Tsinghua MBA Program reformed its admissions policies for the 2011 fall semester, which means the School has extended the MBA reform from the change of curriculum to the recruitment stage.

The news was released on a press conference held in the beginning of July, 2010. On the conference, Dean QIAN Yingyi and Assistant Dean GAO Jian introduced the specifics of the reform.

Dean QIAN Yingyi (second from left) and Assistant Dean GAO Jian (second from right) on the press conference

Changes of Admissions Standards and Admissions Methods

According to Dean QIAN Yingyi, major changes were made in terms of admissions standards and admissions procedures of the MBA Program.

For one thing, the Program will judge prospective students mainly based on their comprehensive capabilities and potentials. The admissions faculty and staff will carefully examine applicants’ documents and conduct face-to-face interviews, therefore considering each one in a more comprehensive way.

Meanwhile, as for the admissions procedure, document review and interviews will take place before the traditional paper-based test. As long as the applicant has received a conditional offer after the review and interview phase, he or she only needs to pass the national graduate test to attain the final offer. The new procedure does not conflict with the national graduate test requirements, but largely expanses the pool of prospective students, ensuring more chance for applicants with practical business experiences.

The Aim of Reform

The aim of the MBA admissions reform lies in three aspects: to combine admissions reform with the curriculum reform, therefore to provide better education for more capable students; to stress comprehensive capabilities over test results, lessening the importance of national test in the selection process; to encourage prospective students with appropriate backgrounds to apply for Tsinghua with more confidence.

The new MBA curriculum requires a higher demand for comprehensive capabilities and balanced development in students, since it aims to nurture “future leaders with all-around management abilities.” The new recruitment method answers this demand by considering applicants’ integrity and potentials together with their knowledge level and practical experience.

The comprehensive capabilities should include a person’s work, study and other social experience; his mind-set and personal strengths; as well as the potential for future development. The new procedure will seek these qualities in prospective students via all three phases of admission, namely the document review, the interview and the national test.

The reform is also expected to benefit prospective students in the application process. It may help future students know better about the Program through face-to-face communication. Moreover, with the conditional offer in hand, the applicant may enter the national test with stronger confidence and less risk.

Detailed Information

Assistant Dean GAO Jian summarized key information of the new admissions procedure as “three changes,” “three dates” and “three reminders.”

Three changes: on top of the stress of document review and interviews and the change of sequence (placing the national test as the last phase of admission), the reformed procedure also requires three current MBA Programs, namely the full-time program, part-time program and the international program, to recruit students on separated bases instead of continuing to recruit with universal arrangements.

Three dates: the admissions brochure will be released on July 8; the application for interviews should be submitted between July 12 and the end of September; the announcement of conditional offers will be made before the deadline of registration for the national test in mid-October.

Three reminders: students should demonstrate their comprehensive capabilities to attain the conditional offer before the national test; since three MBA programs will admit students separately and a part of vacancies of the full-time MBA program will be saved for the national test participants, prospective students fail to get a conditional offer can still apply for these vacancies via the national test; future students should pay close attention to the website of Tsinghua MBA and the admissions seminars, where further information will be released.