Text/Lu Xiongwen
Dean Lu Xiongwen
Dear graduates, dear relatives and friends, colleagues and friends,
Good afternoon, everyone!
Today, we gathered together to witness the 2,368 undergraduate, master, and doctoral students of the School of Management of Fudan University in 2024, as well as the graduates of the MBA, EMBA, MPAcc, and DBA programs, successfully complete their studies at the School of Management of Fudan University, and are about to set sail and start a new chapter in their lives. First of all, I would like to convey the congratulations and best wishes of Comrade Qiu Xin, Secretary of the Party Committee of Fudan University, and Academician Jin Li, President of Fudan University, to the 2024 graduates of the School of Management. On behalf of all the teachers, students and staff of the School of Management of Fudan University, I would like to extend my warmest congratulations and most sincere wishes to all the graduates.
You graduates have all gone through a special test, you have persevered in learning, perseverance, and now you have finally achieved positive results, I am extremely proud and proud of you!
Here, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my colleagues for upholding the ideals of scholars, innovating and improving in teaching and research, and cultivating another batch of outstanding students for the country and the global economy. I would also like to thank the families of the graduates for their support and understanding in making this ceremony what it is today.
At the same time, I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to our overseas partners, Ms. Lise Hammergren, Executive Vice President of BI Norwegian Business School, Mr. David Capodilupo, Assistant Dean of Global Programs at MIT Sloan School of Management, Mr. Stuart Krusell, Senior Director of Global Programs at MIT Sloan School of Management, Professor Yan Houmin, Academic Director of DBA Program at City University of Hong Kong, Prof. Zou Hong, Programme Director of the Fudan University-University of Hong Kong Master of Business Administration (International) Program. Thank you for being with us through thick and thin!
"The so-called home is the place where the soul is bound, the destination of the soul, and the harbor of the spirit. The new campus of the School of Management of Fudan University is about to open, and it will be the new home of Fudan School of Management. ”
Students, I believe that your hearts are full of emotion and excitement at this moment. Last year, it was with reluctance, guilt and worry that I watched your seniors embark on a new "hero's journey". Today, you will be called by the mission to run into the future, to venture into the unknown, to explore. But no matter how far you go, please don't forget that the School of Management of Fudan University is your starting point and your eternal home.
The so-called home is the place where the soul is bound, the destination of the soul, and the harbor of the spirit. The new campus of the School of Management of Fudan University is about to open, and it will be the new home of Fudan School of Management. Of course, it is also the home of those who have graduated and are about to graduate. On this special day, I would like to share with you my thoughts on the moment.
"The government campus is the first university campus in Chinese mainland without walls, it is a social university, and it is also a university society."
First of all, I would like to introduce to you what the new campus of the School of Management of Fudan University is "what it is". The construction of the Zhengli Campus stems from our deep understanding of the importance of management disciplines, our respect for Fudan's century-old business tradition, and our unremitting pursuit of becoming a world-class business school. The new campus of Fudan School of Management is our persistence and practice of educational ideals.
In the physical dimension, the Seirikakuen is a work of art, a futuristic space for the 22nd century. The government campus was designed by the Spanish design firm EMBT after a global design tender. Ms. Benedetta Tagliabue, the chief designer, made a special trip to Shanghai in November 2023 to inspect the Zhengli Campus, and she said with emotion that she did not expect the real building to present her original design concept so perfectly. The new campus is 100,000 square meters in size, integrating the beauty of ancient and modern China and the West, showing a future-oriented and eternal heart. It is both lively and warm, calm and quiet, open and inclusive, welcoming all parties, solemn and introverted, and has the atmosphere of respect and yearning for the world. It is a base for our teachers, students and alumni to learn, discuss, practice, coexist, share, live and start a business.
In the social dimension, the Zhengli Campus is the first university campus without walls in Chinese mainland, it is a social university, and it is also a university society. It is a space for the linkage of university campuses, science and technology parks, and public communities, and a platform for the integrated development of government, industry, academia, research and science and innovation. It is a model of future urban social life and will surely become a new landmark in Shanghai. I have a prediction that in the next 10 years, all friends who come to Shanghai from all over the country and all over the world will not really be able to go to Shanghai until they have a cup of coffee and a card in our political institute. The French architect Le Corbusier once said: Architecture, which is the highest art, achieves the Platonic sublime, the laws of mathematics, the philosophical thoughts, and the sense of harmony generated by the harmony of emotions. Whether the government has done it or not, please go and experience it yourself.
In terms of history, the Zhengli Campus carries the mission, genes and potential energy of Fudan Business for a century, and opens another heroic journey and glorious road for Fudan Business for a century. Historically, Fudan business students once accounted for more than half of Fudan students, contributing many talents to Shanghai's transformation into the economic and financial center of the Far East. Since the reform and opening up, Fudan Institute of Management has cultivated more than 60,000 undergraduate, master's and doctoral graduates and more than 600,000 non-degree students for the country and the world. Today, our school is the business school with the largest number of students in Far East Asia, with more than 8,000 students all year round, and it is also the business school of Far East Asia with the highest global rankings of MBA and EMBA in the Financial Times. Our growth and achievements have won the recognition, recognition and support of our alumni and all walks of life. The three buildings of our Guoshun campus are supported by donations from alumni and social friends or special government grants, and the construction of the government campus has received generous support from more than 6,000 alumni and nearly 400 million yuan in donations so far. Based on the establishment of the institute, our school will quickly become one of the world's first-class management schools, and will eventually lead the future of management education in China and even in the world.
Students, I know that you have been working hard for 12 years to study in your new campus and enjoy a world-class learning environment and facilities. I deeply regret that you graduated today and did not fulfill your wishes. I sincerely invite you to enjoy the wonderful intellectual time in the new campus as alumni after graduation, and welcome you to bring your family and friends, especially children, to the government campus, or the class, alumni association, and alumni liaison office to organize a back-to-school exchange experience. I believe that some graduates may return to the College as students because of the new campus. The Government Courtyard belongs to all Fudan Administrators, and everyone is welcome to the Legislative Campus!
Students, the fact that the government campus can finally stand there is not simply the amazement of "building a tall building from the ground", but also the perseverance of "being strong despite thousands of blows". Every time I go to the government and institute and see the bricks and tiles, the grass and the trees, I have a lot of thoughts. Today, I have three thoughts that I would like to share with you.
"The 'Faith-Mission-Will-Strategy-Capability' model is the cornerstone of our business success, and it is also the guarantee and equation for the completion of the political institute."
First of all, the "Faith-Mission-Will-Strategy-Capability" model is the cornerstone of our business success, and it is also the guarantee and equation for the completion of the political institute.
The development history of the School of Management in the past 39 years has proved that our School is a school of faith. Professor Zheng Shaolian, the founding dean, had foreseen the modernization of China's four modernizations before the reform and opening up, and resolutely led his colleagues and invited teachers from relevant disciplines to prepare for the Department of Management Science. Dean Zheng Zukang, who returned from Columbia University, believes that China's future needs a world-class management school, so he draws on the world-class model and benchmarks against the world's advanced to continue to promote the internationalization process and reform and innovation of the school.
I took over as the third Dean of the School in September 2006, and I have always firmly believed that management is the way to rejuvenate the country, and I have always believed that being a world-class management school is a long-distance race, and we must put quality first, accumulate over time, and strive for a long time. I also firmly believe that the development of world-class higher education has its own objective laws, and its standards are supported by global consensus.
With this as the cornerstone, we have continued to focus and evolve our mission over the past decades. World-class is our goal, and our mission is first and foremost to cultivate outstanding talents with an international vision and a deep understanding of China's national conditions for China and the world. In the situation of lack of resources, insufficient capacity and volatile environment, how to keep the original intention unchanged and fulfill the mission? This is a great test of the will of man. We have come all the way to where we are today, reflecting the perseverance and perseverance of generations of the School of Management. Of course, at different stages of development and in different policy cycles, we have also made different strategic choices with our own wisdom, avoided dangers, pooled resources, and finally continued to make one historical performance after another. In the process, we also develop and develop our capabilities, which in turn ensure that our mission and strategy are executed effectively.
"The construction of the government campus is a landmark project in the history of the development of the School of Management, and it is a historic event and a history-making event."
Looking back on my nearly 18 years as dean, the achievements of the School have far exceeded my team's planning and imagination in terms of faculty construction, scientific research level, academic influence, talent training, global ranking of professional degrees, and internationalization level. The construction of the Zhengli Campus is a landmark project in the history of the School of Management, a historical event and a history-making event, and its construction process is tortuous and finally perfectly presented today, which is also another verification of our "Faith-Mission-Will-Strategy-Capability" model.
Fifteen years ago, when I began to envision a new campus, I believed that the best universities in the world had both masters and buildings, especially for management schools and business education. In his speech at the inauguration of the President of National Tsing Hua University in 1931, Mr. Mei Yiqi said something that had a wide impact: "The so-called university is not only a building, but also a master." In my opinion, both "masters" and "buildings" are indispensable. Without certain facilities and conditions, it is impossible for students to study with peace of mind, nor can they create knowledge that will be remembered by the times and disseminated by the world.
I believe in the nobility and sacredness of education, and education should be admired. Therefore, the new campus should not just be an ordinary teaching building, but also provide a place for students who have dreams and can make achievements. It needs to be able to put down a quiet desk, but also to be able to let go of a quiet heart, so we have set up a meditation room in the new campus to allow students who usually run around the mall to return to the campus and calm down their warm body and mind first. Business school students also need to improve their humanities and artistic literacy, enrich their life experience with spiritual cultivation, enrich their spiritual connotation, and provide workplace wisdom, so we have built a professional theater that the world's top business schools dare not hope for. Our mission with this new campus is to provide the physical space for a world-class business school. But the new campus must have a new vision and a new mission, so we have joined hands with the government and enterprises to build the first university district without walls in Chinese mainland in ancient times, committed to the linkage and integrated development of the three districts.
Since the foundation stone was laid in 2013, the construction process of the government institute has been arduous. Throughout the 12-year construction process, we have gone through the economic cycle, policy cycle, the cycle of international political struggles and financial crises, as well as the COVID-19 cycle, which not only shows our strong willpower, but also proves our correct strategy and strong implementation.
Our strategy is a perfect example of our understanding of entrepreneurship and innovation. The new campus project is not a typical case in the business school classroom, but a textbook-level classic of the integration and application of theory and practice. You may not have expected that we had not raised a penny for donations at the time of the foundation stone excavation of the project. We have now completed the construction of the project, in fact so far we have not received a penny from the state and the school. This also proves that my team and I are not only able to teach and educate good people, but we also set a model of entrepreneurship and innovation for our students, and also proves Hegel's famous saying that the art of architecture lies in the transformation of human beings into a kind of creation that expresses their own spirit.
Second, the completion of the government and the institute is an achievement of the builders. Before May Day this year, my colleagues went to the construction site to interview the workers and made a short video, which I never thought would be widely disseminated. Many students and alumni were deeply moved after seeing it. Some people commented that just because the Fudan Management Institute praises the most simple workers, there is a reason to apply to join the Fudan Management Institute. I have watched this video many times and have been moved many times. All the people who appear on the camera are workers on the construction site, they are responsible for the front-line work on the construction site, and they are not shy, wooden, or humble in the face of the camera, on the contrary, they express the most sincere feelings and expectations in the most simple language. They always have a smile on their faces, full of sunshine, confidence and pride. This is the most cherished and possessed laborers in our country, their efforts have contributed to the development of the country, and they are the builders of the country.
From a young age, I firmly believed that every worker who works diligently on his or her own is worthy of respect. We cannot give different respect to workers based on their educational qualifications and how much money they earn. As long as they do their best to serve the society and create value in different fields, at different levels and in different positions, they should be paid and respected.
"I hope that you will be the builders of socialism, not the 'negative producers' of the productive forces and the destroyers of socialism."
Once upon a time, there were some people who thought they were extraordinary, had excellent abilities, thought they occupied important positions, and even thought that they could be high, and they had no real awe and responsibility for their work, and they always liked to brush their sense of existence. They are arrogant to their colleagues, contempt and contempt for ordinary workers, jealous and critical of those who have achieved good work, and even design frames and suppresses those who feel threatened by competition. These people are the "negative producers" of society.
A society in which a small person is successful is a society in which fairness and justice are lacking, and a society in which the productive forces are frustrated or even regressed. I don't want our graduates to become the target of your indignant criticism when they go out into society—people who have a little power but are selfish, deceitful and greedy for power and profit. I hope that you will be builders of socialism, not "negative producers" of the productive forces and destroyers of socialism. Students, you must be very vigilant about this!
Thirdly, the completion of the government campus is a victory for the entrepreneurial spirit. Entrepreneurship, derived from the spirit of entrepreneurs, refers to the spirit of entrepreneurs in order to achieve their own interests and goals, from scratch, gather resources, form a team, implement strategies, inspire morale, innovate and break through, persevere, and finally achieve the goal.
Entrepreneurship is very evident in private enterprises, especially start-ups. In some large enterprises, especially multinational corporations and state-owned enterprises with scattered equity and absent owners, entrepreneurship will become rare. Of course, examples of the opposite, examples that are often recognized and inspired by society, still exist. Jack Welch of GE in the United States in the 90s, Su Lifeng of AMD today, and Ning Gaoning and Song Zhiping of central enterprises, are all professional managers who have created business miracles and are very entrepreneurial. Their existence teaches us that entrepreneurship does not necessarily need to be dependent on private property rights. When one is free from a narrow private vision and is not motivated by the pursuit of maximizing personal wealth, entrepreneurship is not bound by ownership and is not necessarily tied to personal wealth.
The eighth phase of the Fudan Science and Technology Innovation Entrepreneur Camp was opened
We see that all those high-achieving and influential NGOs, non-profit organizations, including universities and grassroots educational institutions, have some outstanding leaders who pursue career ideals that go far beyond their own personal interests. They plan the mission and goals for the organization, lead the overall situation, take the lead, dare to take responsibility, have the courage to innovate and change, persevere, and will not give up until the goal is achieved. This entrepreneurial spirit has transcended the boundaries of the enterprise and the organization itself and has become a valuable productive force in society. It has the same value as the ability to innovate in scientific research and technological innovation, and is the most scarce resource for social change and development today.
In fact, some of our excellent government leaders are also the same, and only with this entrepreneurial spirit can they put aside themselves for the cause of the country and the well-being of the people, and achieve great things. In fact, the entrepreneurial spirit has always run through the entire process of our country's reform and opening up. Private enterprises can reach today's "56789" state (the private economy contributes more than 50% of the domestic tax revenue, more than 60% of the GDP, more than 70% of the technological innovation achievements, more than 80% of the urban labor employment, and more than 90% of the number of enterprises), which also fully verifies the value and existence of entrepreneurship.
Although we say that the economic development of the past 40 years has been largely driven by investment and export, the organization of production factors and the effective allocation of resources are inseparable from the mission-driven and risk-taking efforts of entrepreneurs. For our School of Management, although it is difficult for us to implant this entrepreneurial spirit gene into every student, we can stimulate and enhance this spiritual energy, supplemented by scientific management strategies and tools, so that the entrepreneurial spirit can be more effectively played.
At present, when all graduates embark on their journey, it is also a time when various cycles are intertwined, and we must awaken the entrepreneurial spirit hidden in your heart, and wait for the opportunity to rise.
The whole process of preparation, start-up and construction of the government institute has brought together the wisdom and spirit of leaders and entrepreneurs from different industries, fields and levels. My team and I are just on the front lines to practice and express such a collective entrepreneurial spirit. Therefore, we are fully motivated, and in the face of challenges, we will cover the ground and fight the soldiers, and we will be determined to achieve our goals. We have innovated the project construction model, financing model, operation model, coupled with our innovative design, the breakthrough of some technical barriers, and the breakthrough of some unreasonable norms and restrictions, thus ensuring the birth of a new landmark of global management education, and it will become a classic work that can be passed down to the world.
When the construction of this project was struggling and stagnant, some leaders encouraged me to say that the prototype of the new hospital has been formed and is already standing there, and whether it is fully completed in the future or not, you have succeeded. I am pleased, but I am not convinced. Doing something right and pursuing a right dream should be able to achieve it in this day and age. Otherwise this is not a personal tragedy for me, but a trauma of this era. I firmly believe that no matter how difficult it is to build a new campus of a school of management, it is not as difficult as the Tang monk to learn from the West, and it is nothing more than that the real monsters will put on a more bewitching appearance, and will not be recognized by ordinary people. I believe that although it is hard to fight monsters all the way, I will finally get the results of correction.
So, in order to fulfill our mission, my team and I gave full play to the spirit of struggle, we dare to fight, and of course we are good at fighting. We are not afraid of hardships and dangers, perseverance, and finally win the bright moment. What we present to all the students and alumni here and not here today is a palace-level campus. Therefore, I believe that we, like many of the leaders and entrepreneurs behind us, have an entrepreneurial spirit, which supports and promotes the progress and development of Fudan Institute of Management, China's higher education, and even the whole society.
Students, it is in this belief and soil that the new political campus has broken out of the soil and been reborn, and it has also been realized in the process of pursuing and sharing ideals. Throughout the ages, in order to settle down, for the afterlife, and for sustenance, human beings have created countless architectural masterpieces. For the sake of the future, in order to inspire and shape more free and rich souls, we have built a political institute. I believe that the cracks that we have experienced in the past will be where the light of hope will shine. I believe that the classic architecture of mankind is the flower and fruit of the power of faith.
"Everyone strives to be a 'human being'."
Students, today we are here to draw an end for the time being, whether it is your study or your life journey, it has come to an end. Today is also a new beginning, we have changed our line and opened up a new journey of our respective lives, which is also a hero's journey, and it will eventually be a glorious journey. Each of us should strive to be a "human existence" rather than just a living being, and pursue not only the material experience of spiritual existence, but also the spiritual experience of material existence.
At this point, I would like to quote Shakespeare: "Like a lark at dawn, it rises from the gloomy earth, spreads its wings, and sings in the vastness of the sky." ”
Students, whether it is in our Guoshun Campus or the Government Campus, my colleagues and I look forward to your frequent return home. Share your success and joy when you are triumphant, and help you heal and review when you are defeated, and provide you with the energy and equipment to start anew. The Guoshun Campus and the Government Campus are your home, and the Fudan Management Institute will always be your home.
I wish you all the best in life! I wish you all the best to realize your dreams!
Thank you!
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