Hidden Champions and Family Business in Germany: The Secrets of German Small and Medium-Sized, Family-Owned World Market Leaders (Munich, Germany);
• Innovation and Sustainability: From commodities to a world class cuisine (ESAN, Peru);
• Geopolitics and long-term corporate strategy: the role of business toward sustainability (Keio, Japan)
• Poland’s renaissance, from a planned economy to Europe’s growth champion (Kozminski, Poland)

Professor Eddy Fang, Dean of IBSS, said: “Joining the EMBA Consortium is a strategic step that connects our staff, students and alumni to a world-class network for experiential learning, research collaboration and exchange, whilst anchoring that global reach in China’s dynamic economy. In a world shaped by AI, shifting geopolitics and rapid industry transformation, this partnership helps us align our research-based insight with the skills today’s executives need: analytical depth, cultural fluency and integrity.”

Professor Ewout van der Schaft, Associate Dean for Internationalisation at IBSS, said: “Internationalisation is at the heart of IBSS, and joining the EMBA Consortium gives our students the world at close range – bringing together diverse cohorts with our internationally distinguished faculty. It will enable us to further strengthen our internationalisation mission whilst opening practical pathways for global mobility, peer collaboration and knowledge exchange. As an international business school bridging East and West, the fit could not be better.“

For further information, contact: Junqing (Vida) Huang

E-mail: Junqing.Huang@xjtlu.edu.cn