From 27th Jan, to 4th Feb, Tsinghua team of the STEP( the Stanford -Tsinghua Exchange Program ), led by Professor Zhu Henyuan, associate Dean of Tsinghua SEM visited Stanford Graduate School of Business( GSB), with one week full schedule of business, social and academic activities.

During their visit to the Stanford campus inPalo Alto,California, Tsinghua STEP Team consisting of 20 2nd year MBA students were able to immerse themselves in the whole Stanford GSB experience. They mingled amongst GSB students in their regular classes and at their school social events--the FOAM party and LPF. Every day, Stanford GSB hosted a China-related special speaker series in which prominent business figures in theSilicon Valleyspent their lunch hour giving fascinating presentations.

During their stay, the Tsinghua team visited world-class companies such as Google, Yahoo, Ideo Design, Accel VC, Williams Sonoma, Levi Strauss, and Facebook, and enjoyed interesting speeches and Q&A sessions with their management teams. Tsinghua team also toured Stanford campuses, and the beautiful San Francisco city in day and night, trekked around Alcatraz Prison(where the movie ROCK was shot) learning about its colorful history while admiring the city view, and wine-tasted their way around Napa Valley---the home of Champaign in the US.

Students said the one week they spent in Stanford had been very enjoyable and impressive.

" I used to hold a misunderstanding that Chinese and non-Chinese people think very differently. However, I was quite surprised to find so many ideas, values, and approaches in common between our two programs, " said Bill Shen, member of the Tsinghua team, when asked about what was the most surprising about their Stanford tour.

While Naoki Kawamoto, another student of the team was impressed by the fact that many Stanford GSB professors have built their own very successful businesses. " I attended a group dinner with Andy Rachleff, a founder of Benchmark Capital. It was amazing", she said, "such close communication with successful business people was truly useful for us. I think this is still not common in Asian business schools."

Bill Lijun Shi said he sensed the entrepreneurship in the Valley, "It seems like everybody wants to start own business".

Meanwhile, Tsinghua students were also looking forward to the Stanford students' trip toBeijingin March, as part of the STEP. Students from the Tsinghua team said they were excited about bringing American students "the experiences of both traditionalChinaand modernChina." They planed to show the visiting Stanford team "the real life" inBeijing.

The Stanford -Tsinghua Exchange Program(STEP), is between two premier business schools--one inChinaand one in theUnited States. STEP is part of Tsinghua's broader strategy to increase its international presence and provide its students with more global opportunities. The program's aim is to present Tsinghua MBA students with an opportunity to form a long lasting relationship with Stanford MBA students and provide a basis for greater understanding of doing business inChinaand theUSas well as the context ofChinaand theUSin the global economy.

The exchange involves a one-week visit by the Tsinghua MBA students to the Stanford GSB during January, and a reciprocal visit by GSB students to Tsinghua inBeijingin the end of March. Visits are organized along three core aspects -- academics, business, and social activities-- with the goal of providing cross-cultural learning opportunities. The visit includes special classes for the exchange partners to work on cases involvingChinaand the global economy, visits to local businesses, and social functions.

(Special thanks to Ning Sung, Mike Wang who provide this article and the photos)