New Business and New Leaders—The First Lesson Opened with Theme Future-oriented Research and Learning: Practice, Theory and Innovation

　　On the evening of November 16, 2018, the first lesson of New Business and New Leaders was delivered with the theme of Future-oriented Research and Learning: Practice, Theory and Innovation in the 4-storey lecture hall of block C of the joint office building of Tianjin University and Nankai University. Prof. Feng Nan, deputy dean of College of Management and Economics (CoME), acted as the host of this lesson, Prof. Huo Baofeng, director of CoME, delivered the opening speech, and the director of the Department of Operations and Supply Chain Management, director of EMBA project, Prof. Zhao Daozhi, played the role as the keynote speaker. All the freshmen of MBA, MPA, MEM, EMBA and other students attended to the lesson.

　　At the opening speech, Prof. Huo first shared with students his experiences in Tianjin University. He said it is very lucky to form values and knowledge ability in the excellent academic atmosphere of Tianjin University. He encouraged the students not only to seek knowledge from books, but also to exchange and discuss actively, to integrate theory with practice and improve their learning ability in an all-round way. Finally, he sent his message to students to take more social responsibility and respect and cherish our homeland all the time.

　　Prof. Feng said that the leading talents in the new era need to combine practice with theory. On the occasion of the Fortieth Anniversary of the Resumption of Management Education in Tianjin University, it is of far-reaching significance for the college and students to carry out a series of lessons on New Business and New Leaders. During this period, different scholars from academia and industry will be invited and conduct regular keynote lectures. The first lesson is for professional degree students is to help them have a deeper understanding on different emphasis of training methods between professional master degree and academic master degree. Facing the future research and learning, professional master's degree should pay more attention to the combination of practice, theory and innovation, as well as, adhere to the principle of making study serve the practical purpose.

　　Prof. Zhao, keynote speaker of this lesson, gave a lecture on Future-oriented Research and Learning: Practice, Theory and Innovation to the students, and made brilliant sharing from five aspects. First, combining with detailed historical data and personal experience, Prof. Zhao told students about the historical development process of Peiyang University (Tianjin University). At the same time, he described the organizational structure of CoME. Second, he warned students here to stick to academic integrity and norms and pursue sustainable development. Besides, he emphasized that scientific research should also be more connected to social ethics. Third, Prof. Zhao shared eight frontier fields of science and technology, and explored the future development trend of production and service business from the impact of science and technology development on production mode and production organization. Fourth, he introduced the meaning of New Business and New Engineering. Prof. Zhao analyzed the similarities and differences between Engineering and New Engineering, and explained in detail the importance and necessity of the transformation. Compared with traditional engineering, New Engineering emphasizes practicability, cross-cutting and comprehensiveness, especially the close integration of new technology and traditional industrial technology. Under the new historical background, the original teaching methods of engineering and business are no longer suitable for the present needs of personnel training and the employment needs of industry and commerce. Based on the new needs, the Ministry of Education has taken the lead in putting forward the "Fudan Consensus", "Tianjin Action" and "Beijing Guidelines" for the construction of new engineering. Also, he explained the history of business education by describing the development of the department of commerce: the global technological, economic and political environment is changing rapidly, the value creation process of products and services is changing, too. New business laws and knowledge emerge in endlessly, and new business education is needed to provide something new for students. Fifth, Prof. Zhao pointed out that the characteristic of professional master's degree study is to seek theory from practice, and then to innovate continuously.

　　New Business and New Leaders is a series of lessons with new business perspectives and dimensions launched by Professional Degree Project Center of CoME on the occasion of the Fortieth Anniversary of the Resumption of Management Education in Tianjin University. In the latter part, renowned academics and industry scholars will continuously be invited to carry out thematic lectures with their own characteristics.