苏世民学者 | |||||||
 | |||||||
| Type | Private | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Established | 2016; 9 years ago (2016) | ||||||
| Endowment | $575 million | ||||||
| Chairman | Stephen A. Schwarzman | ||||||
| Dean | Xue Lan | ||||||
| Director | Amy Stursberg | ||||||
| Students | 100–200 | ||||||
| Location | Beijing ,China | ||||||
| Campus | Urban | ||||||
| Language | English | ||||||
| Colors | Blue, Purple, Gold, and White[1][2] | ||||||
| Affiliations | Tsinghua University | ||||||
| Website | www | ||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 苏世民学者 | ||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 蘇世民學者 | ||||||
| |||||||
Schwarzman Scholars (Chinese:苏世民学者;pinyin:Sūshìmín Xuézhě), founded by American financier and philanthropistStephen A. Schwarzman, is a one-year fully-funded master's degree leadership program atTsinghua University inBeijing,China.[3][4][5] The program selects 100–200 scholars per year based on their leadership ability, academic achievement, and commitment to advancing mutual cultural understanding and global progress.[6] Selected scholars pursue a one-year master's degree in global affairs at Tsinghua University, residing atSchwarzman College.[7]
The program launched in June 2016, upon the completion of Schwarzman College at Tsinghua University, located in Beijing, China[8][9] and is housed in a college designed byRobert A.M. Stern, Dean of theYale School of Architecture. It hosts up to 200 scholars annually from the United States, China, and other countries around the world. Schwarzman Scholars has an acceptance rate comparable to theRhodes andMarshall scholarships, making it one of the most competitive scholarships in the world.[10][11]
Modeled on the Rhodes Scholarship atOxford University and the classicalChinese academies known asShūyuàn (Schwarzman College is calledSūshìmín Shūyuàn in Chinese, translated directly as Schwarzman Academy), Schwarzman Scholars at Tsinghua University is a competitor to similar international scholarship programs like theYenching Scholarship atPeking University.[12] Since its founding, the program has maintained ties to theUnited Front Work Department as well as other organizations and personnel affiliated with theChinese Communist Party.[13][14][15]
Schwarzman Scholars was conceptualized by its founder,Stephen A. Schwarzman, in response to what he saw as growingtensions between the United States and China, largely due to China's economic growth.[16] According to Schwarzman, in the fall of 2010, then-university presidentGu Binglin asked if Schwarzman would want to help Tsinghua with a concept for a "Global Scholars" program. At the time, Schwarzman was on the advisory board ofTsinghua University'sSchool of Economics and Management. A year later in 2011, a delegation from Tsinghua visited Schwarzman in New York where the concept was put on hold until the leadership at Tsinghua had changed (the term of the then-executive administration was ending) and the2008 financial crisis had receded.[16]
In 2012, the newly appointed Tsinghua presidentChen Jining met with Schwarzman in Paris. Schwarzman, who was interested in moving forward with the concept, put forth six ideas that would "reduce friction" for the new program. First, the college would need its own physical facility. Second, the program would need to be immersive, including travel and field work across the country with professors. Third, the program would assign mentors to each of the scholars in their area of interest. Fourth, there had to be no cost to the scholars. Fifth, the program would only be one year instead of two or three years long. Sixth and last, the program would be taught in English. Schwarzman told Chen:
If we do this, what I really want to do is construct a program that has the same prestige as the Rhodes, because those are the students that I’m aiming for.[16]
With 200 scholars per year, he envisioned an alumni network of 10,000 scholars within a half century to include future heads of state and government.[17] In spring of 2013, the program was announced at theGreat Hall of the People, the seat of theNational People's Congress in Beijing, China, and began its fundraising campaign.[citation needed]
In 2013, Stephen A. Schwarzman announced a $100 million personal gift and $200 million fundraising campaign to build and endow Schwarzman Scholars, an elite international scholarship program at Tsinghua University in Beijing.[citation needed] Over $575 million has been raised to date, from a coterie of global donors.[18][19][20][21]
In spring 2014,Peking University, Tsinghua's chief rival, announced its own global scholarship program, theYenching Scholars atYenching Academy, further increasing competition for funding. In summer 2014, Tsinghua University announced it had reached its original fundraising goal and that it would increase it to US$350 million. In 2014, when the program first launched its admissions process, Tsinghua's Schwarzman had already raised US$333 million for its endowment fund. Shortly after a third target of US$400 million, to be reached by the following year, was announced. Commenting on the fundraising competition, Charles Conn, former warden of Rhodes House at Oxford University remarked:
The Rhodes scholarships and Schwarzman Scholars programs have similar endowments and fund-raising goals. Which one is ahead in any given week depends mainly on the exchange rate of the pound, which has weakened lately against the dollar.[22]
Meanwhile, it became clear that the Yenching Academy at Peking University would be funded through Chinese private donations and government grants, which set off competition to further grow the two programs' endowments. As a result of the increased competition among full-scholarship leadership programs, there was a marked growth in fundraising, with the endowments moving towards a half billion USD each.[23][8][24][25][26][27]
Schwarzman Scholars study for a one-year master's degree (Master of Management Science; Chinese: 管理科学硕士[28]) in Global Affairs[29] (Chinese: 全球领导力[30]) atTsinghua University. The required core curriculum centers on three pillars: Leadership, Global Affairs, and China. The scholars live and study at theSchwarzman College, a purpose-built residential college inside Tsinghua University designed byRobert A.M. Stern, former Dean of theYale School of Architecture.[7] Scholars live in Beijing for a year of study.
Approximately 40% of the participants come from the U.S., 20% from China and 40% from the rest of the world. Students apply directly to the program and are not required to obtain a nomination from their university. TheInstitute of International Education in the U.S., which administers theFulbright Scholarships, was initially responsible for the international and American selection processes. This process is now managed by the program's Admissions team.[31]
Prospective applicants with passports and permanent resident cards fromMainland China, Hong Kong,Macau, andTaiwan, are required to apply earlier than applicants from other countries using a different online application portal, regardless of where they may have attended university or reside.[32]
The program is based on a cohort system, where admitted students live, dine and study together in a close environment, similar to thecollegiate system in some British Universities. In 2014, Schwarzman Scholars held four recruitment launch events in New York City (at the Morgan Library & Museum), Singapore (introduced byNational University of Singapore PresidentTan Chor Chuan), London (at theTower Bridge, introduced byOxford University Vice-ChancellorAndrew D. Hamilton), andPalo Alto in theSan Francisco Bay Area (atStanford University).[33][34][35][36]
The inaugural cohort of 111 scholars was announced on January 10, 2016, and selected from a group of roughly 3,050 applicants.[37] With an acceptance rate comparable to the Rhodes andMarshall scholarships, the founding class included five graduates ofPrinceton,[38] five students fromYale,[39] and six alumni ofHarvard.[40]
In Emeritus:
In Memoriam:
Schwarzman Scholars has anadvisory board whose members include former leaders in government and affiliates of institutions such asHarvard,Yale,Stanford,Duke andOxford.