The 31st CEEMAN Conference at AlmaU ; all about Sustainable Development and Leadership
On 20th-22nd September 2023, at the foot of Alatau, within the walls of Almaty Management University, the famous 31st CEEMAN conference took place.
Across 3 days, 120 participants from 24 countries around the world, namely education experts, representatives of international organisations and businesses, shared their views on the subject of leadership and Sustainable Development.
Founder and president of AlmaU, Assylbek Kozhakhmetov, highlighted the importance of this conference: “Sustainable Development is important for human beings. For both the state and business. And clearly, it is also important for universities. Therefore, the subject of this conference is valuable for business education and business itself.”
The conference was opened by Gulnara Kurenkeyeva, Rector of the university, and next up to light up the stage was rock singer Asem Kopbaeva and the band ‘Tengri’. The wonderful sound emanating from the national musical instruments impressed the guests.
The significance of the conference was highlighted by the presence of several figures at the official opening, including CEEMAN President, Professor Danica Purg; President of the university, Assylbek Bazarbaevich; and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of AlmaU and Founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of KUSTO Group, Yerkin Tatishev.
In the second part of the conference a ‘stand session’ was organised for teachers and researchers, the role of moderator being performed by Zoltan Buzady from Hungary. Then, under the direction of Lisa Frölich, 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 organisation for the development of management in dynamic societies. They unite more than 200 companies and universities around the world. It is an organisation which creates opportunities for management education, business schools and higher education institutions so that they can properly develop their principles and strategies based on trends and requirements. CEEMAN is also an accreditation agency.
What is Sustainable Development?
At the UN summit in 2015, the 17 objectives of Sustainable Development were defined. In general, the definition of Sustainable Development was confirmed in 1983. According to this definition, Sustainable Development means preserving the environment and its resources for future generations while still meeting the needs of people today. Sustainable Development will be achieved if the balance of three different components is observed: economic growth, social responsibility, and economic balance.
What is the role of higher education institutions in Sustainable Development?
Aigerim Kaumenova, AlmaU’s Vice Rector for Global Partnerships explained the reason for holding the 31st Annual CEEMAN conference in Kazakhstan. “Under the geopolitical influences of change, Central Asia has become an important region of the world. Within the framework of this conference, we are gathering strong experts, representatives of the educational sector, and governmental and non-governmental organizations, and as a result, we are increasing interest in our region. Of course, the most important thing for us is an increasing interest on the subject of Sustainable Development. We, as representatives of the sphere of education, have the obligation to promote the subject of Sustainable Development so that younger generations will pay attention to it. When we educate students we talk about Sustainable Development goals, and about the value they hold.”
According to Irina Tikhomirova, President of the Business School of the International Institute of Kiev, educational institutions play an enormous role in the promotion of Sustainable Development: “Education is always about the future. We teach now so that they can embody what we are teaching, in the future. And for this reason, we say that Sustainable Development is Planet, People, Profit. Planet is not only about ecology; it is about our impact.”
Honorary Professor of Changzhou University and Co-Chancellor of the Chinese Institute of Responsible Management and Sustainable Development, Haifeng Huang, expressed his opinion on the matter. “Education can transform children and the future and give them opportunities. ‘Pay it forward’ – by simply doing nice, little things for people, you can make big changes.”
In the words of Aurora Diaz-Saloaga, former teacher at AlmaU, if something is not mentioned in the Sustainable Development goals, but a person has a ‘sustainable mind’, then of course they will find new challenges that were maybe not included in the plan.
Yerkin Tatishev, Chairman of the AlmaU Board of Trustees and Chairman of the Board of Directors of KUSTO Group, underlined that it’s time for business school to set their own challenges.
President of Arizona State University Michael Crow agreed, saying “Essentially, the goal for all of us is to build these intellectual enterprises known as universities and colleges in such a way that they have the largest potential for use in the future.”
Why does business need Sustainable Development?
According to Andrey Beklemishev, Vice-President of the International Data Corporation (IDC) and member of the AlmaU Board of Trustees, Sustainable Development is not just about profit and money, a view supported by various other experts.
General Director of Team University, Abdurasul Yusupov added that there are no real indicators that can be used to guide the conversation about Sustainable Development, and consequently, it is unclear where we are going. “In essence, I want companies to feel responsible.”
Regional Representative of the UN Global Compact, Dinara Seijaparova, concluded that these Sustainable Development goals represent are the biggest business opportunities in the history of mankind.
Xiaobo Wu, however, highlighted that it is important for a growing economy to see changes in classical business education. Thus, entrepreneurship and inclusivity are key words for CEEMAN, and for Central Asia as a whole.
“It has become fashionable to use the word ‘sustainable’, and we are here to understand just what ‘sustainable’ means. To understand whether other people understand what it means. Whether students understand how important it is for them and for their future. When talking about the future we should be focusing more on them. Because they are the future. When talking about business in particular, we should also be talking about responsible business, since a successful business without responsible management is a utopia” says Vlastimil Samek, representative of the UN Global Communications Office and Director of the UN Information Office in Kazakhstan.
On the second day of the conference, Irina Sennikova, CEEMAN Vice President and Dean of the Faculty of Business and Economics at RISEBA University, held a World Café session on the subject of ‘What institutional enquiries mean for international management schools. All attendees actively participated in this, splitting into groups, justifying their opinions, and offering their suggestions.
The end of the conference saw the annual assembly discussing the outcomes for the year, as well as the CEEMAN award ceremony, and we are pleased to announce that Almaty Management University has been awarded the re-accreditation 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,and Ef for sponsoring the conference.
