My Unique Experience at CEIBS

By Valerie Touya, EMBA 2004 class 1

Every month I definitely live a unique experience when I come to CEIBS. First I drive to Shanghai (from Suzhou) which is already a special trip: I can immediately feel the energetic atmosphere of what is currently perhaps the most dynamic city in the world. Then I arrive at the campus. At this moment it is like if I am parachuted on another land. On the Pudong side of Shanghai there is action, business vitality but also reflexion, peaceful thinking and learning. When I land on the school's ground I start to behave differently.

Our day to day actions are driven by impulsive decisions: we are in the office in the middle of this busy energetic atmosphere. We are prisoners of the speed of the business development in China. But at CEIBS we learn to think before to act, we learn to undertake actions with careful thought and knowledge. We learn to pause ourselves.
As soon as I walk in CEIBS, I think. I think about what I learn during classes, I think about what I listen to the numerous conferences, I think when I answer questions, I think when I ask questions.

Every class is a trip and we dive deeply into the course. During 4 days we concentrate on the topic, during 4 days we listen, if we close our eyes we dream about the topic. It feeds us. I personally work in Visual Marketing but after the Financial Accounting course I wanted to work in Finance, after the Quantitative Methods for Management I wanted to become a Statistician... However I love my job so WHY? I suppose because all the Professors communicate their knowledge as well as their passion, they show the creative side of their specialty, they are so impressive that they become a kind of model.

I also enjoy the numerous conferences from guest speakers and I always try to attend them. They are especially interesting for me as a foreigner because the topics are not only economical but about arts, Chinese history...And again I THINK!

After 6 months in my EMBA class I realise that I am so lucky. I am lucky to be able to dedicate time to thinking and learning. I am lucky to have the opportunity to spend this time in such a unique intellectual environment. I am lucky to be in China because as Europe, China is an old civilization with strong philosophical background and I can feel it everyday.

After each trip to Hongfeng Lu, Pudong, Shanghai I will be different because bright people teach me and make me change or at least make me want to change. What concerns me is after my CEIBS EMBA what will happen?