Rolf Mirus

Professor Emeritus , University of Alberta

Former Program Director

Canada-China Management Education Program and

Canada-China Higher Education Program Linkage with XJTU

I was privileged to meet and work with then Dean Wang in the cooperation between the School of Management of XJTU and the School of Business of the University of Alberta (UofA). This cooperation was funded by the Government of Canada with in-kind contributions by XJTU under two separate frameworks, the Canada-China Management Education Project (CCMEP) and the Canada-China Higher Education Program (CCHEP). The CCMEP involved seven other leading Chinese universities and lasted from 1983 to about 1991. The CCHEP continued until 2001 and involved fewer institutions from both countries.

Dean Wang was the driving force in China behind the development of the CCMEP. His understanding of China's need for more management education was at the root of successful negotiations with selected Canadian institutions regarding the subjects and the practical details.

XJTU and the UofA continue to cooperate to this day, with a significant impact not only on the development of XJTU's Management School, but on Management Education and especially Research in all of China. In the early years of the cooperation Dean Wang made several visits to Canada, monitored progress of these programs, and adjusted the program to China's emerging needs. Dean Wang's leadership led to XJTU organizing a major international conference to share experiences among the partners, with Economics Nobel Prize awardee Herbert Simon as the keynote speaker.

The XJTU-UofA linkage started in 1983 with three Canadian professors teaching MBA-courses in Xi'an. Then three Chinese students began their MBAs at the U of A, while Dean Wang initiated the development of XJTU's own MBA-Program. Concurrent with these developments, he selected young faculty members for 6 months- to one-year-long research visits to Canada, fostering staff development at the School of Management and the extension of its library. As a result, new fields of study were introduced to China, such as Management of the Environment and Entrepreneurship.

As a nationally renowned scholar and PhD-thesis supervisor Dean Wang then was instrumental in the creation of a joint Canada-China PhD-Program in management fields. Joint international supervision of graduate students was a unique initiative at the time and valuable practical lessons were learned.

Dean Wang’s vision, therefore, made XJTU a leader in Management Education and Research, evidenced by high rankings, not just domestically but globally. His contributions to China's management education were subsequently recognized by the award of Fellowship of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Dean Wang’s influence lives on in the work of the scholars, managers, and public officials he selected for study in Canada or supervised. Their impact is evident all over China.

Among the far more than 100 who came to Canada from XJTU, and partner schools in Chongqing and Chengdu, - plus the much larger number who participated in the joint programs in China, there are now the Governor of Shanxi Province, at least five presidents or deans at Chinese universities, the CEO of a major bank in SAR HK, and a large number of academic, government and business leaders across China. My knowledge is incomplete, but I can point to Professor Xiang Bing, a nationally known scholar who was the first Chinese graduate of the MBA- and PhD-programs at the UofA, and there is Professor Xi Youmin, President of XJT-Liverpool University, who obtained his PhD under Dean Wang's supervision and was a post-doctoral visiting scholar in Canada. And I have met several impressive graduates of XJTU's MBA-Program who are in significant leadership positions in Shenzhen.

Our two institutions therefore have continued to work together for mutual benefit to this day, jointly staffing Master of Financial Management (MFM) programs in Shenzhen and Shanghai. These programs are successful and self-supporting, with close to 200 executives currently enrolled. Participating Canadian teachers share their knowledge in China and return with a better understanding of its people and culture. The Chinese managers are connected to international practices in Accounting and Finance. The future will also bring research collaborations, strengthening the already vibrant international dimension of XJTU’s School of Management. Research was Dean Wang’s key focus: he laid the foundation of our ongoing and future partnership. His foresight has made XJTU the leader in Management Education and Research that it now is.

But it is not only memories of the professional interaction with Professor Wang that I would like to share. Personal friendships with his colleagues at Jiao Da and two of his first PhD students will always remind me of him. While he was always matter-of-fact and to-the-point in our meetings and negotiations regarding the “who, when, how, and how much” of our programs, he also had the skill to engage very young people and capture their attention.This is a side of him that our older son, Benjamin, affectionately recalls.

In 1991, when he was in sixth grade of elementary school, China was a major topic in the curriculum of Alberta’s schools. At a time when professors Li Huaizu and Wang Ying Luo were in Edmonton for a cooperative programming session, they agreed to talk about China to the 6th graders, helping the teacher by bringing their expertise into the classroom. Benjamin recalls that it was "a real fun"-class, with lots of learning and laughter". In this way Professor Wang Ying Luo now lives on in yet another generation, and in Canada!