Hua Lin, you joined SKEMA at the beginning of the 2017-2018 academic year as academic director of SKEMA’s Suzhou campus in China.
Could you introduce yourself?
I am Chinese and studied for some time in France (PhD Sciences-Po Paris). I worked for over 20 years in big international groups in China, Japan and Europe. I have been in top management positions at Nissan and Renault, and managing director for China of a subsidiary of a CAC 40 company.
Besides my business activities, I have always retained links with the world of higher education: for several years I was affiliated professor at HEC Paris, EM Lyon, guest professor at the Sorbonne in Paris as well as in other Chinese and European business schools and universities. My teaching and research earned me the distinction of being awarded the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques, this is relatively rare, if not totally exceptional for a Chinese national and academic who has one foot in the business world.
I am also a writer and have published about ten books in mainland China, Taiwan and Europe. I also like sport, especially table tennis, basketball and swimming. I am still trying to perfect my butterfly stroke! I would like to set up a table tennis team at Suzhou and possibly organise an inter-university tournament this year, a “SKEMA cup”?
Can you tell us why you chose to join our school?
Before joining SKEMA I had spent over four years as vice dean of a Chinese business school that was a pioneer in internationalisation and entrepreneurial and innovation training. But I always wanted to work again with France and the academic, economic and industrial milieu that I knew so well and which I am so fond of. But I wanted especially to give the best of myself in a business school with ambition and international campuses.
What are your main missions?
I want to further improve the academic and pedagogical excellence of the campus, strengthen existing partnerships and explore new ones. Not least, I wish to serve our students as well as possible and try to attract more and more students to the Suzhou campus.
What are the first things you are going to deal with?
First I need to get to know all the courses and student expectations as well as possible, and set up courses and a faculty that is even more local; I need to talk to all the programme directors of courses at Suzhou and finally, I want to offer students new activities in sports and societies.