On September 20-22, 2023, the 31st famous CEEMAN Conference was held at the foot of Alatau within the walls of Almaty Management University.
Over the course of three days, 120 participants from 24 countries, namely experts in education, representatives of international organizations and businesses, shared their views on the topic of leadership and sustainable development.
AlmaU founder and President Asylbek Kozhakhmetov noted the importance of this conference: “Sustainable development is important for humans. For both the state and business. Obviously, this is also important for universities. Therefore, the topic of the conference is useful for business education and business.”
The curtain of the conference was opened by the rector of the University Gulnara Kurenkeeva. Rock singer Asem Kopbaeva and the band “Tengri” came on stage and lit up. The amazing sound coming from the national musical instruments surprised the guests.
The presence at the official opening of CEEMAN President, Professor Danica Purg, University President Asylbek Bazarbaevich and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of AlmaU, Founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of KUSTO Group Yerkin Tatishev emphasized the importance of the conference.
In the second part of the conference, a stand-up session was organized for teachers and researchers. The moderator was Zoltan Buzady from Hungary. Then, under the leadership of Lisa Fröhlich, an IQA session was held during which Edyta Lachowicz-Santos, Aigerim Kaumenova and Irina Sennikova shared useful information about accreditation.
What is CEEMAN?
CEEMAN is an international organization for the development of management in dynamic societies. They unite more than 200 companies and universities around the world. An organization that creates opportunities for management education, business schools and universities so that they can correctly build their principles and strategies in accordance with the trend and requirements. CEEMAN is also an accreditation agency.
What is sustainable development?
In 2015, the UN Summit identified 17 Sustainable Development Goals. In general, the concept of sustainable development was approved in 1983. According to him, sustainable development means preserving the environment and resources for future generations, meeting today’s human needs. Sustainable development will be achieved if the balance of three different components is maintained. These are economic growth, social responsibility and economic balance.
What is the role of universities in sustainable development?
AlmaU Vice Rector for Global Partnership Aigerim Kaumenova explained the reason for holding the 31st CEEMAN conference in Kazakhstan. “Under the influence of geopolitical changes, Central Asia has become an important region in the world. Within the framework of this conference, we gather strong experts, representatives of the education sector, governmental and non-governmental organizations and thus increase interest in our region. Of course, the most important thing for us is an increased interest in the topic of sustainable development. As representatives of the education sector, we must promote the theme of sustainable development so that the younger generation will pay attention to it. When we teach students, we talk about the Sustainable Development Goals and the values they provide.”
According to Irina Tikhomirova, President of the Business School of the International Institute of Kiev, the role of educational institutions in promoting sustainable development is huge: “Education is always about the future. We teach now so that we can embody what we teach in the future. We teach in order to produce new technologies and knowledge. And that’s why sustainable development, we say, is planet, people, profit. Planet is not only about ecology, it’s about our influence.”
Honorary Professor of Changzhou University, co-chancellor of the Chinese Institute of Responsible Management Education and Sustainable Development Haifeng Huang expressed his opinion on this issue: “Education can change children, the future, give them opportunities. “Pay someone else” – just by doing nice little things for people, you can make big changes.”
According to Aurora Diaz-Saloaga, senior lecturer at AlmaU, if something is not included in the Sustainable Development Goals, but a person has a “stable mind”, then of course he will find new challenges that may not be included in the agenda.
Chairman of the Board of Trustees of AlmaU, Chairman of the Board of Directors of KUSTO Group Yerkin Tatishev stressed that this is the time for business schools, the time to set challenges for themselves.”
The president of Arizona State University, Michael Crow, supported with the words “The goal is essentially for all of us to build intelligent enterprises known as universities and colleges in such a way that they have the greatest potential for use for the future.”
Why does business need sustainable development?
According to Andrey Beklemishev, Vice President of International Data Corporation (IDC), member of the AlmaU Board of Trustees, a sustainable enterprise is not only about profit and money. This idea was supported by other experts.
Abdurasul Yusupov, CEO of Team University, noted that there are no indicators that could be used to guide the conversation about sustainable development. Therefore, it is unclear where we are going. In general, I would like companies to feel responsible.
And the regional representative of the UN Global Compact, Dinara Seitzhaparova, came to the conclusion that the Sustainable Development Goals are the biggest business opportunity in the history of mankind.
Xiaobo Wu, however, stressed that it is important for a growing economy to see changes in classical business education. Therefore, entrepreneurship and inclusivity are the key words for CEEMAN, for Central Asia.
“It has become fashionable to say “sustainable”, we are here to understand what “sustainability” is. To understand if people understand this. Do students understand how important this is to them for their future? When talking about the future, we should be more focused on them. Because they are the future. When talking about a successful business, we should also talk about a responsible business. Since a successful business without responsible management is a utopia,” says Vlastimil Samek, representative of the UN Office of Global Communications and Head of the UN Information Office in Kazakhstan.
On the second day of the conference, Dean of the Faculty of Business and Economics at RISEBA University and Vice President of CEEMAN Irina Sennikova held a World Café session on the topic “What do the requests of institutions mean for modern management schools”. All the participants took an active part in this, divided into groups, argued their thoughts and made their suggestions.
At the end of the conference, the annual year-end meeting and the CEEMAN award ceremony took place. We are pleased to inform you that Almaty Management University has been awarded the status of re-accreditation of CEEMAN IQA for another six years.
In turn, we thank Platonus, Coca-Cola, ETS Global, Beam, Sunpaper, Partner’s Mountain Water Co, ABC Universe, Arba Wine, Unlocking Eve, RIKO, Efes, Ef, who became sponsors of the conference.