October 10 to 11, the International Association of Elite Business Schools (AACSB) certified official guidance expert, Suffolk University Business School Dean Professor Amy Z. Zeng visited BNUBS to carry out a two-day site visit and certification guidance.More than 30 members of the School's party and government leadership team, department heads, degree program leaders and faculty representativessuccessively participated in 8 on-site discussions, and jointly conducted in-depth discussions and exchanges on the BNUBS's standard for the nine major standards of AACSB international certification.

On the morning of October 10, the certification expert Amy Z. Zeng held the first discussion with the members of the Party and government leadership team of our School and the teachers of the AACSB Certification Office in the conference room 1722 in the back main building. The meeting was chaired by the secretary Sun Zhijun.First of all, on behalf of the Academy, Sun Zhijun expressed his warm welcome and sincere thanks to Amy Z. Zeng for her visit. He said that the AACSB certification of the School is of great significance to the standards of international first-class business schools, the improvement of international School level and the expansion of international influence. He hoped that through this expert guidance, we can learn from international advanced management experience and effectively promote the development of various work of the School.Subsequently, Associate Dean Cui Xuegang reported to the certification experts the basic situation of the School, the progress of various work in the past six months and the promotion of AACSB certification work.

Figure 1: AACSB certified guidance expert Amy Z. Zeng talks with party and government leaders

During the following visit, faculty representatives and certification experts held group discussions on nine criteria under the certification framework of "Strategic Management and Innovation," "Learner Success," and "Thought Leadership, Engagement, and Social Impact."For each standard, the International Certification Office, on behalf of the School, introduced the implementation of the standards in the School and the puzzles and difficulties encountered in the process management. Amy Z. Zeng carefully answered and analyzed each question one by one. Through the discussion, every teacher present not only had a deeper understanding of AACSB certification, but also learned a lot of teaching management experience.During the visit, the International Accreditation Office accompanied the experts to visit the infrastructure of the BNU and the BNUBS, and conducted a comprehensive inspection of the physical and virtual resources of the School.

Figure 2: AACSB Certified Guidance Specialist Amy Z. Zeng conducts a group discussion with faculty representatives

In the expert feedback meeting on the afternoon of October 11, Amy Z. Zeng first fully affirmed the progress made in the Academy's AACSB certification work. Secondly, Amy Z. Zeng pointed out the key aspects of each standard and the gap between the School and the standard respectively, compared with the new standard of AACSB certification 2020.At the same time, the experts also gave opinions and suggestions for the follow-up work priorities of AACSB certification, involving the optimization and improvement of strategy, teacher classification, learning security system construction, social influence and other aspects.Finally, Dean Qi Yudong once again thanked Amy Z. Zeng for her visit and careful guidance, and said that the School will take AACSB certification as an opportunity to continue to strengthen strategic management, promote the further development of the faculty, improve the quality of education, and expand academic and social influence.According to Amy Z. Zeng's feedback, the Institute would formulate the next step of the promotion plan and implement the rectification as soon as possible, strive to submit the initial certification report as soon as possible, and promote the smooth implementation of certification.

Figure 3: Group photo

[AACSB Accreditation Introduction]

The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), founded in 1916 in the United States, is the world's largest membership, the longest history, the most comprehensive accreditation of business school association. It was first jointly initiated by 17 well-known university business schools such as Harvard University and Cornell University, aiming to promote schools that have been certified and applied for certification to improve student admission standards and teachers and management standards, and began to implement higher management education certification, referred to as AACSB certification, since 1919.On the basis of the European Quality Improvement System (EQUIS) certification in 2016, BNUBS successfully passed the AACSB certification qualification application in July 2022, and began to enter the formal certification stage.In December 2022, the Academy held its first online mentoring session with certified expert Amy Z. Zeng.

Provided by International Certification Office

Edited by Li Jingya, Wang Dan

Reviewed by Cui Xuegang