2022 National Business Elite Challenge in International Trade, University Category, was Successfully Held at University of Shanghai for Science and Technology

Updated：2022-05-03

On May 1, the 2022 National Business Elite Challenge in International Trade, university category, (hereinafter referred to as the School Competition), hosted by the Academic Affairs Office of USST and undertaken by the Department of International Trade of the USST -BS, was successfully held. Due to the COVID-19, the school competition originally scheduled as an offline event was changed to an online. The event has never been held online before. A total of 139 students comprising 19 teams participated in the event. The scale of the competition is unprecedented.

The National Business Elite Challenge in International Trade, is jointly sponsored by the Business Industry Branch of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, the China Chamber of International Commerce Business Industry Chamber of Commerce and the China Convention Event Society. Since 2021, the competition has been listed in subject competition rankings (registration number: 46) published by the China Association of Higher Education for the first time. It is the only international trade professional event in the current list of subject competition rankings.

The guests and judges who attended this school competition were：Zhang Guoqing, Deputy Director of Academic Affairs Office，Zhang Yongqing, Vice Dean of the Business School，Zhang Zheng, Vice Dean of USST-BS, Luo Fang, Director of the Department of International Trade of USST-BS,Wei Jingfu, a Professor of the Department of International Trade of the Business School，He Wen, Secretary of the Party Branch of the Department of International Trade of USST-BS，Shu Yiming, Director of the Academic Affairs Office of USST-BS, Tang Qiao, Lai Hongbo, Pan Lingying, Han Bing, Yang Le, etc., teachers of the Department of International Trade of USST-BS. The competition also invited Li Zhongjie, the general manager of Unilever China's beauty category business, and Zhu Yan, the senior manager of Gap international procurement, as corporate judges. The opening ceremony was presided over by Qin Bingtao, Deputy Director of the International Trade Department of USST-BS.

At the opening ceremony, Zhang Guoqing, Deputy Director of the Academic Affairs Office, delivered a speech. He first extended a warm welcome to all teachers and students for the online gathering. He said that due to the sudden outbreak of the COVID-19 and “stay at home，dynamic zero-COVID policy”，it was more difficult to organize competitions, and offline competitions could not be realized. However, in order to actively respond to the school's call of “suspending classes without teaching, and without stopping learning”, teachers and students overcame various difficulties, redesigned and optimized the competition process, transferred offline competitions to online, and used high-tech means to gather in the cloud. It is also an innovative attempt.

Subsequently, Zhang Zheng, the Vice Dean of USST-BS, delivered a speech. He reviewed the training process of the Business School for the school competition, and summed up the valuable experience of teachers from the Department of International Trade leading the team to participate in the competition for several years. He said that due to the impact of the COVID-19, this year's online school competition is facing unprecedented challenges, and the competition opportunity during the epidemic is rare. He hoped that the students will innovate and compete to be the first to show the youthful demeanor of contemporary college students, and contribute to economic construction and development.

He Wen, Secretary of the Party Branch of the Department of International Trade of USST-BS and Chen Chuaning, a 19th-level international trade major, swore an oath on behalf of all the judges and students, promising that all the judges would uphold the principles of fairness and impartiality, conscientiously perform their duties as judges, and ensure the smooth progress of this school competition. All students respect their opponents and judges, and show their level, style and results with a positive and full spirit.

Qin Bingtao, a Vice Director of the International Trade Department of the USST-BS, announced the official start of the competition. The product launch session of the school competition started at 13:30 and lasted until 17:30, lasting four hours. Although the format of the competition was changed to online, it brought certain difficulties to product display and team cooperation. However, the enthusiasm of the players did not diminish, and each team continued to make breakthroughs. The well-made videos, fluent spoken English, and contagious narration fully demonstrated the students' enthusiasm for the competition and their desire to win, and also left a deep impression on the judges.

After the competition, Li Zhongjie, the general manager of Unilever China's beauty category business, and Zhu Yan, senior manager of international procurement of Gap (Gap), were invited to comment on the performance of the contestants in the product launch session. Li Zhongjie said that at the press conference, we should pay attention to consumers and product prices. When commenting, Zhu Yan said that it is necessary to pay more attention to the value of the product itself, to find out the differences between similar competing products, and to explore the value of the product from the perspective of customers.

Afterwards, the school teacher judges Tang Qiao, Han Bing, Lai Hongbo and Pan Lingying gave targeted guidance and comments to each team. They agreed that each participating team should learn more about the laws and regulations of different trade zones and pay attention to the characteristics of the products themselves, so as to choose the appropriate way of product presentation.

Finally, Luo Fang, Director of the International Trade Department of the USST-BS, made a closing summary of the school competition. She first expressed her heartfelt gratitude to the judges and guests for being able to overcome the epidemic to participate in this competition. At the same time, she said that due to the online format, the preparation was full of uncertainties, but the introductions about products by each team were able to combine the virtual and real, exhibiting great creativity in the competition. Their efforts offline have paid off as shown in the perfect performance on the scene. Finally, she hopes that the winning teams would achieve higher in municipal and national competitions.

In this competition, four teams won the special prize, six teams won the first prize, and nine teams won the second prize.

Photo 1: