Dear CEIBS community,

Warm greetings to you all!

Today marks China’s 41st Teachers’ Day, a day of celebration dedicated to educators around the world. At this very moment, members of CEIBS’ esteemed faculty team may be immersed in case writing and research, examining pressing issues at the frontier of business; they may be standing at the lectern, imparting knowledge and guiding their students; or perhaps they are on the road, traveling the globe to engage in vital fieldwork. Through their effort, knowledge, guidance and intellectual curiosity are passed down to a new generation of business leaders. We wish all of them a heartfelt Happy Teachers’ Day!

At CEIBS, our world-class faculty are our greatest pride and the greatest driver of our success. Through the hard work of our 120 faculty members from over 20 countries and regions across the world, 98% of whom have overseas study and work experience, CEIBS has established itself among the world’s leading business schools. Personifying our vision of “China Depth, Global Breadth”, CEIBS professors have built a bridge connecting management education in China and the world. Their intellectual wisdom and exemplary conduct have inspired generations of students to choose CEIBS, in turn enabling the school to remain in step with global economic development and trends in business through a network of over 32,000 alumni across 91 countries and regions around the world.

For CEIBS professors, 2025 has been a year of exceptional achievement: 18 professors were named among Elsevier’s “Most Cited Chinese Researchers”; two CEIBS faculty cases won top category awards at the 2024 EFMD Case Writing Competition; and 26 papers written by CEIBS professors were published in FT50 and A* journals. These accomplishments demonstrate the academic influence and thought leadership of our faculty, whom we are deeply grateful to for their dedication, innovation, and pursuit of excellence. This year, CEIBS also welcomed five new professors to join our faculty team: including a highly respected former European political leader, a leading economist, and an accomplished marketing and finance expert with a global outlook. Their arrival brings new international perspectives, intellectual vitality, and fresh momentum for innovation at CEIBS. 

Today, management education institutions around the world are facing unprecedented challenges, driven in large part by the rapid rise of artificial intelligence. What kind of leaders will an AI-driven future require? Can traditional management education models meet the demands of the AI era? These are the pressing questions confronting business schools all over the world, and questions we must reflect on and address together.

AI is already profoundly reshaping the paradigm of business schools, from operations to teaching and research. Traditional, knowledge-centred classrooms are giving way to immersive, personalised, and hybrid learning models. Demand for AI-related learning among participants is on the rise. According to the 2025 State of Business Education Report released by AACSB International, enrolment in generative AI courses has surged by 500% year on year; this compels business schools to evolve accordingly. While a challenge, this shift opens vast opportunities for talent development and innovation in curriculum. Recent studies show that nearly 80% of business schools worldwide have already integrated AI into their courses or learning experiences. CEIBS does not intend to be left behind.

Changing times call for a new generation of interdisciplinary talent, business leaders that can not only master AI theory, technology, and application, but can also bridge AI with economics, society, and management. To meet this demand, business schools must break disciplinary barriers and adopt models that integrate industry, academia, and research, cultivating innovative thinkers and reshaping their core competitiveness amid upheaval.

The greatest danger in turbulent times is not turbulence itself, but the instinct to cling to outdated responses. Amidst the rise of artificial intelligence, CEIBS professors have chosen to be pioneers, not bystanders. Harnessing the expertise of more than 30 faculty members, the school has opened a new AI-powered Enterprise and Management interdisciplinary field, integrating AI with BI (Business Intelligence) and HI (Human Intelligence) to create MI (Management Intelligence).

In teaching, CEIBS is advancing what we call “AI+” reforms, embedding AI technology and content into our classrooms. In terms of research and practice, the school has launched the AI and Management Innovation Research Centre as well as the AI and Marketing Innovation Lab, while jointly building the CEIBS AI Industry-Academia Collaborative Innovation Platform with alumni and corporate partners. On the school governance front, CEIBS has established a cross-disciplinary AI Task Force to design and implement school-wide AI policies.

AI in management education represents a force of disruption, but also of renewal. In his book The Era of Intelligence, computer scientist Wu Jun reminds us: “The key to technology is always in human hands; whether we become captains or captives of it depends on how firmly we hold on to humanity’s compass amid the storm.”

As technology makes knowledge ever more readily accessible, we know that the mission of business schools is not to hand students ready-made answers, but to inspire them to ask the right questions. An educator’s role is not merely to teach technical knowledge, but to guide students to push the boundaries of personal and collective knowledge and to nurture an enduring, lifelong curiosity.

CEIBS is committed to embracing cutting-edge technologies, while remaining certain that true breakthroughs in knowledge come only through the questioning, exploration, and creativity shared by teachers and their students.

We firmly believe that education and technology are compatible in our mission to nurture a new generation of business leaders. Once again, we extend our heartfelt wishes to all members of the CEIBS community on Teachers’ Day and thank our incredible faculty team for their tireless dedication and commitment to shaping the business talent that our changing world needs.

China Europe International Business School

Wang Hong       Dominique Turpin

CEIBS President  CEIBS President (European)