Founded in 1984 as the China-EC Management School (CEMI), based in Beijing, CEIBS took on a new character, name and location when it moved to Shanghai 10 years later.
A partnership agreement between the Chinese government and the European Commission led to the establishment of the new, transplanted institution as a joint enterprise of the European Foundation for Management Development and Jing Tao University, Shanghai as the first Chinese business school with its own campus. It is located in the Pudong district.
Billing itself as "the best business school in China", with the slogan of "Chinese Depth, Global Breadth" and a vision termed as "Linking East and West", CEIBS is accredited by AACSB and EQUIS.
The Pudong campus doubled in size by the third stage of its development in 2013. CEIBS returned to Beijing with the opening of a campus in Zhonguangam Software Park in 2010. It also has a presence in Shenzhen and in 2015 purchased the Lorange Institute of Business in Zurich, creating the Zurich Institute of Business Education.
It has also developed a strong relationship with Africa, offering courses for government officials and business executives in Accra from 2008 and creating the first executive MBA offered by a Chinese school in Africa at its campus in the Ghanaian capital the following year.
Recently-created offers in Africa also include a part-time Global EMBA spread across 20 months and the Women’s Entrepreneurship and Leadership Africa Programme, with modules in Accra, Lagos, Casablanca and Johannesburg completed by a longer final session taught in Shanghai.
