On November 27, the wrap-up ceremony of the 5th National MAS Case Competition was held through VooV Meeting. It was hosted by the National Master of Applied Statistics Education Steering Committee (NMASESC), cohosted by the China Society of Industrial Statistics Teaching, the Chinese Association for Applied Statistics (CAAS), and the Higher Education Association of the Statistical Education Society of China, and organized by Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics (ZUFE). In this competition, CUEB won 1 first prize, 2 second prizes and 3 third prizes, and two cases were included in the Case Library of National MAS Education and Teaching. 

Mao Youfeng, member of the Leading Party Members Group and Deputy Director of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Chairperson of NMASESC, and Chairperson of Statistical Education Society of China and Li Jinchang, Party Secretary of ZUFE and Vice Chairperson of the Statistics Society of China (SSC), addressed the meeting respectively. 

The wrap-up ceremony was chaired by Professor Wang Xiaojun, member and Secretary General of NMASESC, convener of Statistics Appraisal Group of the State Council Academic Degrees Committee, and Dean of the School of Statistics at Renmin University of China (RUC). Professor Ruan Jing, Secretary General of the Case Jury of NMASESC, Deputy Secretary General of the Statistical Education Society of China and Secretary General of its Higher Education Association, and Deputy Dean of the School of Data Science at CUEB, presided over online activities. 

Mao Youfeng extended warm congratulations on the successful competition and put forward new requirements for its development. Mao highly commended NMASESC for its remarkable achievements in cultivating MAS and its important role in promoting high-quality graduate education in the new era. He pointed out that as educational and teaching resources, cases are important carriers to theorize and systematize practical problems and ways to integrate high-level study and teaching with practice. He emphasized that teachers should learn the spirit of the 20^th CPC National Congress and study and implement General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important instructions on graduate education. To cultivate more qualified personnel in applied statistics capable of contributing more to China’s development and national rejuvenation, teachers need to actively explore how to promote the case competition, teach applied statistics cases better in an all-round way, and make every effort to advance graduate education in MAS and the discipline construction.

Li Jinchang congratulated on the successful competition warmly and expressed gratitude for careful guidance from NBS and the organizing committee. He remarked that the competition helps graduates to integrate theory with practice and cultivates their practical problem-solving skills, statistical thinking and applied ability, thus improving their professional competence and employability. Besides, the development of Applied Statistics at ZUFE was introduced. 

Professor Zhang Baoxue, member of NMASESC, leader of the Case Group, and Dean of the School of Statistics and the School of Data Science at CUEB, concluded the competition. Cui HengJian, Head of Examining Committee for Selecting Cases of NMASESC and Professor at Capital Normal University (CNU), introduced and reviewed prepositions from companies. Chen Min, Head of the Case Jury of NMASESC, Chairperson of the National Industrial Statistics Education Association, and researcher of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), announced the winners of the case competition. 

Zhao Yanyun, Deputy Chairperson of NMASESC and Professor at RUC, reported on Study on Internet Statistics. Professor Zhou Yong, Head of Case Publishing Committee of NMASESC and Dean of the School of Statistics at East China Normal University (ECNU), reported on Writing Conventions and skills of Statistic Cases. Dr. Ma Tianyi, Senior Director of Algorithms of B2B Business Department of Tonghua Shun, reported on Exploration and Practice of Tonghua Shun’s AI in Wealth Management. The report meeting was chaired by Professor Su Weihua, Vice Chairperson of SSC, member of the Steering Committee for Higher Education of the Ministry of Education and Vice President of Zhejiang Gongshang University (ZJSU) and Ai Mingyao, member of NMASESC, Vice Chairperson of CAAS, and Professor of Peking University (PKU) and Professor Hong Xingjian, Dean of the School of Data Sciences at ZUFE. 

Teacher and student representatives from the 16 first-prize winners, Liaoning University, Fudan University (Fudan), China University of Petroleum, and other 13 universities presented their cases, which received comments from the following experts: Professor Gao Weiguo, member of NMASESC and the Case Group and Deputy Dean of the Institution for Big Data at Fudan, Liu Yanyan, member of NMASESC and the Case Group and Professor of Wuhan University (WHU), Yang Ying, member of NMASESC and Professor of Tsinghua University (THU), and Professor Yang Zhongshan, member of NMASESC and the Case Group and Dean of the School of Statistics at Dongbei University of Finance and Economics (DUFE). 

The National MAS Case Competition aims to foster MAS to find, study, solve, and evaluate problems to meet social demands. It was the 5th competition this year, with the first one held in 2014. Scholars and experts have discussed teaching approaches for MAS and improvement on applied statistics methods and case teaching of Statistics teachers at colleges and universities. Excellent cases have been selected for “Case Library of National MAS Education and Teaching”. This is the highest level of academic competition in Applied Statistics that requires teachers and students to work together. 

Selected and recommended by 133 colleges and universities and research institutes, 709 cases competed in this competition. Cases on the finalist were scored unanimously by experts in preliminary and final competitions. Winners were selected competitively by anonymous ballot, including 16 first prizes, 128 second prizes, and 192 third prizes. Their instructors were awarded “Education and Teaching Achievements”. The case library included 32 excellent cases out of the winners. 

Over 20 guests attended the wrap-up ceremony, including guests from NBS, PKU, THU, RUC, CAS, Fudan, WHU, ECNU, CUEB, CNU, ZJSU, DUFE, and Tonghua Shun. An audience of more than 2,900 including teachers and students, members of NMASESC, scholars, and experts from colleges and universities, research institutes, companies, and institutions across China attended the meeting.