01 About the Specialization
BBA in E-commerce is the Provincial First-Class Undergraduate Specialization, the Demonstration Specialization for Application-Oriented Talent Training in Guangdong Province, and the Strategic Emerging Specialization with Distinct Features in Guangdong Province.
In 1998, BBA in E-commerce, a branch of International Economics and Trade, was set up. The first group of students was enrolled in 2002. Guangdong University of Foreign Studies (GDUFS) is among the second batch of colleges and universities approved by the Ministry of Education to enroll students majoring in E-commerce. This specialization has gained development and yielded a lot of fruitful results with distinctive features, unique research direction, and clear talent training goals, with high-level faculty and good employment prospects. It serves as a good starting point for young students to realize their dreams.
BBA in E-Commerce approved as a Provincial First-Class Undergraduate Specialization
02 Faculty
The specialization is currently equipped with a team of 18 full-time teachers. Among them, six are professors, five are associate professors, and seven are lecturers, of which 80% have doctoral degrees, all have master’s degrees or above, and 70% have overseas study experience. There is one overseas special-term professor, two Yunshan Lecture Professors, and two Yunshan Young Scholars. The faculty of this specialization not only has rich academic attainments but also actively participates in the development of the specialization and has achieved fruitful results through designing teaching materials. The specialization also invites teachers with high education and rich practical experience from institutions such as Guangdong E-commerce Association (GDECA), Guangdong Cross-border E-commerce Association (GDCBEA), School of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education of GDUFS, and Guangdong Institute for International Strategies to teach some elective courses.
Group Photo of Part of the Faculty
03 Research Outcomes
The research on this specialization centers around and features cross-border e-commerce and has yielded fruitful scientific research results. From 2016 to 2020, a total of 26 high-quality articles were published, including five in Tier 1 journals and 11 in Tier 2 journals. Two national-level projects, five provincial-level projects, five sub-provincial-level projects, eight municipal-level projects, and 12 horizontal projects were approved. Three decision-making consultation reports were approved by the sub-provincial departments and above. A total of four academic works have been published.
Textbooks Designed by the Faculty Members
04 Talent Training
The training of this specialization adheres to the principle of training through morality and the core values of “honesty, self-discipline, pragmatism, and innovation” and highlights the school-running positioning of “international alignment and local practice” to train e-commerce talents who have data analysis skills, master e-commerce management theory, familiarity with cross-border business laws and regulations as well as cross-border e-commerce practices, and have an international vision and cross-cultural communication skills.
Through 20 years of exploration and practice, the specialization is developed into one with the following three features:
l Relying on international certification to build an international cooperation platform; implementing bilingual teaching, strengthening area studies jointly building overseas bases for internships.
l With data analysis as the core skill, cross-border e-commerce and e-commerce logistics are identified as two key directions for training, and cooperative courses with other universities and enterprises are provided.
l Building a multi-channel, multi-pattern and multi-level e-commerce talent training model through projects such as international exchange students, Chinese-foreign double degrees, overseas study tours, and shared bases for internships.
The major courses of this specialization include the following:
Management, Microeconomics, Introduction to Computer Science, Operations Management, Logistics, Statistics, Basic Accounting, Data Mining, Database Principles and Applications, E-commerce, Internet Marketing, Entrepreneurship Management, Supply Chain Management, and Cross-border E-commerce.
Part of the Courses of the Training Plan of the Specialization
05 International Exchanges
Based on the platform built by the School, various international exchange and talent training cooperation programs for e-commerce specialization are set up. The School has cooperated with 39 foreign (overseas) universities W. P. Carey School of Business of Arizona State University (ASU), the University of California, Riverside (UCR), Grenoble Graduate School Of Business (EM Grenoble), the State University of New York at Stony Brook, the University of Queensland in Australia, the University of Lancaster in the UK, the University of Santo Tomas in Chile, the Northeast Asian Logistics & Distribution Institute of Chung-Ang University, the University of Maryland and the University of Wisconsin–Stout. The cooperation covers inviting experts from the other side to teach, “2+2” or “3+1” undergraduate double-degree training for undergraduates, summer schools, overseas study tours, scientific research, faculty and student exchanges, and collaboration in holding academic conferences.
Lectures by Foreign Experts
Student Exchanges
06 Student Activities
E-commerce is an interdisciplinary and application-oriented specialization. In recent years, the School cooperated with JD. Com and GDECA and established the “E-commerce Talent Incubation Base for Universities in Guangdong Province”. The School also partnered with GDCBEA and established the “GDCBEA Incubation and Internship Base for Talents”. Besides, a strategic cooperation agreement with GDCBEA was signed, which states that GDCBEA will provide training for teachers and cross-border e-commerce operation and management courses for students. At the same time, the School has reached a consensus with leading e-commerce companies to jointly organize and carry out cross-border e-commerce competitions for college students.
With extracurricular activities provided by the University and the School, the specialization encourages and guides students to participate in various innovation and entrepreneurship competitions, such as “Challenge Cup”, “Mock Trade Fair” and other activities, to help students to develop abilities in innovation and entrepreneurship, practical application, critical thinking, and communication. Students have won numerous national awards in various competitions at all levels. At the same time, with the support of the Guangzhou Base of the Silk Road Entrepreneurship Education Network and the GDCBEA Incubation and Internship Base for Talents, students’ abilities to participate in international business activities are improved as well.
Mock Trade Fair
Students win the Bronze Medal of China National College Student “Innovation, Originality and Entrepreneurship” Challenge
“Challenge Cup”
07 Employment
The employment rate of the recent three batches of graduates majoring in BBA in E-commerce is 100%. Most graduates work in the Pearl River Delta Economic Zone with a relatively high level of economic development, accounting for 70% of the total number of graduates, followed by the relatively developed eastern Guangdong region, accounting for 4.29% of the total. Most of them work in the industries of monetary and financial services, software and information technology services, and the Internet.
After a follow-up survey on the training quality among graduates from 2018 to 2020, it was found that the average monthly income of e-commerce graduates and their career expectations are increasing year by year, and the overall satisfaction of employers with e-commerce graduates of the School is very high. Employers speak highly of the graduates’ professional ethics, professional knowledge, cross-cultural communication ability (foreign language ability), independent learning ability, professionalism, teamwork ability, practical ability (executive ability), and innovation ability.
