Business School of Jiangnan University

The School of Business at Jiangnan University was established in 1985 as the Department of Economics and Trade Management at Wuxi Institute of Light Industry, and was renamed after the merger of Wuxi Institute of Light Industry, Jiangnan College, and Wuxi Education College in 2001. The school's educational philosophy is to "cultivate innovative talents and lead industry development," adhering to the spirit of "academic excellence and practicality in serving the society," and practicing the management principles of "building platforms and creating brands." Its mission is to "foster Jiangnan's industrial and commercial culture, establish a foundation in Chinese management practices, contribute to the academic knowledge of business, and cultivate future leaders with a global perspective." The school is committed to becoming a top-tier business school that creates social value, and has trained more than 18,000 economic and management professionals for the country's economic and social development.

The school's main disciplines are management and economics, with five undergraduate programs including finance, accounting, international economics and trade, business administration, and big data management and application. It has doctoral degree authorization in the disciplines of systems science and management, and master's degree authorization in applied economics, business administration, and management science and engineering. It also has three professional master's degree programs in business administration (MBA), engineering management (MEM, including industrial engineering and management, and logistics engineering and management), and finance. In 2012, the Ministry of Education approved a collaborative undergraduate program in business administration between Jiangnan University and Monash University in Australia (Approval No.: MOE32AU2A20121220N). In 2016, an all-English undergraduate program in business administration was introduced for international students. The majors of business administration, finance, and accounting have been designated as national first-class undergraduate programs, and the majors of international economics and trade, and big data management and application have been designated as provincial first-class undergraduate programs. Currently, there are 2,874 full-time students, including 2,543 undergraduates, 1,143 master's students (including MBA and MEM), and 68 international students.

The school implements a talent-focused strategy and actively builds a high-quality professional teacher team through recruitment and cultivation. It has 112 full-time teachers, including 28 professors, 61 associate professors, 15 doctoral supervisors, and 70 master's supervisors. The proportion of senior title holders among full-time teachers is 79.46%, and the proportion of doctoral degree holders is 68%. 74.3% of the staff members have study abroad experience of more than one year. The school has 2 recipients of national-level "Talent Projects," 3 recipients of the Ministry of Education's "New Century Excellent Talents Project," 33 recipients of the Jiangsu Provincial "333 Talents Project," and recipients of the Jiangsu Provincial "Six Talent Peaks" Project. There are also recipients of the Jiangsu Provincial "Qinglan Project" (leading academic figures and key teachers) and 2 members in the Teaching Steering Committee of Higher Education Institutions under the Ministry of Education. The school has one outstanding innovation team in the field of philosophy and social science in Jiangsu Province.

The school adheres to the motto of "developing morals and nurturing talents." Its goal is to cultivate "economically management professionals with an international vision, rooted in the Chinese context, and combining theory with practice." It actively explores and gradually forms a distinctive talent development system and model that meets the needs of economic and social development and changes in the business landscape. It has a Jiangsu Provincial Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center, 4 provincial enterprise graduate workstations, and nearly a hundred teaching internship bases. It also has Jiangnan University's MBA Education Center and Executive Development Program (EDP) Center. Its teaching reform and practical achievements have won the second prize of the "Jiangsu Provincial Teaching Achievement Award" in 2013, 2017, and 2021, as well as the second prize of the "Jiangsu Provincial Graduate Education Reform Achievement Award" in 2018. Students have achieved excellent results in national and provincial undergraduate innovation and entrepreneurship competitions and discipline competitions, winning 58 national-level awards and 162 provincial and ministerial-level awards during the past three years. The employment rate of undergraduate students reached 98%, and the rate of studying overseas for undergraduate students was nearly 20%.

The school adheres to the strategy of research strength and actively serves the national strategic and regional innovation system construction. Its research level and social services capabilities have significantly improved. It has established 5 provincial-level research bases, including the "Brand Strategy and Management Innovation Research Base" as a key research base in philosophy and social sciences in Jiangsu Province, the "Food Safety Risk Governance Research Institute" as a key supported think tank in Jiangsu Province, a food safety research base, a China Internet of Things Development Strategy Research Base, and the Jiangsu Association for Science and Technology's "Jiangnan University Science and Technology Innovation Think Tank Base." It also has 6 city and university-level research bases, including the Wuxi Human Resources Development Research Base. In the past five years, the faculty and students of the school have published 582 high-level papers, including 204 papers in SSCI-indexed journals, 196 papers in CSSCI core journals, and 75 papers in SCI-indexed journals, including 4 papers in UTD24 and FT50 recognized journals and top-tier journals such as "Management World." Some research achievements have been published in mainstream media such as Guangming Daily and Xinhua Digest, and the school has published 55 books and textbooks. It has been approved for 278 various kinds of projects, with a total fund of 61.51 million RMB, including 39 national-level projects and 63 provincial and ministerial-level projects. It has also been approved for 4 major projects such as the National Natural Science Foundation Key Program, the National Social Science Fund Major Program, the National Social Science Fund Major Special Project, and the National Major Research and Development Program. It has received 13 provincial and ministerial-level research awards in philosophy and social science, as well as 109 municipal and departmental-level awards. The school has provided 79 decision-making consultation reports, received instructions from leaders at the provincial and ministerial-level and above 20 times, and had 79 reports adopted and applied by relevant departments.

The school adheres to the concept of open education and has established a board of directors, foundation, and alumni association composed of enthusiastic educators from all walks of life. The board of directors continuously explores innovation, improves norms, integrates resources, deepens the connotation of school-enterprise cooperation, highlights the brand of business education, and achieves win-win development. The school has established the "Shangxue Education Fund," with donations totaling 19.68 million RMB from well-known enterprises such as Far East Holding Group Co., Ltd., New Zealand Steel (China) Co., Ltd., Jiangsu LianDa Group, Wuxi Dongfang Environmental Engineering Design Research Institute Co., Ltd., Jiangsu Jialida International Logistics Co., Ltd., and SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile Co., Ltd.

Over the past 37 years, the faculty and students of the school have been striving for excellence, overcoming difficulties, adhering to the principle of quality-oriented development, and comprehensively strengthening internal construction, gradually improving the comprehensive strength of the school. In 2017, the undergraduate program in business administration, jointly organized by Jiangnan University and Monash University, was approved as a "high-level exemplary cooperative education project between Jiangsu and foreign universities." Business administration, applied economics, and management science and engineering, three master's degree programs, ranked in the top 50% nationwide in the "2020 Best Discipline Ranking in China" released by Shanghai Ranking. The Master of Business Administration (MBA) program obtained international accreditation from the Association of MBAs (AMBA) in the UK in 2018, becoming the second business school in Jiangsu Province, the 36th on the mainland, and the 258th globally to receive such accreditation.