Kajang, July 14, 2025 – Day 2 of the KLUST Expert Talk Series (July 10th) delved into the critical challenges and transformative strategies shaping modern higher education. Two distinguished speakers offered powerful insights on adapting management education for the digital age and driving institutional leapfrog development.
Speaker 1: Prof. Dr. Du Pengcheng (Anhui University) – “ Developing Practice-Oriented Teaching and Management Case Studies for Business and Management Disciplines in the Digital Era”
Prof. Dr. Du Pengcheng outlined the profound challenges the Digital Intelligence Era poses to management education, emphasizing the crucial cycle of “Knowing” (Theory) and “Doing” (Practice) enabled by digital tools like AI and Big Data, while identifying significant faculty challenges (digital literacy gaps, weakened interaction, training deficiencies, ethical concerns) and student struggles (theory-practice gap, resource scarcity, over-reliance on tech hindering critical thinking, weak interdisciplinary skills).
To address these, Prof. Dr. Du detailed Anhui University’s innovative “Knowing-Doing Unity” system, featuring Three-Classroom Integration (restructured curricula with courses like Big Data Analytics, national labs for virtual/hybrid learning, and cross-disciplinary competitions/entrepreneurship), a smart National Platform (Economics & Management Experimental Teaching Center with specialized labs), Industry & Cross-Disciplinary Synergy (partnerships with firms like Gujinggong Liquor and Haier for case studies, training, and forums), and Rigorous Case Development (award-winning examples like Gujing’s Digital Transformation).
This systemic reform yielded significant results, including high student competition success, strong graduate satisfaction, national top-tier program/curriculum recognitions, and prestigious teaching awards, providing a replicable blueprint for practical management education reform.
Speaker 2: Professor Dr. Hong Chengwen “Leapfrog Development in Higher Education: Vision, Strategy, and Resource Integration”
Prof. Dr. Hong addressed the ambitious goal of achieving “Leapfrog Development” – rapid, non-linear advancement for universities – emphasizing three essential pillars: establishing a bold, future-oriented institutional vision that transcends incremental improvement; developing focused, innovative, and agile Strategies to achieve transformative goals, potentially involving niche excellence, disruptive pedagogy, or novel research; and mastering the strategic alignment and efficient Resource Integration of all institutional assets – financial, human (faculty/staff/talent), physical (infrastructure, tech), intellectual (research, IP), and partnerships (industry, government, international) – by breaking down silos to create synergies that fuel exponential growth.
This talk underscored that leapfrog development requires more than just resources; it demands visionary leadership, courageous strategic choices, and the seamless integration of diverse capabilities to propel an institution rapidly ahead of traditional development curves. Day 2 highlighted a common thread: adaptation and bold transformation are non-negotiable for modern universities. Prof. Du provided a concrete roadmap for revolutionizing practical management education through technology integration, industry collaboration, and systemic curricular reform. Meanwhile, Prof. Hong challenged institutions to think bigger, advocating for visionary strategies and integrated resource mobilization to achieve rapid, significant advancement. Together, these talks offered KLUST and its audience vital perspectives on navigating the future of higher education excellence.
