Nueno meets with Chinese economist Wu Jinglian. [Photo provided to China Daily]

According to Xu Dingbo, the associate dean at the China Europe International Business School, modern management education was pretty much a blank slate in China in the early'80s.

"Nueno realized that China lacked modern management education, which would become a bottleneck for its economic development. So he became one of the earliest to make efforts in this respect," says Xu.

Xu adds that he respects Nueno for his efforts to combine Chinese practices and traditions with modern management skills in the school's teaching, research and business practices, while emphasizing internationalization at the same time.

The school also partners with top-notch research institutions, such as Harvard Business School, to run joint modules worldwide.

"China is a big economy and has some aspects that are peculiar and some opportunities and risks. So, what we try to explain is all these little differences in a global module."

Nueno's efforts to expand China's global business presence led him to a meeting with President Xi Jinping in 2012.

The meeting was held soon after Xi was elected as the top leader and was attended by 20 foreign experts.

Nueno in his speech talked about how the Chinese government was perceived by the rest of the world. And he also shared his opinion on what should be China's priorities.

Nueno says he thought Xi sent positive signals when talking about China's further opening-up.