On October 14th, the inaugural event of the“Knowledge+ Practice Forum·Wisdom Gathering by the Orient”lecture series hosted by the School of Business, East China University of Science and Technology (ECUST), was held in Tonghai Hall at the Fengxian Campus. Under the theme “Face-to-Face with a Nobel Laureate”, the event featured Professor Oliver Hart, winner of the 2016 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, Harvard University professor, Honorary Professor of ECUST, Director of the ECUST Oliver Hart Research Centre for Contracts and Governance, and Chair of the Strategic Advisory Board of the ECUST School of Business. Professor Hart interacted with teachers and students at the Fengxian Campus, with over 200 participants present.

   Attending the lecture were Professor Qin Xiangdong, Adjunct Professor of the ECUST School of Business and Professor of Antai College of Economics and Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University; Professor Wu Yuming, Executive Director of the ECUST Oliver Hart Research Centre for Contracts and Governance and Professor at the School of Business; Associate Professor Jiang Shicheng, Deputy Director of the above-mentioned Research Centre; and Lecturer Wu Zhiren from the Department of Economics of the School of Business. The lecture was chaired by Professor Pan Chunyang, Vice-Dean of the School of Business.

   During the Q-and-A session, students raised active questions concerning academic research, career development and overseas further studies. Professor Hart offered accessible responses to questions on improving research efficiency, opportunities and challenges for economics amid complex contexts, and research-direction selection for young scholars. He encouraged students to focus on real-world issues, build solid academic foundations and sustain intellectual curiosity. The session enjoyed a vibrant atmosphere, where teachers and students experienced first-hand the depth and insight of top-tier academic thinking.

     In his closing remarks, Pan Chunyang noted the long-standing ties between Professor Hart and ECUST. As a world-renowned economist, Professor Hart has witnessed and accompanied the development of the School of Business. He encouraged students to apply insights from the lecture to their coursework, research and future pursuits, striving for integration of knowledge and action and steady progress in their respective fields.

     At the end of the lecture, student representatives presented flowers to Professor Hart. Wang Tongyu, PhD candidate at the School of Business and municipal-level inheritor of Zhuanghe paper-cutting, a national intangible cultural heritage, presented Professor Hart with an original paper-cut souvenir. Teachers and students on site witnessed this warm moment.

    Students benefited greatly from this close-range dialogue with the Nobel laureate. Gu Ziye from Business Administration Class 2603 commented that Professor Hart made sophisticated theories easy to understand and inspired students to strengthen professional grounding while embracing interdisciplinary integration. Ilyas from Business Administration Class 2604 reflected that the Professor unpacked complex economic problems starting from real-life cases, and his rigorous scholarship encouraged students to examine economic and social phenomena from deeper perspectives. Xu Zixiang from Business Administration Class 2605 drew inspiration from Hart’s modest personal academic journey, realising perseverance and dedication are essential to scholarship with no shortcuts available. Chen Xiao from Economics Class 2603 stated that Hart’s sharing on university training models and further-study paths highlighted the importance of solid subject knowledge and comprehensive competence.

    The the“Knowledge+ Practice Forum·Wisdom Gathering by the Orient”lecture series is a flagship academic programme launched by the School for all students at the Fengxian Campus. It aims to bring world-class intellectual insights to ECUST and enable students on the Fengxian campus to engage global leading minds. Moving forward, the series will keep inviting distinguished domestic and international scholars as well as industry leaders to deliver thoughtful, inspiring lectures on campus.