On March 19th, Mansfield Freeman Chair Professor BAI Chong-En, Dean of Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management (Tsinghua SEM), addressed TIEMBA class of 2020 and talked about the importance of this accredited program based on his personal experiences and academic insights.

At the very beginning of the talk, Dean BAI welcomed the TIEMBA participants to contribute to this program and gave valuable suggestions to make further progress in this field. It is said that “Students educated in racially and ethnically diverse settings perform better academically and reap greater professional success than peers from more homogenous learning environments.” There is a great cultural diversity amongst the participants of TIEMBA 2020, with 36% from Greater China, 33% from Asia-Pacific region (excluding China), 14% from Europe, 10% from Africa and Middle East, and 7% from North America.

Dean BAI told the audience that TIEMBA offers unmatched and exemplary multicultural insights into the most active parts of the world. This program gives tremendous advantages to its participants and has the most dynamic alumni network. It has transformed the professional and personal lives of many people. He said Tsinghua SEM is making progress in terms of technology and innovations which will always keep them competitive. Tsinghua SEM has become one of the best business schools in the world that have developed substantial networks with technical giants and other major enterprises. It is a magnet for entrepreneurial activities and outstanding professionals from all over the world, he added.

Responding to a question regarding management practices, Dean BAI mentioned the key relationships with the major companies that provide strong helping hands. He claimed that the school started a joint training program with Alibaba two months ago. As Alibaba is carrying out some important management practices in the eco-environment, the purpose of the collaboration is to combine the faculty with these business practitioners so that they can get something academic out of the practices. In this training program, the participants will be business executives, founders or CEO’s of the companies in Alibaba’s eco-environment.

He demonstrated that Tsinghua SEM has innovative management, different ways to integrate resources, wonderful faculty, and good connections with major companies such as Alibaba, Tencent and others. He also mentioned the possibility of organizing a career fair with those companies, which is specially tailored to executives from TIEMBA. He added that the school has the most powerful advisory board in the world and TIEMBA alumni can also serve as board members. Moreover, it is a unique environment that brings together people and ideas from various cultures to transform their lives and organizations. He further explained that the competent faculty deliver a robust curriculum through a variety of learning styles and have a wealth of global experience.

Dean BAI and TIEMBA participants discussed the initiatives Tsinghua SEM will take to contribute to fighting climate change, and the possibility of influencing the future decision making intheBelt and Road Initiativeto help protect the environment.

In the end he discussed about his recently initiated research program on theBelt and Road Initiativewhich is one of the most discussed topics these days. He pointed out the significance of this mega project and explained how it can benefit the world including Africa, Latin America, and South Asian countries. Lastly, he expressed his plan to explore twenty business cases that will be related to any country being successful in theBelt and Road Initiative.

(Author: Sidra Tariq Jamil)