Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB) successfully hosted the 2025 Western China MBA Professor Training Program in collaboration with the China National MBA Education Supervisory Committee and Shantou University School of Business on December 17 and 18, 2025. 64 professors from over 40 universities in China nationwide, mostly western China, attended this annual training.
Since 2007, CKGSB has been aspiring to address the pressing disparities in management education between eastern and western China with its MBA professor training program. As of 2025, the program has trained around 700 professors from 164 universities across 22 provinces, 4 autonomous regions, 4 direct-administered municipalities in China, indirectly impacting tens of thousands of MBA students.
This year’s training centered on management behavioral science and featured a lecture delivered by Prof. Christopher Hsee (Kaiyuan), Distinguished Professor of Marketing and Academic Director of the DBA Program at CKGSB. Professor Hsee provided in-depth analysis of nine pairs of contrasting thinking patterns with extensive real-world cases to help participating professors distinguish between “normal” and “rational” decision-making, and to translate behavioral decision theory into classroom teaching practice.
Recognizing the diverse backgrounds of the participants, Wang Neng, Dean’s Distinguished Chair Professor of Finance and Senior Associate Dean at CKGSB, delivered a keynote address on the challenges and opportunities in a transforming world during the opening session. Drawing on perspectives from global inequality, debt dynamics, geopolitics, and artificial intelligence—while referencing cases from the United States and Singapore—Professor Wang offered a comprehensive analysis of global uncertainties and insights into strategic decision-making in management education.
Participants widely reflected that the training was well-structured, rich in case studies, and packed with insights that are closely relevant to their MBA teaching scenarios. “It was very enlightening. I gained insights that I had little exposure to before,” noted Liu Lihua, a participating professor from the Northwestern Polytechnical University in China. Many professors expressed their willingness to apply these concepts and methodologies to their future teaching, and even refine their curriculum design, so as to enhance students’ understanding of decision-making in real-world managerial contexts.
