Editor’s Note: Since 1986, CUEB has achieved remarkable progress in international education, cultivating more than 20,000 students from over 90 countries and regions. This long-standing commitment has fostered mutual learning across cultures and built an open, inclusive, and vibrant environment for international students. In recent years, guided by the Fifth Party Congress of CUEB, the university has deepened reforms in its open-education system and launched the “Silk Road Project” to enhance the quality of global cooperation and exchange. To highlight these achievements, Publicity Department of the Party Committee (News Center) and the School of International Education have jointly launched the special series, “Stories Between CUEB International Students and Me”. It captures the genuine connections between teachers and international students, illuminates the “Study Abroad in China” Beijing brand, and unfolds a splendid picture of international student cultivation.

Transnational cases are transformed into immersive scripts, and crisis public relations are turned into practical drills. After seven years of dedication, Luo Yi has remained true to her original aspiration in education. She has shifted one-way knowledge transfer to cross-cultural “two-way decoding”, breathing vitality into international education through interaction. Today, let’s delve into the writings of Luo from the School of Business Administration to gain insight into her thoughts, reflections, and gains from engaging in international student education.

Luo Yi: Exploring “Two-Way Decoding” in Internationalized Education

Since joining CUEB in 2018 as a teacher, I have upheld the educational philosophy of “mutual cultural learning and academic co-construction.” I teach core courses, such as International Management, Public Relations, and so on for international             students, contributing to CUEB’s global education. In these years of teaching, I have got a good relationship with international students, and we have built a bridge between different cultures.

From Business Cases to Class Discussion

Seven years ago, when I began teaching International Management, I faced a dual challenge: helping international students understand complex theories while guiding them toward real-world application. To bridge this gap, I designed a project-based course model that transforms business cases to class discussion. Through representative cases such as multinational mergers, localization challenges in technology firms, and global expansion in Chinese time-honored brand, students are grouped to role-play as managers from different countries. In simulated negotiations and cross-cultural conflict resolutions, abstract theories are brought vividly to life. This interactive process enhances teamwork and transforms knowledge into practical insight. For example, Lin Jiayi (Nigora Himatova) from Tajikistan, a Class of 2019 Master in Business Management, gained a deeper understanding of how cultural differences influence corporate decision-making through this experiential approach.

The Public Relations course focuses on strategic communication and organizational reputation management. According to crisis simulation module, students are placed in realistic scenarios where a multinational company faces a reputation crisis caused by cultural misunderstanding. They must craft public statements as PR officers while also analyzing the situation from a consumer’s perspective. This “dual-perspective training” helps students realize that true public relations wisdom lies in balancing technical skills with cultural empathy and ethical judgment.

Thesis Supervision: Finding Resonance Across Cultures

Each year during the graduate thesis proposal season, there was a “mini diverse cultural performance” in my office. When Mercy Phiri from Malawi proposed a study on “the influence of social media on consumer decisions”, I encouraged her to draw from her hometown, where Facebook is widely trusted as a shopping platform. This perspective led to her paper The Influence of Facebook Features on Retail Apparel Purchase Decisions in Malawi .

To me, cultural difference is not a barrier but a source of academic innovation. Supervising international students means embracing diverse academic foundations and guiding them toward research topics that are both globally relevant and personally meaningful. When Nassary Godrich Samwely from Tanzania explored “online purchase intentions for fast-fashion brands”, I encouraged him to delve beyond surface patterns into themes such as consumer engagement and cultural perception value —Integrating personal experience into scholarly inquiry.

Luo Yi guids Alina Kinchinbayeva to win the first prize at CUEB’s Third International Cultural Festival.

Building Platforms for Cross-Cultural Dialogue

The School of Business Administration has contributed to creating platforms for global academic exchange. As both a participant and facilitator, I have worked to connect Chinese and international students with visiting scholars and industry experts, encouraging open dialogue and collaboration. Such interactions not only deepen mutual understanding but also spark innovative thinking and academic inspiration. As CUEB continues to advance its internationalization strategy, I have witnessed how transformative cross-cultural education can be. As an educator, I am dedicated to developing a “differentiated teaching–cultural adaptation” model that meets the diverse needs of global learners. As a mentor, I focus on helping international business students strengthen both critical thinking and innovative practice. In the future, I will continue to build cross-cultural academic communities and promote “two-way cultural decoding” to empower students’ intrinsic motivation. Together, we aim to inject new vitality into the global academic network of the School of Business Administration and shape a distinctive model of international business education with CUEB characteristics.

Luo Yi

Dr. Luo Yi is an Associate Professor and Master’s Supervisor in the Department of Marketing and Tourism Management, School of Business Administration, CUEB. A non-partisan scholar, she has been honored as “Excellent Class Advisor of 2022” and “Outstanding Contributor to Graduate Employment in 2023.” Luo has published over 20 SSCI-indexed papers, including more than 10 in top-tier journals, and serves as a regular reviewer for several international academic journals. She has also contributed to the development of Corporate ESG Disclosure Guidelines and Beijing Red Tourism Scenic Site Evaluation and Management Measures. As Deputy Leader of the 24th and 25th Doctoral Service Corps, she served as Deputy Dean of the School of Finance and Economics at Qinghai University.