“B+T” Educational System

Innovation Statement

The ECUST School of Business established a distinctive “B+T” system that links business (B) with technology (T) at three levels—teaching and learning, scientific research, and extracurricular activities—designed to bridge disciplines and nurture managerial talent.

Call to Action

This system links business with technology at three levels—teaching and learning, scientific research, and extracurricular activities—aiming to inspire students’ interdisciplinary innovative thinking, and to play a part in the transformation and upgrading of China’s economy through industry-university interaction. ”.East China University of Science and Technology (ECUST) has many preponderant disciplines, including chemical engineering and technology, chemistry and pharmaceutical engineering, and more. By integrating the university’s disciplinary advantages and its own features in business disciplines, ECUST School of Business has established a distinctive “B+T” Educational System centering on the school’s mission: “To bridge business with technology, and to nurture managerial talent with advanced knowledge and practical ability

Description

Teaching and Learning

• The business school’s undergraduate program demonstrates distinct cross-discipline features mainly in its public electives (environment and health, artificial intelligence and its application, etc.) and in its diversified innovative practice category items, including publishing papers, applying for patents, and participating in competitions.

• The school's Executive MBA program provides a concentration in energy and chemistry comprising four modules—Chemical Industrial Investment Analysis, Chemical Enterprises’ Competition Strategy and Sustainable Development, Chemical Enterprises’ Best Business Practices, and Chemical Enterprises’ Risk Management and Public Relations. The program also provides various project expansions and “Technology and Humanity” lectures given by professors and experts in related fields.

• The school provides courses in the Innovation and Entrepreneurship module for ECUST postgraduates in science and engineering. The courses include Theory and Practice of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Leadership and Execution in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Start-up Company Finance, and Business Communication.

Research

• The business school has established the Research Center of Energy Economics and Environment Management jointly with the School of Resources and Environment Engineering, the School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, and the School of Mechanical and Power Engineering of ECUST. The center conducts research through cross-discipline interaction.

Extracurricular Activities

• Two large-scale interdisciplinary forums have been hosted by ECUST and organized by the school annually since 2015—the China Petrochemical Development and Innovation Forum and the Medical and Health Care Industry Forum. Topics such as new economic policies and new technologies are discussed on the forums.

Impact

As for education, the business school's interdisciplinary curriculum helps  develop students’ skills in innovation and improve the innovation education at ECUST. Owing to the interdisciplinary efforts, the school has fostered management talent that meet the changing needs of industries.

In terms of research, the Research Center of Energy Economics and Environment Management is not only incorporated into the Shanghai Higher Educational Think Tank but also recognized as a Shanghai Humanities and Social Science Key Research Base. The center, which owns a research team made up of professors from the business school and experts in the energy and environment field, has achieved much in studying the industrial development trend and promoting the upgrading of the energy and environment industry. 

In the aspect of extracurricular activities, the forums mentioned above have established good platforms for university-industry interaction. Each forum attracts hundreds of participants, including faculty and students from colleges of engineering. Dozens of news media, such as China Chemical Industry News and China Business Network, report on the forums each year.