August 24, 2026. Shanghai – CEIBS welcomed its Full-time MBA Class of 2028 and the inaugural Part-time MBA Class of 2026 at a joint opening ceremony on its Shanghai campus today. 

This year's Full-time MBA cohort brings together students from nearly 30 countries and regions worldwide, with international students accounting for more than 43% of the cohort. The inaugural Part-time MBA class, meanwhile, comprises experienced professionals from some of China's major economic hubs, including the Greater Bay Area, Beijing, Shanghai and beyond. 

Bringing the two cohorts together for the first time, the ceremony marked the beginning of a shared CEIBS journey shaped by diverse cultures, industries and professional experiences.

Joining faculty, staff, and students for the occasion were CEIBS President Wang Hong; Co-President (European) Frank Bournois; Vice President and Dean Léon Laulusa; Vice President and Co-Dean Zhu Tian; Associate Professor of Marketing, Associate Dean and Director of MBA Programme Zhang Lingling; and Assistant President of CEIBS and Chief Representative of CEIBS Shenzhen Campus Hobbs Liu.

Incoming students, faculty and staff gather for a group photo

Preparing leaders for a changing world

Opening the ceremony, CEIBS President Wang welcomed the new students on behalf of the CEIBS community. Drawing on Stefan Zweig’s reflections on the good fortune of discovering one's calling at the height of one's abilities, she encouraged the students to see their time at CEIBS as an opportunity not only to gain knowledge but also to find kindred spirits who share that purpose.

Turning to the forces reshaping today's business environment, President Wang highlighted shifting geopolitical structures, the surging wave of AI, and the restructuring of global supply chains. She also asserted that China's economy is advancing towards high-quality development and innovation-driven growth, and shifting from a “Made in China” to a “Created in China” model. 

“In the face of such an environment, lifelong learning, cross-disciplinary thinking and a global outlook have become indispensable qualities for the business leaders of the future. Only in this way can we open new paths amid change, and seize opportunity amid challenge,” she said. 

Drawing on the diverse background and distinctive character of the new students, President Wang then offered five key tasks for them on their CEIBS journey: deepen understanding of “China Depth, Global Breadth”; uphold the school motto of “Conscientiousness, Innovation, and Excellence”; combine learning with action; embrace change and explore the unknown; and remember the responsibility of business to contribute positively to society.

CEIBS President Wang Hong

In his address, CEIBS Co-President (European) Frank Bournois described the opening ceremony as a “rite of passage” and shared five key messages to the incoming cohort: embrace the evolution of knowledge; understand that AI is no longer simply a management tool, but is reshaping the very form of organisations; practice “China Depth, Global Breadth” by remaining open to different cultures, markets and ways of thinking; turn innovation into capability through practice; and develop human leadership in the age of AI, noting that while AI can already write, code, analyse data, design and generate insights at extraordinary speed, it cannot lead.

Drawing on a 2026 McKinsey report on leadership in the age of AI, Prof. Bournois highlighted three distinctly human capabilities: Aspiration, Judgement, and Creativity. He stressed that while AI can be a powerful supporting tool, it can never take responsibility for the final outcome. “AI will be there to help you think, it will not be there instead of you.”

As machines and algorithms become more powerful, Prof. Bournois concluded, the human qualities of leadership will only become more valuable. The purpose of the MBA is therefore not simply to master today's management tools or established answers, but to prepare for challenges that have yet to emerge.

“Your task is not simply learning the answers that management has already discovered,” he concluded, “but preparing yourselves for the questions that management has not even yet learned to ask.”

CEIBS Co-President (European) Frank Bournois

Continuing the theme, faculty representative and Professor of Economics Ke Shaowei reflected on his own experience using AI for data analysis, observing that as AI can complete computations at extraordinary speed, human judgement struggles to keep pace. “The AI could complete each round far faster than I could fully understand and evaluate it,” he said. “In that process, producing a plausible analysis was no longer the bottleneck. The bottleneck was me.”

In an age when AI can easily generate vast quantities of answers, he went on to pose a further question about the relationship between people and technology: “Not what will AI never replace, but what must we keep doing for ourselves even when AI can help?”
In response, Prof. Ke identified three capabilities that cannot be delegated to any algorithm: the work of understanding, remaining open to being changed by other people, and taking responsibility for what happens next.

For students, this means resisting the temptation to equate receiving a convincing answer with understanding it. “Receiving a good answer is not the same as having good judgement,” he said, adding that while AI can help with analysis and generate strategies, the final decision still rests with people.

On staying open to others, he argued that judgement cannot develop alone, and that disagreement and genuine exchange between classmates are themselves part of the education. He encouraged students to engage with classmates capable of changing them, saying “Do not meet only the people who can help the person you already are. Meet those who may change the person you are becoming.”

Prof. Ke closed with a reminder of what leadership may increasingly require in the years ahead: “The world ahead will not be short of answers. It will need people who can be trusted with them.”

Professor of Economics Ke Shaowei

Students discuss connection, change and manifestation

Current student representative Navy Ni, MBA Class of 2027, then extended a heartfelt welcome to the incoming students by sharing three principles that have shaped his own CEIBS experience: Aligned, Connective, and Evolving (ACE).

Reflecting on his own experience of the MBA, he said: “Grades are not the ultimate reason you came here; you came here to see a bigger world.”
Reflecting on AI's impact on his own industry, Navy pointed out that “AI can replace my skill for financial statements, but it cannot replace my ability to rally people. AI can calculate faster than me, but it cannot replace my ability to read people's hearts. AI can answer all the questions, but it cannot replace my ability to ask the right questions.”

He encouraged the new students to define their own version of ACE through continuous learning, connection and self-discovery. “ACE was never about not making mistakes,” he said. “ACE is about aligning with yourself, connecting with others, and evolving continuously. You are already more than good enough. All that remains is to find your own ACE, and be your own ACE.”

Current MBA student representative Navy Ni 

Representing the incoming Full-time MBA Class of 2028, Monika Zvinklyte, the first Lithuanian student in CEIBS history, shared what first brought her to the school. No résumé, she reflected, can ever capture a full living person. “I'm here for knowledge and opportunity,” she said. “I'm also here for friction. The useful kind. The goal is not to leave with louder answers. It is to leave with better judgement.”

She then encouraged her classmates to break past their fixed labels and see one another's true selves: “We have already introduced who we have been. From today, we find out who we can become.”

Full-time MBA2028 student representative Monika Zvinklyte

Haoxuan Guo, representative of the inaugural Part-time MBA Shenzhen cohort, then shared his own journey — returning from the United States to Shenzhen to join his family's manufacturing business during its latest transformation.

Reflecting on what it means to inherit a family business, he said: “To me, ‘inheritance’ is not simply about taking over assets — it is a weighty responsibility: a responsibility to hundreds of employees, to clients and partners, and to the world that the previous generation built through sheer hard work.”

Grounded in his own experience, he offered this take on global vision: “I once thought that a global outlook simply meant going out to see New York. Now I realise that a truly global outlook means bringing the world back with you — bringing global standards and methods into China's manufacturing workshops, and then taking China-made brands out into the world.”

As a member of CEIBS' first Part-time MBA cohort, he declared with conviction: “We are the first class of the Shenzhen programme. There are no seniors to show us the way — that's fine. We'll be the ones to blaze the trail.”

Part-time MBA2026 Shenzhen Class student representative Haoxuan Guo

Why pursue an MBA in the age of AI?

Closing the ceremony, MBA Programme Director Zhang Lingling brought the discussion back to two fundamental questions. Why choose an MBA at CEIBS? And why choose an MBA in the age of AI?

Prof. Zhang noted that an MBA can help students understand business more systematically and open up new career possibilities, and that CEIBS offers students a distinctive opportunity to experience China's rapidly evolving economy and business environment firsthand. But beyond knowledge and opportunity, she argued, the deeper purpose of the CEIBS MBA is to help students become better learners.

She described this journey through three levels: learning how to learn, learning how to solve, and learning how to choose.

Learning how to learn is increasingly important, she said, because knowledge itself is becoming abundant. As AI makes information easier to generate and access, Prof. Zhang warned of what she called “AI indigestion,” stating that abundance alone does not create value. Students, she said, should work with AI while also creating their own learning agenda and learning anywhere, at any time — learning, unlearning, and relearning, and doing so quickly. CEIBS classrooms, the InnoLab entrepreneurship centre, teamwork and peer support are all valuable learning resources, she added. Citing an old Chinese saying that “when three people walk together, at least one of them can be my teacher”, she encouraged students to observe how the people around them learn, and to be open to letting their classmates, not just their faculty, teach them.

Learning how to solve, she went on to explain, means moving from knowledge to solutions. When mastering knowledge is no longer enough to set people apart, workable solutions become far more valuable. Prof. Zhang put it plainly: “We do not need more masters of PowerPoint. We need people who can move from PowerPoint to problem solving.” Real managerial problems, she noted, rarely arrive as neatly framed questions. Instead, they require understanding of context, separating symptoms from root causes and, more importantly, acting. She reminded students that complex problems cannot be solved by individual effort alone, and that the people around them will become valuable cross-industry and cross-border partners in the future.

Learning how to choose, she said, is the most difficult of all. Prof. Zhang pointed out that today’s generation of future business leaders is entering a world with “no answer sheet at the back of the book”, facing choices for which there is no best practice. AI may be able to compare the options, she said, but it cannot decide which trade-offs are worth making, and it cannot tell you what matters most in your life.

“What you need is not a perfect map. You need a lighthouse,” she said. This is because in a world changing too quickly for any map to remain reliable for long, yesterday's route may lead nowhere. Values and character provide that lighthouse, but they do not guarantee calm seas; they do, however, give leaders a point of orientation when the route is unclear. 

In closing, Prof. Zhang encouraged students to make full use of what the CEIBS community can offer them, and to become valuable contributors to that community in return. She wished them all a challenging, meaningful, and transformative journey ahead.

CEIBS MBA Programme Director Lingling Zhang

Two paths, one CEIBS journey

This year's ceremony marked the first time CEIBS has welcomed its Full-time and Part-time MBA students together, uniting two distinct learning paths in one community.

We hope that both the Full-time MBA Class of 2028 and the inaugural Part-time MBA Class of 2026 dare to break through the boundaries of what they know, inspire one another through cross-cultural and cross-industry exchange, seek knowledge in the classroom, forge real capability through practice, and stand by one another as they press forward together.