The P&Q Interview: Zhang Weijiong, Co-Dean Of China Europe International Business School

Donald Trump’s election as U.S. president likely portends four years of, at best, contentiousness and turmoil for China on the world stage.

For China’s premier business school, now in its 31st year, it will be a crucial period as well — in many ways.

The milestones for China Europe International Business School began last year as it celebrated its 30th year with much fanfare, and they continue in 2025, a year that marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the European Union. For CEIBS, 2025 will see the end of its 14th Five-Year Plan and the formulation of its 15th — all coming as China navigates a national and global economic slowdown, geopolitical instability, and a wave of cross-industry technological innovations.

‘WE MAKE VERY BIG IMPACT’

Zhang Weijiong has seen most of CEIBS’s ups, downs, and in-betweens. The longtime professor of strategy and current vice president and co-dean, he joined CEIBS in 1997, just three years after the school launched as a partnership between China and the European Union.

Weijiong came to CEIBS from the Management School of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, which was an original executive partner of CEIBS, along with EFMD, at its formation in 1994. In his 27 years with the school, he says, he takes pride in many accomplishments: the school’s successful development of world-class faculty, its curriculum building in several highly ranked programs, the rising status of the school nationally and internationally.

What makes him most proud? “The impact,” he tells Poets&Quants during an interview in his office on CEIBS’s Shanghai campus. “I think the impact to the Chinese economy and the Chinese society. Usually at the good universities, especially the very famous universities, faculty there focus on research. Research is very important because that’s knowledge creation. That’s very important. But many faculty are not interested in teaching. Because research can make you famous, teaching cannot — it cannot. So faculty, anywhere you talk to university faculty professors, they talk about their research, they do not talk about teaching.

“But here is different. We also focus on research like every school, but we put very big weight on teaching. We think if a university, university professors, if you are not interested in teaching, this is not university, this is research institute, not university. If you want to focus on research, fine, you go to research institute.

“But here, university, one of the most important thing for university is education. So here we put very heavy weight on research and we put very heavy weight, equal heavy weight, on teaching. Today, they listen to faculty: for instance, what’s the best strategy? What is the innovation? What’s the new product? Future things. Then the second day, they go to company. They implement. They implement or they teach their colleagues about these things. That means this knowledge spread quickly. Quickly. We make very big impact.”

‘CHINA DEPTH, GLOBAL BREADTH’

Among CEIBS’s biggest recent achievements: Its Global EMBA program placed No. 1 overall in the 2024 Financial Times EMBA rankings — which is significant in showing, among other things, that CEIBS has put the Covid-19 pandemic completely behind it.

Before 2020, CEIBS already could boast a Global Platform of China Cases with thousands of China-focused cases and tens of thousands of alumni in 90 countries around the world, who themselves have founded tens of thousands of new businesses and created millions of new jobs. By 2020, the total revenue of companies or departments led by CEIBS alumni was 183 trillion yuan — three times the combined revenue of all listed companies in the Shanghai and Shenzen stock markets. That same year, the school launched four signature interdisciplinary research areas: China and the World, ESG, AI powered Enterprise and Management, and Service Excellence — and opened research centers to stay abreast of new developments in each area.

Then the world shut down. Coronavirus hit CEIBS harder than most schools because of a lockdown in Shanghai that most now agree lasted too long. The school was buffeted by the tribulations of a Chinese economy that has limped into semi-recovery: tepid growth, displacement by Mexico as top U.S. trading partner, and now the threat of potentially ruinous tariffs from the incoming Trump administration.

The last three years up to today have been a fraught time. But perhaps more than ever, Weijiong says, MBA and EMBA candidates who want to understand China should consider studying at CEIBS, whose school motto, “China Depth, Global Breadth,” may never have been more relevant.

“We would like to invite international students to come to us to study,” says Weijiong, who also serves as co-director of CEIBS’s Global CEO Program for China. “We go to Europe, we go to United States, we go to Asia, we go to Brazil in South America. We go different places. We talk, to see if there is anything we can do together, because it’s important to share different values. Not only one value is perfect. No, no.

“In this world, different value systems all have their advantages. We have to learn that for instance, in France, people have different thinking. In Germany, people have even different thinking. In Japan, people have different thinking. Why? Why is it different? We have to understand why it’s different. If they are different, how can we keep the difference, but at the same time work together?”

See below for excerpts from a Q&A with CEIBS’s Zhang Weijiong, from an interview in his office on the CEIBS Shanghai campus last year. It has been edited for length and clarity.

Q&A WITH ZHANG WEIJIONG, VICE PRESIDENT & CO-DEAN OF CHINA EUROPE INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS SCHOOL

Poets&Quants: What are the biggest changes at CEIBS since you started here 27 years ago?

Zhang Weijiong: A lot of changes. A lot of changes. When we began it was the very early years of the reform open door policy. At that time, lots of joint ventures and foreign companies come here. So during that time we have lots of students coming from those kind of multi-national firms, because they want to have their operation here in China. They want to train their managers, but they cannot do it by themselves. They needed to send their senior managers to some Chinese schools. So we, as a joint venture school, we were jointly operated by the European side, so this was the best place for them to send their staff to us.

That’s the beginning. For instance, say 50 to 70% of the students were people from joint ventures of multi-national companies. And during that time there were very few people from the private sector. Very few.

Now it’s very different. Now like 60, 70% are from private sector. Then the rest will be like digital companies and multi-nationals. Very different. Much fewer in the joint venture basket.

Also people’s ideas have changed. At the beginning, the operating side was seen as very important. Operations means the general accounting, general marketing, human resource management, productions, those kind of things. People were interested in those kinds of details at the beginning, and later on, change, and people want to know more about strategy, know more about innovation. Branding, those kind of things.

Then later on, another change. People want to learn more about leadership, know more about the organizational behavior, know how to lead the group for success. And also recently, for the last couple of years, ESG (environmental, social, governance — an investing principle that prioritizes environmental issues, social issues, and corporate governance).

So that’s very interesting. If you’re looking at change in curriculum, we make this change. In past 27 years, I experienced those kinds of change.

The embrace of social justice and business as a force for good is something you’ve seen from the start. Was that a response to what students wanted to study, or what the market wanted the students to have?

The market pushed them to get into school. Because many students had basic knowledge but not systematic knowledge.

What’s the new trends? What’s the new technology? What’s the new model? We have faculty in different fields. They are experts in particular different fields. So usually it’s the market pushed them to come to us. Some students said after attending the first course they earn more than enough of the tuition fee because we solve their problems. We give answers to their puzzle. Their puzzle of long time, we solve these things. Most difficult thing for CEOs, most difficult thing, is that when they face challenges, face difficulties, they want to have somebody to talk to. But they cannot talk to a subordinate, no they can’t. They can’t. They cannot talk to their competitors. No, they can’t. Sometimes even difficult to talk about these things to their spouse. Difficult.

Where to talk? Here. Here they face the same group of people. You feel like you have things more challenging. All feel these things. Since all of us face the same situation, how can we move forward? What did you do? What did you do? Here is what I did. Then we can learn. We can discuss with people. Those kind of things, we call interactions, will help students a lot. A lot.

What is CEIBS’ greatest accomplishment in the last 30 years?

The impact. I think the impact to the Chinese economy and the Chinese society. Usually the good universities, usually, especially those very famous universities, faculty there focus on research. Research is very important because that’s knowledge creation. That’s very important. But many faculty are not interested in teaching. Because research can make you famous, teaching cannot — it cannot. So faculty, anywhere you talk to university faculty professors, they talk about their research, they do not talk about teaching. But here is different. We also focus on research like every school, but we put very big weight on teaching. We think if a university, university professors, if you are not interested in teaching, this is not university, this is research institute, not university. If you want to focus on research, fine, you go to research institute.

But here, university, one of the most important thing for university is education. So here we put very heavy weight on research and we put very heavy weight, equal heavy weight, on teaching. “Put weight” means you need a system. You need to put the incentive system. Incentive system. That means research and the teaching are equally important. So we have that kind of system. Because we’ve put very heavy weight on teaching, so faculty are teaching very seriously, then in the classroom students learn a lot. Lots of students say that they get into the classroom. Today, they listen to faculty for instance, what’s the best strategy? What is the innovation? What’s the new product? Future things. Then the second day, they go to company. They implement. They implement or they teach their colleagues about these things. That means this knowledge spread quickly. Quickly. We make very big impact.

We want to hear: “Hey Professor, what you said in your series, in your certain course, I implemented in our company. In past couple of years, our company doing very well with the stock price.” This part we feel proud of. Very proud of. So I think the social impact for us is a very big issue for us. Very.

It’s been said by you and many others that CEIBS is a bridge between China and the rest of the world. What do you say to the rest of the world to cross that bridge, to come here to see? What would you say to encourage them to come and study here and learn more about China?

We would like to invite international students to come to us to study. And we also have lots of, we call international study tours. This year we organized almost 90 study tours. 90. Each group will have, for instance, like 40 students or 50 students. We have lots of people going to different countries. We go to Europe, we go to United States, we go to Asia, we go to Brazil in South America. People go different places, build different companies, meet different people. So they exchange the business opportunities.

They probably look for the future possible potential investment, cooperation opportunities, those kind of things. That’s very good for our students. And also we think it’s our responsibility. Besides this, we also invite faculties and government officers to come here. We invite the European Union, all the different countries, they come to here, here to exchange. We talk, to see if there is anything we can do together, because it’s important to share different values. Not only one value is perfect. No, no.

In this world, different value systems all have their advantages. We have to learn that for instance, in France, people have different thinking. In Germany, people have even different thinking. In Japan, people have different thinking. Why? Why is it different? We have to understand why it’s different. If they are different, how can we do? How can we keep the difference, but at the same time work together?

Find the points of agreement.

That’s right. That’s right. This is what we do. This is what we do.

What is the target international ratio for the CEIBS MBA program?

In the GEMBA now we have something like 40% of international students. I think that’s okay. That’s manageable. If you have 40% or 50% really make not too much difference, right? But if 10% and 15%, that’s a big difference. The international students, the more international students, that means we have to use English as a language, we have to invite different kind of background faculty to teach this. So the design make it more international. The program design itself already makes it more international. So that’s important for us.

During the pandemic, a lot of programming was forced to go online. Since then you’ve gone back to in-person. Do you have any plans as a school to have more online programming? And in that way reach more students internationally?

Very good question. Very good question. Online is a very good platform, a very good tool for middle- to lower-level managers. And it is less costly, much more broader and very fast. But for senior-level people online, we need face-to-face. We need face-to-face. Online help a little. Online will help. I know it help. Online will have relatively fixed, very structured, those kind of knowledge. I put it online, fine. But if you need interaction, you need a discussion, you need a different kind of wisdom, online is not enough. We need the class interaction, and also face-to-face discussion with a group, that will stimulate very different atmosphere. So I think for middle and the lower level, online is fine, but for senior level, we’ll still keep this.

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