The decades since the reform and opening-up have seen a great increase in China's economy, which is indispensable to high-level business education. However, current economic transformation and upgrades have made a major impact on the development of Chinese business schools. Most business schools around the country are faced with problems of how to improve business education and what innovations should be made in EMBA education.

To answer these questions the 2016 Salon for Deans of Business Schools was jointly organized by International Business School (IBS) of UIBE and a website called Business Schools at the Administration Building, UIBE on May 10, 2016. With the theme of "a review and outlook of business schools", this salon invited deans and deputy deans from 30 celebrated educational institutions to discuss the transformation of Chinese business schools and its future development in the context of the New Normal. This salon is jointly held by Wang Yonggui, Dean of IBS, UIBE and Meng Ge, Chief Editor of Business Schools.

At the beginning of the salon, Zhang Xinmin, Vice President of UIBE delivered an opening speech, saying that the internal construction of business schools needs to be improved despite quick development and large funds. Looking ahead into the future development of business schools, we need more confidence which in return derives from the self-construction both in curriculum and teaching faculty. Mr Zhang emphasized that although everyone talks about respects for educational rules and disciplinary construction rules, it is the deans of business schools who have the final say. Therefore deans of business schools should grasp these rules.

During the six-and-a-half-hour salon, the attendees had a heated discussion about the future development of business schools.

Wang Chongming, former Dean of School of Management, Zhejiang University, said that there are several urgent missions for EMBA education to complete. The first one is to optimize the entire educational system of management, including undergraduate courses design, with the emphasis on integrating team-oriented courses as an innovative point in the context of knowledge becoming more group-oriented and more virtual. The second one is to establish distinctive courses and connect them with advantageous disciplines. The third one is to encourage students exchange more with the outside world in the context of the internationalization stepping into a new stage.

According to Chen Yubo, Deputy Dean of School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University, EMBA education is currently faced with two major challenges. The first challenge is economic transformation and upgrades. The second challenge in front of Chinese business schools is a completely different market circumstance shaped by innovation and entrepreneurship. A key to the response to these challenges is cultivating internationalized leaders with global visions and incorporating innovation and entrepreneurship into education.

Wang Yonggui, Dean of IBS, said that the transformation of business schools should keep up with market needs. Business schools have developed in the same way with the economic development, growing from scratch to a rising period and to a bottleneck period. That is why business schools need transformation and innovation. Similar to China's economy, business schools should adapt themselves to basic rules although there is not a universal direction for them to follow. Mr Wang emphasized that the internationalization of business schools is only a method not a goal.

The construction of business schools should focus on advantageous courses and comply with China's economic circumstances and market performance. Successful business operations of domestic enterprises can be used as cases analyzed in domestic and even international EMBA classes.