A delegation from>HarvardBusinessSchoolheaded by Dean Jay Light visited Tsinghua SEM onMarch 19, 2006. Dean Qian Yingyi, Executive Associate Dean Chen Guoqing and Associate Dean Yang Bin held talks with the visiting delegation from HBS. >

Dean Light expressed thanks for Tsinghua’s invitation and its hospitality. In his later speech, Dean Light said, “Tsinghua and Harvard are great institutions that share similar aspirations: to develop business leaders for a globalize world, and to generate world-class business research.” He was very pleased that “the two schools have been able to collaborate and to build relationships”, and he was looking forward “to strengthening that relationship in the years to come. “

In his speech, Dean Lay Light talked about the importance ofChinain the world today, the importance of the relationship the two schools are building, and a vision for business education in the 21th century.

Dean Light pointed out thatChinatoday is facing both unprecedented opportunities and unprecedented challenges as the country is experiencing the critical transition period. And the transiting speedChinahas seen was even faster than US did. ThusChinaneeds leaders, who are competent, broad-gauge, compassionate, and forward-looking—leaders who understand the art of general management. For six years, as Dean Light said, the two schools—HBS and Tsinghua SEM---have been working with each other closely to help develop those leaders. And the relationship between two schools is strong, warm and productive.

Tsinghua SEM and HBS have jointly developed both short and long executive education programs specifically suited to the mutual needs of the two sides; Dean Light said, the two schools have developed teaching materials together; more than 30 of SEM’s top faculty and administrators have worked with HBS in Boston, and roughly 70 of HBS students participated in the school’s first-ever immersion program in China this winter, providing them a window into the cultural and economic activity of the country.

Dean Light also talked about the vision that HBS holds for business education. Compared with other business schools that are focused primarily on knowledge and skills, HBS pays equal attention to the process of students’ learning and insists giving students an education for judgment. HBS holds a notion of making a positive difference in the world. Dean Light said he expected further collaboration with Tsinghua SEM and more mutual learning from each other in shaping vision of business education and shaping of world business leaders.

A Q&A session followed Dean Light’s speech, with students and teachers having dialogues with Dean Light on questions regarding how a business school sustains its competitive advantages, executive education, MBA education, curriculum setting and the shaping of world business leaders, etc..