Shanghai Business School, grounded in its applied business education positioning and responding to the structural talent gap in new quality productive forces and the digital-intelligent trade services sector, is advancing a dual-track system that runs main majors and micro-majors in parallel. Upholding the philosophy of "small but refined, small but novel, small but excellent," the school has connected the talent cultivation chain of "industry poses the question, the college responds, rapid incubation," exploring a new model of cross-disciplinary business talent cultivation based on "AI plus business" and "data times business," offering a practical example for the construction of new business micro-major clusters at applied undergraduate institutions.
Hard results in micro-major cluster development
The school has built a micro-major cluster matrix. Since 2024, the school has approved 21 micro-majors and continuously advanced micro-major cluster construction, cumulatively establishing 39 micro-majors. Among them, 38 are centered on "AI plus business" and "data times business," precisely targeting Shanghai's frontier trade and commerce tracks such as low-altitude logistics and AIGC intelligent applications.
Course credit design has been optimized. Each micro-major offers 3 to 6 core courses with approximately 8 total credits, and the study period is set at 1 to 2 years. All micro-major courses are incorporated into the school's main teaching system, can offset elective course credits, and count toward students' total graduation credits.
The school has solidified its educational service platform. Relying on the "one-stop" student community "Shangzhou Innovation Post," it regularly conducts offline consultation services for micro-major enrollment, guiding students to independently plan personalized learning paths and strengthening their cross-disciplinary comprehensive development capabilities.
Mechanisms for building a demand-driven industry-education integration system
A five-level industry demand response mechanism has been established. A five-level research network covering "college-major-enterprise-industry-alumni" has been set up. At the college level, it aligns with Shanghai's regional industrial planning; at the major level, it anchors to job cluster competency models; enterprises output real job competency lists; the industry assesses medium- and long-term talent gaps; and alumni provide feedback on frontline workplace competency demands. The school delegates authority for dynamic adjustment of course content, enabling micro-majors to follow the principle of "industry poses the question, rapid incubation."
A dual-track education model of "main major plus micro-major" is being implemented. Main majors solidify the theoretical foundation of business studies, while micro-majors expand cross-disciplinary capability boundaries in AI, big data, and other fields. A dual-certificate system of "school completion certificate plus industry certificate" is being promoted, with schools and enterprises jointly conducting assessment and evaluation to enhance students' recognition in the job market.
Schools and enterprises jointly build a practical teaching and training system. The school works with multiple well-known enterprises to jointly develop micro-major cultivation plans, co-research course syllabi, and jointly develop project cases, embedding real enterprise operating scenarios, business needs, and technical standards into the curriculum system.
A dynamic adjustment mechanism for micro-majors has been established. Third-party institutions are introduced to conduct evaluations, forming a closed-loop management system of "evaluation-feedback-optimization." For micro-majors with weak development results or disconnected from industry needs, measures are taken sequentially, including suspending enrollment, ordering rectification within a deadline, and revoking the program, ensuring the overall micro-major cluster adapts to the pace of industrial development.
Changes: "AI plus business" micro-majors empower students' capability leaps
An international business integration case. Shanghai Lausanne Hospitality Management College, leveraging its advantages in Sino-foreign cooperative education, allows students to take international micro-majors. It continuously benchmarks against the advanced experience of the National Business Education Alliance, exploring new paths for micro-major construction and digital-intelligent talent cultivation to enhance the alignment between talent cultivation and industry development.
A cross-disciplinary case in the new consumption track. The School of Art and Design, facing the "pet economy" new consumption wave, offers micro-majors in "Companion Pet Product Design and Project Operations" and "Digital-Intelligent Creative Design." Art students break away from the pure fine arts creation paradigm and systematically learn digital-intelligent tools, project operations, and business planning. Course projects directly produce pet consumer product prototypes and business creative proposals, achieving the transformation of classroom assignments into commercial creative outcomes.
A business digital-intelligent innovation case. The School of Business Information offers micro-majors in "AIGC and Intelligent Applications" and "AI Micro-Drama Creative Workshop," deeply integrating large model tools and AI content generation capabilities with business communication scenarios. Students participate in real enterprise project training and receive priority internship recruitment opportunities from partner enterprises, delivering interdisciplinary talent for positions in OTA operations, digital-intelligent marketing, and cultural-commercial-tourism exhibitions.
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