On November 14, 2023, Baoying Zhu successfully defended his Ph.D. thesis "Measurement and improvement strategies of high-quality development level of China’s marine economy" at the School of Management Science and Engineering of Shandong University of Finance and Economics, Jinan, China. He was awarded the title of Doctor of Management. Baoying was supervised by Peide Liu and Bernard De Baets. He spent one year at KERMIT supported by the China Scholarship Council.