From Sept. 15 to Sept. 22, the 2018 training program of integrated management courses for MBA candidates of the German Advanced Institute of Economics was held at SAI. It was the twelfth year the German Advanced Institute of Economics sent its MBA candidates to SAI for training. Accompanied by the directors of Foreign Affairs Division and Training Division, Vice President ZENG Jun met the members of the training group and attended the closing ceremony, at which he got the feedback on their experiences of the training and issued certificates of completion to them.

At the opening ceremony, Professor Peter Ruckmann, the head of the German training group, made a speech on behalf of all the trainees. He thanked SAI for the considerate arrangements for the training session, and said that he was very glad to visit SAI again. It has been 12 years since the program was launched. Both sides have been enjoying a pleasant cooperation. Although the trainees are very young, many of them are already managers at the intermediate level or above in their companies. Some of them already had some basic ideas about China before they came here. The training aims to help them gain deeper and more comprehensive insights about different aspects of China, including politics, economy, culture and society.

At the closing ceremony speech, ZENG Jun remarked that after hearing their feedback on the training session, he was happy to learn that it proved to be a rewarding journey for the trainees. As the old Chinese saying goes, “to see is to believe”. All the trainees had come all the way from Germany to study and live in Shanghai for a week. They stayed here only for a short time, but still they gained an objective understanding of modern China and Shanghai and saw with their own eyes the development and progress of China (especially Shanghai). Shanghai is an epitome of China. However, there are still many underdeveloped places in China, and China lags behind Germany in many areas. We need to make further improvements to catch up. If there is any imperfection in the arrangement and implementation of the training session, we believe that we will to do better in the future and you can be assured of that. Welcome to China and welcome to study at SAI again.”

The training session focused on several topics including economic & social development, political & cultural construction, etc. and was in progress with three kinds of forms, namely, lecture, training on-the-spot and discussion panel. Apart from attending lectures such as Chinese traditional culture, contemporary Chinese political system, Chinese automobile industry, Chinas economic situation, and “The Belt and Road” Initiative, the trainees also went to the Chinese Wushu Museum to experience the charm of Chinese martial arts, visited the Yangshan Deepwater Port Phase IV Unmanned Terminal to learn about the construction of major projects, visited the National Intelligent Networking Vehicle Demonstration Site (Shanghai) to learn about the development and innovation in China’s automotive and self-driving industries, and visited Shanghai PartnerX Robotics Co., Ltd. to experience the development of artificial intelligence. It is also worth mentioning that a seminar was added to enable our young teachers to further interact with German trainees and exchange with them ideas on political, economic, cultural and social development points, and to help dispel their confusion during their stay in Shanghai. The atmosphere was lively and the trainees raised questions enthusiastically, which was highly instrumental to the exchange of ideas and thoughts between Chinese and German youth and promoted mutual understanding between the two sides.

The trainees were greatly impressed by this training session, saying that, “we learned so much in such a short period of time. All the lecturers discussed with us various issues in an open-minded way, giving us a general idea of Chinese culture, China’s economic development and many other aspects. Now we have a clearer and fuller understanding of China as well as the differences and similarities between China and Germany”; “SAI arranged everything properly. Theories and practices are well combined. We spent a great and unforgettable time studying and living here” “Hopefully, there will be more such activities to enhance the ties between China and Germany.”