High-Quality International Cooperation Calls for Sound Capability Building
"Go global or go home" has become a consensus across many industries and enterprises. As an institute dedicated to cultivating managerial talents for enterprises, our school is equally bound by this principle amid China’s pursuit of building a powerful education nation. A country without international educational influence can hardly be deemed an education powerhouse; nor can an institute with shallow international partnerships secure global influence. This is why we regard global expansion as one of the three core strategic tasks for our institutional development. Undoubtedly, delivering tangible outcomes in high-quality international cooperation will be a mandatory goal for our institute during the 15th Five-Year Plan period.
High-quality international cooperation is never limited to one-way learning and reference, nor a simple supply-demand relationship. Instead, it features in-depth interaction and collaborative co-creation between partners to jointly generate new value with strategic significance. To improve the feasibility and outcomes of such cooperation, we must forge the following five core capabilities:
First, theoretical capability. Theoretical capability refers to the capacity to propose concepts, conduct reasoning and demonstration, and analyze social development trends together with their rationales and practical value. Cooperation without theoretical guidance is bound to be blind and speculative. Against new circumstances and evolving trends, sustainable and influential high-quality international cooperation requires innovative theories on international collaboration. Only advanced theories can sustain our leading practices. We need to develop our institute’s unique theories for international cooperation to consolidate our commitment to global collaboration and strike a chord with both existing and potential partners.
Second, design capability. International cooperation is a complex systematic project. High-quality collaboration hinges not only on shared value recognition between both sides, but also on respective policy contexts, teaching and research foundations, social talent demands, cooperative project planning, roles, responsibilities and benefit distribution, as well as the mitigation of legal and cultural conflicts. Defective design of these elements and their internal relations will lead to inherent flaws in cooperation that can hardly be remedied afterward. Sound international cooperation must occupy a core position in each partner’s strategic layout. Confining ourselves to a self-centered ivory tower will never cultivate such design capability. Hence, we must thoroughly study relevant policies and strengthen coordination with all stakeholders.
Third, delivery capability. Theories and plans without practical value verification are empty and illusory. It is easy to make hollow comments, yet difficult to take solid action and deliver results. Beyond disciplinary expertise, delivery capability also encompasses foreign language proficiency, communication, interpersonal collaboration, negotiation and project management. These qualities differ greatly from academic research competencies. To implement high-quality international cooperation, faculty members must continuously strengthen such capabilities. High-quality international cooperation highlights joint creation and shared benefits. Creation precedes sharing. It is never true value co-creation to set prices or even ask for payment before taking action. To realize effective value delivery, teachers must be willing to invest time and effort upfront. We always uphold the principle of ensuring selfless contributors receive due recognition and support, but dedication always comes first.
Fourth, narrative capability. As a saying goes: “Working without communication makes one clumsy; talking without action makes one hollow; only integrating action with proper expression proves real professionalism.” This fully proves that narrative capability is indispensable to high-quality international cooperation. A common issue in international exchanges remains: grammatically correct and error-free English expressions still fail to convey our core intentions to foreign partners. The implicit cultural logic inherent in Chinese expression is often incomprehensible to overseas counterparts. High-quality international cooperation requires in-depth integration and mutual social influence. Current practices of internationalization are still superficial and far from this standard. We must shift from superficial, form-oriented internationalization to substantive, globally oriented internationality. As an old adage goes, “Refined expression enables lasting influence.” Our course names and website content should meet genuine global standards rather than superficial internationalized formats, so that we can display and promote our cooperative achievements in line with international norms.
Fifth, standardization capability. High-quality cooperation is like a long-term marriage rather than a momentary wedding. Long-term operation and maintenance leave little room for romance, but require firm commitment to shared values and consistent accountability. Standardization-based procedural management and lean operation guarantee the scalable development of cooperation. Just as a marriage concerns more than two people, international cooperation involves far more than bilateral parties. In long-term collaboration, multiple stakeholders will be involved, along with emerging opportunities and ongoing challenges. When quantitative changes evolve into qualitative changes, outdated cooperation models will be phased out, and new operational mechanisms will be launched.
High-quality international cooperation relies not only on trend perception, but also on sound strategic awareness and tactical capability. In an era of high uncertainty, the core strengths for our institute’s sustainable development lie neither in traditional learning capability nor tempting innovative capability. Traditional learning falls victim to path dependence and cannot adapt to new-era demands, while excessive innovation suffers from poor controllability and cannot sustain steady institutional growth. Our core competitiveness lies in cooperating with high-level partners. We must move beyond narrow supply-chain thinking and build a complete value co-creation system. Through the iterative upgrading of these five core capabilities, we will advance the high-quality development of international cooperation and contribute to building China into an education powerhouse.
