From November 5 to 8, ZIBS delegation visited Bogotá, Colombia, to attend the 2024 Global Business School Network (GBSN) Annual Conference, hosted by the Universidad de Los Andes School of Management. With the theme "Empowering People, Embracing Planet, Imagining Possibilities," this year's GBSN Beyond Annual Conference brought together nearly 200 participants, including leaders from top business schools, esteemed educators, industry experts, and faculty and students from universities around the world, who gathered to discuss the future of business education.
At the closed-door GBSN member meeting on November 6, ZIBS delegation engaged in discussions with representatives from over 40 countries and regions, focusing on key areas for driving societal development, each institution's unique strengths, and how we can collaboratively create impactful initiatives. As the only participating institution from China, ZIBS shared its best practices, diverse programs, and unique experiences during the meeting, emphasizing ZIBS contributions in promoting interdisciplinary integration, fostering collaborative education for both domestic and international students, and establishing industry-academia-research-innovation cooperation platforms. These contributions helped to showcase Chinese experiences and solutions.
On the following day at the forum, Associate Professor Raymond So further introduced ZIBS to the audience during the parallel session titled "Immersive International Experiential Learning for Sustainable Development." He highlighted ZIBS unique position in global business education and its efforts in nurturing leaders with a global perspective and a commitment to sustainable development. Using the Global Consulting Project (GCP) as an example, he demonstrated how ZIBS combines academics and practice to provide students with immersive and high-quality learning experiences. He also shared ZIBS powerful industry ecosystem and its social responsibility as a Chinese business school in the new era. During the interactive session, participants expressed high praise for ZIBS innovative practices in curriculum design, industry cooperation, and student development models. Following the session, the ZIBS delegation engaged in deeper discussions with attendees to explore potential collaboration opportunities.
Throughout the GBSN Beyond Annual Conference, the ZIBS delegation actively participated in various workshops and exchanges, sharing ZIBS mission, vision, and achievements as a science and technology-focused global business school from China. This participation deepened ZIBS understanding of the Latin American market and regional education needs. By exploring collaboration potential in areas such as student and faculty exchange, degree programs, joint research, and industry partnerships, ZIBS and its global counterparts examined new paths for cooperation and mutual growth.
Through its engagement at the conference, ZIBS delegation not only enhanced its connections with GBSN members and strengthened relationships with global education and industry partners but also raised ZIBS influence in international business education. The conference presented new opportunities to establish an efficient global ecosystem, further propelling ZIBS towards a new height in its international development.
About GBSN
GBSN is a nonprofit organization that partners with business schools, industry, foundations and aid agencies to improve access to quality, locally relevant management education for the developing world. Within the context of the emerging economies mission, GBSN builds activities, programs and projects that enable the creation of new knowledge, provide meaningful international experiences, and build relationships that can transform management education, as well as provide broad visibility to member schools as a champion and change maker for economic and social development.
