To kick off the new year, Hitotsubashi ICS entered into an alliance agreement with Guanghua School of Management of Peking University and the College of Business Administration & Graduate School of Business of Seoul National University to create what is to be known as the BEST Business School Alliance

Hitotsubashi ICS Dean Christina Ahmadjian was in Beijing on January 10, 2011, for the signing ceremony.

The objective of the Alliance is to facilitate full-fledged research and educational cooperation between these three prominent business schools, which are located in the capital cities of China, Japan, and South Korea. The idea of this business school partnership was born out the Trilateral Cooperation Vision 2020 that was jointly created by the governments of China, Japan, and South Korea in May 2010 to explore cooperative partnerships between the three countries, which are increasingly becoming the center of the world economy.

The BEST Business School Alliance provides a platform for business leaders, academicians, and students in these three nations to develop a deeper understanding in each other’s economy, business, society, and culture, as well as other important business-related aspects that are unique to the partner countries.

To do this, the Alliance will feature joint educational collaboration in degree and non-degree programs and opportunities to produce cutting-edge, world-class research in business and management. Some of these activities include student exchange programs, dual degree programs, study tours of partner schools, faculty and staff exchanges, and research collaboration through joint research activities and publications, as well as an annual joint research symposium. Where possible, the partner schools will also exchange academic and administrative information and materials in areas of mutual interest.

Dean Christina Ahmadjian considers this alliance “an epoch-making agreement, which really reflects how much the center of global business is shifting to Asia. In the past decades, top Asian business schools were so busy forming partnerships with U.S. and European schools that we did not really look in our own neighborhood. It is clear now that we have as much to learn from our colleagues in East Asia. China and Korea are among Japan’s most important business partners, and that relationship will only strengthen in the future. I hope that through the BEST Alliance, we can do even more to focus our MBA teaching and research around developing global leaders for Japan, Asia, and the world.”