On April 26th, Peking University’s Guanghua School of Management and the Peking University Belt & Road Institute officially launched the “Future Leaders” International Undergraduate Program at a ceremony in Beijing. This program will see students from 14 top-tier international business school partners around the world spend the first two years of their undergraduate education at their home university and join the Guanghua School of Management for their third and fourth years of study. The first cohort of international students will arrive in Beijing in Fall 2020.

The launch of the “Future Leaders” Program was marked with a dialogue themed “Re-imagining Global Education”, celebrating the role of global education in fostering leaders able to navigate the challenges of “new globalization”. Peking University President HAO Ping was present to witness the program launch, and over the course of the event, WANG Bo, Vice President of Peking University, LI Yong, Director-General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, LIU Jin, Director of the Division of International Exchange and Cooperation at the Ministry of Education, and FU Chengyu, Former Chairman of Sinopec and the China National Offshore Oil Corporation, shared their perspectives on the significance of investing in young talent capable of devising inclusive solutions to social and economic challenges.

At the afternoon event, Guanghua Dean LIU Qiao was joined by CAI Hongbin, Dean of the Faculty of Business and Economics at the University of Hong Kong, Stefano Caselli, Vice Rector for International Affairs at Bocconi University (Italy), Julia von Maltzan Pacheco, Associate Dean at FGV EAESP (Brazil), and Detlev Zwick, Associate Dean at the Schulich School of Business at York University (Canada) for a panel session in which they shared their hopes for the program and its students. Representatives from other partner schools, including Erasmus University’s Rotterdam School of Management (Netherlands), ESSEC School of Business (France), IE School of Business (Spain), Lomonosov Moscow State University (Russia), National University of Singapore, Queen’s University’s Smith School of Business (Canada), and SGH Warsaw School of Economics (Poland) also joined the event.

As the Chinese government’s Belt & Road Forum for International Cooperation focuses on finding country-to-country collaboration opportunities to support international development, the “Future Leaders” Program promotes the same goal of collaboration and engagement at the people-to-people level. Students participating in this program will live together, study together, and learn from one another’s unique backgrounds.

“Future leaders must possess both a vision for improving the world and the willpower to realize that vision,” said Guanghua Dean LIU Qiao. “Our program seeks to give students the analytical tools they need to do this and fosters the ability to respect and leverage the diverse backgrounds of others to create comprehensive solutions to problems.”

The program will focus on recruiting only the top students at each partner university. Such close interactions with exceptional students across from the globe will allow participants to expose themselves to new and different ways of thinking. It will also give them the opportunity to understand challenges and opportunities faced by people in different areas throughout the world.

In addition to standard coursework in economics, finance, marketing, and management, the “Future Leaders” Program includes specially-designed, China-focused courses that will give students an overview of China’s development and the “Chinese characteristics” inherent in the country's economy. At the end of their four-year program, international students will receive two undergraduate degrees—one from their home institution together with a Bachelor of Arts in Management from Peking University.

About the Guanghua School of Management

Peking University has been at the forefront of new ideas and innovations contributing to China's development since its founding in 1898. Grounded in this rich cultural legacy, the Guanghua School of Management has been pioneering business and management education and research in China for more than three decades, and its graduates continue on to become influential leaders across the globe. The School has been ranked one of the top business schools in Asia and operates over 40 research centers while also offering a comprehensive suite of academic programs including Bachelor's, Master's, Ph.D., and Executive Education.

About the Belt & Road Institute

On April 20, 2018, Peking University announced the creation of the Belt & Road Institute through the Guanghua School of Management to further the BRI’s efforts to promote human progress, drive inclusive economic growth, and create solutions to global challenges. The founding of the Institute also coincided with Peking University’s 120th anniversary and the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and opening up, The Institute has already hosted several high-profile programs and events, including the Executive Program for Senior Diplomats and the “Understanding China and the Belt & Road” Lecture Series, among others.

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