On October 25th, the 20th anniversary celebration of International Event Management Shanghai (IEMS Sino-German cooperation) and the inaugural International Seminar on the Integration of Industry and Education in the Exhibition Sector was held at the SUIBE Songjiang Campus. The event was attended by over 120 guests, including Wang Rongming, SUIBE President, Alexander Schmidmann, President of Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences in Germany, Kong Youwei, Director of the Cultural and Educational Section of the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany in Shanghai, IEMS faculty from both China and Germany, representatives from partner enterprises, experts and scholars from sister institutions, alumni representatives, and current students. Together, they reflected on the development of IEMS over the past two decades and looked forward to cooperation and development prospects.
In his address at the celebration, Wang Rongming highlighted that as one of the first program of event management in the country and the first Sino-foreign cooperative undergraduate program approved by the Ministry of Education, the IEMS has been dedicated to cultivating versatile exhibition talents with an international vision and innovative mindset since its establishment in 2004. The program has trained thousands of high-quality professionals in exhibition and event management and has played a positive role in advancing the development of exhibition education in China. He hopes that the “Sino-German Cooperative Event Management Program” would serve as a driving force in deepening comprehensive educational reforms. He said SUIBE will continue to leverage its unique advantages to build China into a trade powerhouse and Shanghai into an international exhibition center, aiming to create a highland for talent cultivation in the exhibition sector with international influence and exemplary for the nation.
Alexander Schmidmann praised the fruitful achievements made by both universities in the field of exhibition education over the past 20 years. He noted that the exhibition industry has become an important tool for promoting social and economic development, which indicates that the future prospects for IEMS are even broader.
Professor Ma Yong, Deputy Director of the Teaching Guidance Committee for Tourism Management Programs under the Ministry of Education, briefly reviewed the development of exhibition education in China in his speech and highly commended the exemplary role of the IEMS program in national exhibition education.
The Future Elite Project - Bohua Digital Exhibition Talent Class was inaugurated at the commemorative conference. Ms. Fu Min, Chief Human Resources Officer of Shanghai Bohua International Exhibition Co., Ltd., Ye Qingqing, Deputy Dean of the School of Event and Communication at SUIBE, Zhu Jianming, Director of the Academic Affairs Office, Wang Chunlei, Dean of the School of Event and Communication, Dr. Huang Hui, Chinese Program Director, and Professor Kim Wiener, German Program Director, jointly unveiled the project.
During the subsequent international seminar, renowned experts and scholars, along with industry elites, engaged in in-depth discussions on topics such as the development trends of the exhibition industry and the integration between industry and education.
Translated by Guo Mengjia