Dear CEIBS Community,

Happy New Year!

As the first rays of New Year sunshine creep over the horizon, we find ourselves stepping into 2025. As we transition from a transformative year for our school into a new year filled with potential, we would like to extend our warmest New Year greetings and best wishes to you all on behalf of the school and the entire CEIBS community.

Looking back on 2024 fills us with pride and emotion. It was a momentous year for CEIBS as we celebrated our 30th anniversary, a significant milestone in the school’s history. Over the past three decades, our school has undergone a remarkable transformation, growing from a mere idea, of educational cooperation between China and the rest of the world, to a beacon in the world of global management education. We once again express our heartfelt gratitude to all of you for your unwavering support for the development of the school.

Our 30th anniversary celebrations were unforgettable, graced by the presence of high-level government officials, global leaders in management education, and distinguished scholars. Welcoming these visitors to our campus enabled us to deepen and broaden our international ties, strengthening the relationship between China, Europe and the rest of the world. We also marked this important milestone with a series of books, case studies and reports that showcased the research prowess of the CEIBS faculty and further bolstered the school’s academic reputation. The year was further enriched by a series of engaging and insightful forums, offering a platform to reflect on our incredible journey so far while charting a course for an even brighter future ahead.

The celebration was made even more meaningful by our remarkable achievements in 2024. Here, we would like to take a moment to highlight some of them.

In 2024, our Global EMBA programme made a historic breakthrough by securing the number one spot in the Financial Times’ 2024 EMBA rankings. This is the first time that the programme has topped this internationally recognised list. Our success did not stop there, as our MBA programme was once again ranked #1 in Asia by the FT, a title we have held for eight consecutive years. We are also proud to announce that the school has once again been reaccredited by AACSB.

Our world-class faculty team, who excel in both teaching and research, also continued to make their mark in the global academic community. In 2024, 17 CEIBS professors were featured on Elsevier’s 2023 list of “Highly Cited Chinese Researchers” in the Business Management category, putting CEIBS ahead of other business schools on the Chinese mainland for the tenth consecutive year; eight of our professors were also named in the World’s Top 2% Scientists List 2024 published by Stanford and Elsevier.

Over the past year, our robust network of more than 30,000 alumni in 91 countries and regions has been instrumental in driving progress in key social, economic and business sectors. In 2024, we were proud to see 15 companies led by CEIBS alumni earn a place on the prestigious Fortune Global 500 list. Further demonstrating the impact of our alumni, 66 CEIBS alumni-led companies were also recognised on the 2024 China Top 500 Private Enterprises list.

Our extraordinary achievements over the past year both reflect and reward our community’s commitment to the CEIBS motto of “Conscientiousness, Innovation and Excellence”. We are immensely impressed by the solidarity and resilience that our community has shown in continuing to make significant progress despite challenging international circumstances. This indomitable spirit sets us apart, particularly at a time when other business schools are struggling to grapple with changing demands and global headwinds.

While we are proud of our remarkable success over the past 30 years, we have no intention of resting on our laurels. Instead, we view our 30th anniversary not as a finish line, but as a fresh start on an even more ambitious journey.

The road ahead is far from smooth and is fraught with hurdles. The world today is experiencing a global economic slowdown, geopolitical volatility, complex competition among major powers, and a new wave of technological revolution that is sweeping across a broad spectrum of industries. As the world becomes increasingly interconnected, no country is immune to these challenges. This ever-changing global landscape is putting business schools to the test in terms of student recruitment, operations and global reach.

Just as we all as individuals have ups and downs in life, our school will inevitably experience setbacks as well as successes along the way. Nevertheless, we firmly believe that we will overcome any challenges that we face.

The year 2025 is of immense significance for CEIBS, marking the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the European Union, the final year of our 14th Five-Year Plan, and the year of the formulation of our 15th Five-Year Plan. We sincerely hope that the CEIBS community will continue to contribute to global economic and cultural cooperation and prosperity, and to our vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind. Together, we will work to achieve this in a spirit of openness, inclusiveness and harmony between our cultures, anchored in our school’s distinctive offering of “China Depth, Global Breadth”. We pledge to continue to innovate, to build a platform for exchange and cooperation between China, Europe and the rest of the world, and to strengthen the integration of academics with industry, innovation, and talent. Our goal is to cultivate future-ready, digitally savvy management professionals with an innovative mindset and a sense of social responsibility.

In the light of the New Year, we are inspired, driven and determined to push forward. As we embark on a new journey, let us together continue our relentless efforts to establish CEIBS as “the most respected international business school in the world”.

Once again, we would like to extend our sincere greetings to the whole CEIBS community and wish you and your families a happy and healthy New Year!

Prof. Wang Hong                          Prof. Dominique Turpin

      CEIBS President                         CEIBS President (European)