By Martin Li                Shenzhen Daily

DEANS of various business schools from around the world will gather at a forum in Shenzhen on Friday and Saturday to share their views on the role of business schools in the new global business environment.

The Global Deans’ Forum was initiated by Peking University HSBC Business School (PHBS) in Nanshan District.

Among the participants will be the deans of the Stockholm School of Economics, University of Queensland Business School, Norwegian Business School, National University of Singapore Business School and China Europe International Business School.

China’s former vice education minister, Zhang Xinsheng, will address the opening ceremony with a speech entitled, “Rethinking Business Education in the New Global Economy — A Landscape of Change and Challenges.”

The other speakers will be Peter Wong, group managing director of HSBC Group, and Yu Gang, co-founder and chairman of Yihaodian, a leading Chinese online supermarket.

“After 30 years of rapid economic growth, China’s business schools need to think about how to foster international talents with both excellent business ability and open minds. Business leaders should also be models in other aspects,” Hai Wen, dean of PHBS, said yesterday during an on-campus conference.

“Meanwhile, foreign business schools also need to consider how to forge cooperations with China,” said Hai.

The forum participants will visit leading companies in Shenzhen on Saturday, including Tencent and Huawei.

The event is part of a series of activities marking the 10th anniversary of PHBS. A celebration ceremony will be held Saturday afternoon.

The business school was named after HSBC in 2008 when the corporation donated 150 million yuan (US$24 million) to support the school’s development.

There are 53 teachers at the school, 24 of whom are expatriates. At present, 120 foreign students are studying at the school.

Martin Li is Vice Director of Reporters Dept., Shenzhen Daily. You can contact him by email: martin.mouse@163.com.