Stephen A. Schwarzman, the founder of private equity firm Blackstone Group, has established a new scholarship at Beijing’s Tsinghua University. The program will be endowed with $300 million USD — $100 million coming directly from Schwarzman, and the rest from donors.
Dubbed the Schwarzman Scholars program, it is being touted as a rival in both “prestige and influence” to the University of Oxford’s Rhodes Scholarship.
AP: The $300 million endowment will allow 200 students each year to take part in a one-year master’s program at Tsinghua – all expenses paid – in public policy, economics and business, international relations or engineering, beginning in 2016. Schwarzman said 45 percent of the students would come from the United States, 20 percent from China and the rest from other parts of the world.
The Telegraph: The education programme is inspired by the Rhodes Scholarship, which was created in 1902 using funds donated by British statesman Cecil J. Rhodes to help gifted foreign students study at Oxford University.
Mr Schwarzman said he hopes the scheme, which will see students spend a year at Tsinghua University in Beijing, will “foster stronger and deeper relationships†between China and the West.
“China’s economy is growing at three times the rate of the West, and if that growth continues, China will become the largest economy in the world within the next couple of decades. Disproportionate levels of growth often create global imbalances and tensions, which will need to be addressed in the decades ahead,†he said.
There is no doubt that Tsinghua is a prestigous institution in China and a generally recognized name among academics outside of China. But, that doesn’t necessarily make it a great choice for graduate studies. For the last 50 years, China’s top schools have enjoyed a privileged position when recruiting undergraduate students. China had an extreme shortfall in the number of university seats, so the top schools faced little competition for the brightest of Chinese undergraduates. Not surprisingly, those who were able to get into these institutions have gone on to do very well. I would argue, however, that their success was largely due to what is known as the “selection effect.” That is, if you select the right people–people who have a high probability of doing well–then, put your chop on them, over time your chop will get a reputation as a useful signal for quality. Since relatively few undergraduates in China have had the financial wherewithal to study abroad, China’s top universities remain very competitive when recruiting local undergraduates. Unfortunately, this is not the case for graduate programs, including professional programs like MBA programs. For at least the last 20 years, the top programs in any field have been global in their recruiting. At this stage, the top Chinese candidates in virtually any field have options to study anywhere they want world-wide. As a result, even a great institution like Tsinghua faces real competition, and they are not nearly as well prepared to compete for the top talent at this stage, regardless of who is on the advisory board.