The Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road Initiative, known as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), was proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping, and has attracted close attention from all over the world. The five major goals of the BRI are: policy coordination, facilities connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration, and people-to-people bonds.

The International Master of Public Administration in the Belt and Road Initiative (IMPA-BRI) program is under the “Belt and Road” Talent Development Program, offered at Tsinghua University, hosted by the International Cooperation Center (ICC) of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and Tanoto Foundation.

The IMPA-BRI program is a one-year English Master’s Degree program delivered by the School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University (Tsinghua-SPPM). Developed out of SPPM’s IMPA program, the IMPA-BRI program is particularly designed to expand the scope of cooperation and exchange between countries participating in the BRI, and train promising talents for the BRI countries. Featuring a curriculum that combines course studies, field research, and thesis writing, the program aims to help students gain a better understanding of China’s development experiences and the BRI, develop their analytical capacity for public policy, and build their leadership skills necessary for them to become public-sector professionals.

Eligibility
1) Applicants should be citizens from countries participating in the BRI. For a list of the countries, please refer to the official website of “Belt and Road Portal” (https://eng.yidaiyilu.gov.cn).
2) Applicants should have a Bachelor’s Degree or a degree equivalent to a Bachelor’s Degree (or above) in China.
3) Applicants should preferably be senior government officials, senior enterprise managers, or administrative heads and senior managerial staff of universities/colleges/academic institutions.
4) Applicants should be under the age of 45, with at least five years of work experience.
5) Applicants should have high English proficiency.
6) Due to the pandemic, students outside China must have the condition and ability to conduct and complete the study online. According to the development of the pandemic, if Tsinghua University requires the students to come to study in China at a later stage, students must comply with the regulation and requirements of the university.

How to Apply
Complete the Online Application on the website of Tsinghua University (http://gradadmission.tsinghua.edu.cn ) during the designated application period. Fill in the application form, upload the application materials listed below, and pay the application fee online.

Required Application Materials
● The information page of your valid non-Chinese personal and ordinary passport. (According to Article 3 of the Nationality Law of the People's Republic of China, any individual who was a Chinese national and then acquired a foreign nationality shall provide a Certificate of Cancellation of Chinese household registration.)
● Bachelor’s Degree certificate (original copy or notarized photocopy).
● Academic transcript of your Bachelor's education (original or notarized photocopy).
● Personal statement (at least two pages of A4 paper, in English): Please include your educational and work background, your motivation for applying for the IMPA-BRI program at Tsinghua University, your relevant strengths and accomplishments, and your study plans and career goals. Please download the template of personal statement via the following link: http://gradadmission.tsinghua.edu.cn/f/yzlxs/yz_lxs_kstzb/view?id=499762 
● Two letters of recommendation (original copy, in English or Chinese): One letter must be from a professor or an associate professor of a higher education institution at which you have studied; the other must be from your current employer. Please follow the instructions on the online system for submission of online recommendation letters or upload the recommendation letters signed by references.
● Official results of English language proficiency tests (if available): Applicants whose first language or the language of instruction in their tertiary education is not English are recommended to provide evidence of English proficiency. If needed, video interviews will be conducted for prospective candidates to test their language proficiency.
● Foreigner Physical Examination Form: The examination result must be obtained within one month, stating that the applicant has no serious infectious diseases or any diseases which could prevent entry into China. The blank form can be downloaded at http://is.tsinghua.edu.cn

Important Application Notes
● Applicants are required to submit scanned images of all required documents at the time of application. All uploaded documents should be in Chinese or English; otherwise, notarial translations in Chinese or English are required. Once translated, the original documents and certified translations should be submitted together to the application system.
● Please scan the original or notarized application documents in color using a scanner. Images captured by mobile phone or camera are not acceptable. Scans of copies are also not acceptable.
● The application fee (800RMB) must be paid at the time the application is submitted. Please apply online and pay the application fee in a safe place. Tsinghua is not responsible for any losses caused by your own operation errors or the leakage of your online payment account and password. Please consider carefully before paying the application fee online. If you cannot finish the application due to various reasons, the paid application fee will not be refunded. Regardless of whether the application is successful or not, the application fee is not refundable.
● Applications with incomplete documents or without application fee payment will not be processed.
● Tsinghua has the right to require applicants to provide original/notarized copies of application materials or certification documents issued by a designated certification body for further inspection.
● As some countries' higher education systems are very different from the Chinese system, applicants from different education systems should refer to Tsinghua’s online application website for reference. Click here: http://gradadmission.tsinghua.edu.cn/f/yzlxs/yz_lxs_kstzb/view?id=74922 
● None of the above application documents will be returned.
● If the higher-level department issues a new policy, Tsinghua will make corresponding adjustments.
● Applicants must ensure that the application information and application materials provided are true and accurate. If the admissions unit or certification department verifies that anything in the application is not true, the application, admission, or study qualification will be cancelled.
● Applicants who are found to be in breach of academic ethics, professional ethics, honesty, and trustworthiness, etc., will not be admitted, or admission/study qualification will be cancelled after this breach has been verified.
● The relevant information, documents and messages that the Tsinghua Graduate Admissions Office and relevant departments/schools publish or send to applicants through websites, phone calls, emails, text messages, etc. are deemed to have been delivered. All consequences caused by the applicant’s personal negligence and other reasons shall be borne by the applicant himself/herself.
● Tsinghua admits students based on the evaluation of their application documents together with a comprehensive assessment. The application materials are reviewed by an expert group, and the candidates for the comprehensive assessment will be selected based on the review results. The comprehensive assessment is generally based on interviews. The specific content, format, requirements and time arrangements are determined by Tsinghua SPPM and will be notified to the applicants who enter the comprehensive assessment stage.
For more details, please refer to the following website:
http://gradadmission.tsinghua.edu.cn/f/yzlxs/yz_lxs_kstzb/view?id=500079 

Application Schedule
First round of application: April 26, 2021 – May 31, 2021
Second round of application: June 1, 2021 – June 30, 2021
Rolling admission (based on vacancies): July 1, 2021 – July 10, 2021

Scholarship
All successful applicants of the IMPA-BRI program will receive full scholarship provided by Tanoto Foundation. The scholarship covers the full tuition fee and miscellaneous cost (120,000 RMB/person), accommodation subsidy (3,000 RMB/person/month, only for students coming to China to study) and living allowance (3,000 RMB/person/month). Tanoto Foundation pays for the field trip and research fee (only for students coming to China to study) and the medical insurance fee (800RMB/person/year, only for students coming to China to study) for the duration of the program.

Duration and Mode of Attendance
The program is one year full-time.

Curriculum Structure
Students enrolled in the IMPA-BRI program are required to obtain at least 27 credits (with at least 23 credits obtained in courses assessed by examination). Of the 27 credits, at least 5 credits must be from required courses in Chinese language and culture, 9 credits from core courses, 6 credits from professional courses, at least 3 credits from elective courses, and 4 credits from professional practice. A 10,000-word Master's Degree thesis is required.
The following are some of the courses offered in the IMPA-BRI program:
● Public Organization and Management
● Public Policy Analysis
● Research Design and Thesis Writing
● Belt and Road Initiative and the Reshaping of World Economy
● Introduction to Sustainable Development
● Comparative Politics and Government
● Comparative Governance and Development Practices
● Governance and Development
● Science and Art of Leadership
● Globalization and Governance
● Frontier of Public Policy
● Frontier of Public Management
● Development: Theory and Practice
● Politics and Government in China
● Economic Development and Policy in China
● China’s Social Policy
● China’s Foreign Strategy and Policy
● Leading Issues in International Relations
● Field Study

Contact Information
Ms. Liu Juanfeng (Stella)
Office of International Cooperation and Exchange (Room 201)
School of Public Policy and Management
Tsinghua University
Beijing, 100084, P. R. China
Tel: +86-10-62795912
Email: impa-bri@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn

For more information, please visit the website: http://www.sppm.tsinghua.edu.cn/english or check it out on the WeChat account: tsinghuasppm.

Source: School of Public Policy and Managment
Editors: Guo Lili, Sangeet Sangroula