Delivering on one of the Ivey Asia Working Group recommendations, we completed an inventory of our relationships and connections in each region of Asia and prioritized countries based on our depth of engagement. Doing so helped us focus on the countries where we have broad, reciprocal, and meaningful relationships that can be nurtured and where there is potential to increase our engagement in alignment with Ivey Next.

The countries that have been prioritized in Asia include China, with a focus on Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area; Singapore; and India. As a starting point, the focus is on our operational base in Hong Kong where Ivey benefits from 25+ years of experience.

This data-informed view will guide our assessments of regions where we can expand our relationships, regions we will continue to watch, regions where we can support management education environments, and regions that are not ideal for partnerships today. This same prioritized country approach will be applied to other continents and will inform our international partnership efforts.

Ivey is proud to be taking the lead on several initiatives that are focused on advancing management education globally or promoting responsible business on issues of global concern. In June 2023, Ivey Professor Tima Bansal was appointed Chair of the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) Board, a United Nations initiative that aims to embed sustainability principles within business curriculum worldwide. Additionally, Ivey’s Network for Business Sustainability co-hosted the 2023 PRME Global Forum and Responsible Management Education Week activities. Lyn Purdy, Ivey’s Associate Dean, Programs, also recently became Chair of the Quality Assurance Committee for CEMS, a global alliance of leading business schools, multinational companies, and NGOs that together offer the CEMS Master in International Management.

Ivey’s membership with the Future of Management Education (FOME), a global alliance of business schools collaborating on online learning, has continued and, in this past year, FOME has added new partner schools to further propel this work. Ivey staff and faculty members are well-represented in the committee leadership of this progressive alliance.

Ivey Publishing continues to make significant strides in advancing global management education. This year, Ivey Publishing renewed and expanded the scope of its successful partnership agreement with CEIBS (China Europe International Business School) in China. In February 2024, it co-hosted its second case conference with The Case Hub at the American University of Beirut. The event fosters networking and professional development opportunities for case writers and educators. Additionally, in April 2024, Ivey Publishing sponsored the African Case Study Conference 2024 in partnership with the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) Case Study Hub, pioneering African perspectives in case studies.

In 2023, Western University created the new role of vice-provost and associate vice-president international, currently held by Lily Cho. This appointment has led to Ivey working more closely with Western to enrich the global experiences available to our students. Evidence of this integration is that 23 of the 90 HBA students who went on an international exchange this past year also completed Western’s Global and Intercultural Engagement certificate program. This designation required students to take special courses and intercultural engagement and training as well as demonstrate language proficiency. At the fall 2023 convocation ceremony, they were recognized as global-ready graduates with this designation. We have also organized HBA exchange fairs to showcase international learning opportunities and are working on creating new marketing materials to promote these offerings at home and to students abroad who join us for exchange experiences. In 2023, we added a new offering to HBAs: The International Summer University Programme in Copenhagen, Denmark. Ivey students who participated in the six-week program at Copenhagen Business School last summer earned a half credit upon completing the course.

The Ivey International Business Club, in collaboration with the Western and Ivey Alumni Network Hong Kong Chapter, organized a five-day Global Career Trek in Hong Kong during Spring Reading Week. The goal was to showcase career opportunities in Hong Kong and hear about alumni’s experience working abroad. Altogether 20 Ivey and Western students participated in the opportunity to visit 10 firms, including Google Hong Kong, Alibaba, and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. In addition, 50 HBA students explored career opportunities in the U.K. through a Global Career Trek hosted by Ivey Career Management and the HBA Program Office during Spring Reading Week.

Part of our strategy work includes championing a global citizenship community initiative in each continent. For Asia, we’ve chosen Ivey’s 39 Country Initiative, which aims to improve access to quality management education teaching materials for universities in the world’s poorest countries. The initiative continued to make progress this past year. In October 2023, Ivey shipped 12 tons of books, journals, case course packs, readings, and cases to the University of Chittagong in Chittagong, Bangladesh. In November 2023, Ivey Professor Paul Beamish, HBA ’76, PhD ’84, founder of the 39 Country Initiative, was a guest on the SLU International Business Now: Conversations that Matter podcast, and discussed the initiative’s needs going forward.

Ivey students participating in LEADER (Leading Education and Development in Emerging Regions), a longstanding student-led international economic development program, recently explored a potential partnership with the Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Agricultural Mechanization Engineers in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Current partner sites are located in India, Nepal, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Vietnam.