The opening ceremony for BI-Fudan MBA Class 33 was successfully held on November 22nd at Fudan University School of Management. A variety of guests attended the ceremony, including officials from the Royal Norwegian Consulate General in Shanghai, faculty from BI Norwegian Business School, faculty from Fudan University and representative students from class 32.
Before the Opening Ceremony officially started, Peter Li, Senior Consultant at the Career Development Office at School of Management and former GM of the GE Renewable Energy, held a lecture on the importance of business ethics and integrity. Peter Li is a former student of Class CMP5 of BI-Fudan MBA Program. His lecture stressed the importance of business ethics and integrity, emphasizing on the essential for career advancement and how to grow your job. Mr. Li engaged the class in an active discussion about ethical issues in the workplace and gave them examples from current events.
Mr. Li encouraged everyone to speak up if they had encountered an ethical issue at work and concluded his lecture with a quote from Warren Buffet “In looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence and energy. And if you don’t possess the first one, the other two will kill you”.
△△Peter Li, Senior Consultant, Career Development Office, School of Management, Fudan University, former GM of the GE Renewable Energy, Alumni of BI-Fudan MBA Class CMP5
Prof. Xu Huizhong, Executive Director of BI-Fudan MBA program, opened the ceremony by introducing the profile of the MBA class 33. Class 33 consists of 61 outstanding professionals, representing both local and international companies. The average work experience in this class is 12.6 years, the average management experience is 6.3 years and the average age is 36.3. Through this program these 61 students will complete a two-year journey of learning at the historical campus at Fudan and will soon be joining the BI-Fudan alumni network consisting of more than 2,500 people.
△△Xu Huizhong, Executive Director, BI-Fudan MBA Program
Upon the opening ceremony, Mr. Jacky Hao, Head of BI Liaison Office and China Representative of BI Norwegian Business School welcomed the new class of BI-Fudan MBA program. As a former student of BI-Fudan MBA Jacky knows the challenges that lie ahead; “During this two-year journey, you may feel frustrated, challenged or even confused. But I hope everyone will take this opportunity to create a meaningful experience and use this to make an impact and difference in the life of others”. He concluded his speech by welcoming class 33 to the BI-Fudan family.
Consul General of the Royal Norwegian Consulate General in Shanghai, Ms. Kristin Iglum greeted the attendants and congratulated the new students of class 33. As a former BI student herself, she is particularly proud to represent the government of Norway on this special day. One of the very first events that Ms. Iglum hosted as a Consul General in Shanghai was the reception of MBA class 28 in her residence. She has since hosted an annual reception for each of the following MBA classes, and she is very much looking forward to welcoming this class to her residence next year.
As we are celebrating 65 years since the establishment of the diplomatic relationship between Norway and China this year, Ms. Iglum is pleased to see that the academic field has developed to one of the most solid areas for cooperation. She believes that BI-Fudan MBA program is one of the most comprehensive academic programs, and this year the program has been recognized as the No.27 worldwide by Financial Times EMBA Ranking.
Referring to the BI-Fudan best of both slogan, Ms. Iglum addresses the privilege to be able to get to know each other’s culture and have the opportunity to pick the best of both. She concludes her speech by wishing the students the best of luck and gives them a final advice for the road ahead; “Talk a lot, so that others can learn from you. Listen, and you will learn from others. Challenge your lecturers and work well with others”.
△△Kristin Iglum, Consul General,Royal Norwegian Consulate General in Shanghai
Prof. Bendik Meling Samuelsen, Provost of Academic Programs at BI Norwegian Business School opens his speech by welcoming the new class to a two-year journey of personal development, experienced learning and sharing and a solid amount of stress. Prof. Samulesen proceeds to talk about the program’s long rich history that can be traced back to the first enrolled students in 1996; “The story of BI and Fudan is a great example of what we can achieve by developing good interactions between two institutions that are fundamentally different from each other. And just like a great marriage, we have learned to respect and enjoy our differences”. Addressing the slogan, best of both, he strongly believes that this program offers the students the best combination from two different worlds to build cooperative culture of innovation and growth. He concludes his speech by wishing all student’s good luck on the journey they are embarking on and is looking forward to seeing them in Oslo during graduation.
△△Bendik Meling Samuelsen, Provost , BI Norwegian Business School
Prof. Lu Li’an, Director of Global Partnerships Office at Fudan University, extended a warm welcome to the new enrolled students of Class 33. She says, as long-time partners Fudan and BI has worked closely together to offer world-class education in business and management. Their knowledgeable and dedicated professors will help the students to cultivate both global perspectives as well as local insights to become the future business leaders.
△△Lu Li’an, Director of Global Partnerships Office, Fudan University
Prof. Chu Yongquan, Vice Dean of Graduate School at Fudan University, congratulated the students and welcomed them back to campus. He as many of the other speakers addresses the program’s long history and the importance of the collaboration between BI and Fudan. Quoting Prime Minister Erna Solberg, he says; “By bringing together people and experiences from different places and cultures, new ideas will take form to benefit both China and Norway”. He proceeds to say, that in the following two years you are expected to invest considerable time and effort, but he can assure that this will be a wonderful study experience. Our professors will be your mentors, instructors and friends and the program will provide you a platform where you can meet people, share experiences and learn from each other.
△△Chu Yongquan, Vice Dean of Graduate School, Fudan University
Associate Dean of School of Management, Fudan University Prof. Yin Zhiwen welcomed and congratulated all the new students to join the big family of BI-Fudan MBA program. He mentioned that, as one of China’s first Sino-foreign cooperation MBA programs approved by Ministry of Education of P.R.C., BI-Fudan MBA program has gotten strong support from both Chinese and Norwegian government. The program has won public reputation by deli
vering excellent and high-quality courses. Moreover, this class has more than 800 years of work experience combined, so he encouraged everyone to take this opportunity to actively make friends to expand their social network and learn from each other. “This program is a platform for you to reach new heights in your career through process of knowledge input and the sharing of your experiences.”
△△Yin Zhiwen, Associate Dean of School of Management, Fudan University
Tao Sha, a student representative from MBA Class 32, shared her feelings and experiences from the study at BI-Fudan, and provided the students with some suggestions to best manage their time during the program. She stresses the importance of “LEARN”; L= learn as much as possible from your professors and fellow classmates; E= Exchange your ideas with your classmates; A= be aware of the changes in yourself, it’s going to be a transformational journey; R= relax, sleep and eat properly; N= network with peers and professors. She concluded her speech by sharing a fitting Chinese saying, “生命不息，学习不止, as life continues, studying never stops.”
△△Tao Sha, the student representative from Class 32
Song Haixia, the new student representative for MBA class 33 closed the ceremony with a short inspirational speech. She spoke to her fellow classmates about the changes the world is facing regarding globalization and the technological transformation. She continues to say that we can see this as a challenge or as an opportunity to upgrade our personal skillset and reconstruct our knowledge system to better prepare for the changes ahead; “We chose the BI-Fudan MBA program as our soil to grow, we might grow from managers, directors to influential leaders. I believe this program will nurture our leadership, vision and business competence”. At last she quoted a sentence from Kung Fu Panda; “yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift, that is why it is called a present.”
△△Song Haixia, the new student representative for class 33
The ceremony ended with Fudan University’s anthem. The new students were then asked to take a group photo with all the attendants outside the building. The students of class 33 proceeded to a 2-day orientation trip to Taicang. And with this the Opening Ceremony of BI-Fudan MBA Class 33 came to an end.
