Talent reform is essential to foster development of various industries in the Guangdong-Hong Kong- Macao Greater Bay Area (Greater Bay Area). The recently founded GBA Business School is taking an active role in connecting the academics, public, and private organizations in the area, so as to nurture excellent corporate leaders for the Greater Bay Area.
According to the List of Sought- After Talent Categories in Greater Bay Area (Mainland) published by the Department of Labor and Social Security of Guangdong Province in August 2021, more than 330,000 talents are needed. Amongst them, the sectors of finance, scientific research and technology service, as well as education and training are in urgent need of talents who have at least completed their undergraduate studies.
Talents in high demand in Greater Bay Area
Andrew Chan, The President of GBA Business School, is a specialist in strategic marketing and cross-cultural marketing. The seasoned educator has witnessed the changes in the market’s demand for academic talents. “The Greater Bay Area has a wide geographic coverage, and its regional GDP is comparable to that of the Tokyo Bay Area, the San Francisco Bay Area and the New York Bay Area. The market is huge and there is pressing need for talents to support its growth”.
The recently founded GBA Business School aims at coordinating all sectors to nurture leaders to promote the continuous development of the Greater Bay Area. Committed to developing business leaders with an international perspective, the School hopes to create momentum to the region’s commerce and trade development.
According to Chan, the School has already signed memoranda of understanding with the Guangdong- Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Entrepreneurs’ Alliance, Cyberport and other related organizations. It envisions to connect with more collaborators and act as a “super bridge” to coordinate various sectors and converge talents. “In the future, we will gradually organize executive certificate or diploma programs, as well as MBA, EMBA and DBA courses. Our students will be mainly recruited from working professionals.”
Theories and practices in action
Although the highly international business environment of Hong Kong is supported by its sound legal system and extensive business network, “the expensive land in Hong Kong and a limited domestic market are both unfavorable for the long-term development of the overall economy. By working with other Greater Bay Area cities and by complementing each other’s strengths, synergy can be generated from multi-direction cooperation,” said Chan.
Chan further explained that the teaching materials and the curriculum of the Business School will be adjusted according to current market circumstances; both theories and practices will be emphasized. Leaders from different sectors of the society are invited to share their real-life experience. In addition, instructors are all entrepreneurs or market leaders with relevant industrial and academic experiences. Thus, they can teach and share practical knowledge from the industry and the development roadmap.
Diversified entrepreneurial platform
“Unlike traditional institutes, we place a lot of importance on the relationship between instructors and students. They learn from each other and grow together. We encourage them to codevelop creative ideas or products, such that instructors who already have a stronghold in their sectors could guide less-experienced students who are yet to develop their own networks to transform creativity into practice. They can work together to marketize innovation and to create actual products out of ideas.” Chan said that the Business School will also link up students who are starting their own businesses with potential investors such that innovative products could be rolled out to the market.
Chan emphasized that innovation and entrepreneurializm are both dependent on the facilitation and coordination from the industries, the academia, the research community and other sectors, which could help create an encouraging social atmosphere for innovation. The GBA Business School looks forward to acting as the platform that connects different sectors and to grooming excellent entrepreneurs and building new businesses for the growth of the Greater Bay Area.
