On the evening of June 18th, The University of Manchester China Centre hosted a successful Global MBA Student Summer Mixer in Shanghai. Graduates, current students, and newcomers from different cohorts spent an unforgettable evening of networking and celebration.

The China Centre's Founding Director, Ms. Sherry Fu, delivered a heartfelt welcome address to the attendees. Expressing her excitement, she noted the pleasure of connecting with both familiar and new faces at the social event. With over 33,000 University of Manchester alumni across Beijing, Shanghai, and other major cities in China, the China Centre has been instrumental in supporting the growth and engagement of nearly 3,000 alumni and current students since its establishment in 2008.

Ms. Fu encouraged graduates and students to actively participate in the high-quality events organized by the Centre, which include opportunities for career development, engaging in high-level dialogues, gaining industry insights, and joining events hosted by more than ten alumni clubs.

Global MBA Programme Director Mr Xavier Duran was glad to share pivotal updates from Alliance Manchester Business School and extended his congratulations to the latest cohort of graduates for their transformative journey. Speaking at the event, Mr. Duran highlighted the multifaceted support provided by AMBS and emphasized the development of essential MBA skills such as communication, collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, and confidence. He encouraged the graduates and current students to not only acquire the necessary career skills to survive but to excel in the ever-changing business landscape. Mr. Duran expressed his satisfaction with the positive feedback received from students and was particularly impressed by their academic achievements.

As July approaches, it is anticipated that approximately 15% of the Global MBA students will be awarded the prestigious "Distinction" recognition. To recognise their academic excellence, China Centre conferred awards “Graduates with Distinction”, “Student Service Award” and “Best Student Award” to 6 graduates who came to the centre. The Director of International Development at The University of Manchester Mr Richard Cotton, joined Ms Sherry Fu and Mr Xavier Duran in presenting those awards. The recipients of these honours shared their profound experiences and the insights gained from the Global MBA programme, reflecting on their enriching learning journey.

When asked how the Manchester MBA degree transformed her personal life, Yuwen Xu commented that her relationship with her daughter improved since she started this programme. She wanted to act as a role model to encourage her daughter to overcome difficulties in her studies and keep good learning habits.

When asked about his favourite and most challenging course, Choon Ann Toh answered that Negotiation Skills are the most useful and practical, which has taught him to optimize his strategic decision-making process.

Regarding the learning points of Live Business Project, Ping Ge shared that it is very important to make the project topic interesting and find the right members, which will reduce the difficulties of running a project. Voon Ping Teng shared that collaboration is important in the project, and he emphasised the importance of being a good leader and each member can be empowered to be the leader from different aspects.

When talking about the difficulty of becoming Graduate with Distinction, Dan Mao, the best student shared that she did not expect to graduate with this honour in the beginning, and the success all owes to both group work and personal efforts. This view is also agreed by Hanjun Gao who finds difficulty in balancing studies, work and life balance, but it turns out to be worthwhile to invest all the efforts.

The application of original thinking is at the heart of everything Alliance Manchester Business School does. At the end of the event, the crowd called out “Original Thinking Applied” hoping to achieve greater success and leap forward in the future. This event underscored AMBS's commitment to fostering an environment where original thinking is not only encouraged but also applied to achieve significant strides in the business world.