This year marked the 10th anniversary of the Tsinghua School of Economics and Management (Tsinghua SEM) becoming a member of CEMS, a global alliance of leading business schools, multinational companies and NGOs jointly delivering a pre-experience Master's in Management (MiM) program that prepares future generations of responsible leaders.

For the past 110 years, Tsinghua University has endeavored to cultivate China’s elite leaders and particularly leaders with international perspectives. The elite and international traits of CEMS are a perfect match with Tsinghua’s mission and Tsinghua SEM’s status as one of the most international management schools in China.

The MiM-CEMS program of Tsinghua SEM is the first-of-its-kind pre-experience master's program in mainland China, attracting the most outstanding students from China and all over the world.

In recent years, the MiM-CEMS program of Tsinghua SEM has seen significant improvements in its international reputation. Tsinghua SEM earned the CEMS School of the Year Award in AY 2017-2018, while its MiM-CEMS program ranked 20th globally and 1st in Asia, according to the 2021 FT MiM rankings.

In 2021, Tsinghua SEM's MiM-CEMS program received 8 times as many international applicants as in 2016, originating from 35 countries, up from 9 countries in 2016.

“Our partnership with CEMS has set the benchmark for master's in international management in China, and is of great significance to Tsinghua SEM and its cultivation of responsible and open-minded global leaders. I cherish the fond memories when Tsinghua SEM was ratified as an official CEMS member at the CEMS Annual Events in Lisbon, 2011, and I was proud to be there to witness this moment. It has been a remarkable ten-year for both CEMS and Tsinghua SEM, and we look forward to many more exciting years to come.” 

--BAI Chong-En, Professor and Dean of Tsinghua SEM

“Tsinghua SEM offers great events with many renowned international speakers, including successful founders and CEOs, scientists, Nobel prize laureates and political leaders. Interestingly, during my 2-year CEMS program at Tsinghua, there was a lecture series in cooperation with McKinsey. Dominic Barton, then McKinsey CEO, showed up in person every 1-2 months to join the lectures. I interacted with him during my time at Tsinghua and even afterward. Interacting with such people is usually very insightful, as you understand how the decision makers of our world today think.”

--Jan Hendrik MILARK, Tsinghua MiM-CEMS 2013 Graduate and Associate Partner of McKinsey & Company

“The CEMS Global Alliance is very proud to count Tsinghua SEM as a member. This highly reputed institution - that recently received the CEMS School of the Year award - offers an excellent program and tremendous opportunities to their home and host students. We have built solid and fruitful relationships over the past ten years, working together is extremely pleasant and rewarding. I have very fond personal memories of the preparation of the CEMS Strategic Board hosted by the Tsinghua team in 2019.”

--Nicole de Fontaines, CEMS Executive Director

“When I was looking to apply for a master's program at Tsinghua in 2016, I browsed its official website and excitedly found that Tsinghua SEM is one of the CEMS academic members and students under the MiM-CEMS program would have a CEMS year with global exposure. That was the beginning point of my MiM-CEMS journey. Tsinghua SEM is a leading school of economics and management and the MiM-CEMS program is a highly international program. During my MiM-CEMS year, I constantly changed my locations, met diverse people and got inspired. I had the block seminar at NUS (Singapore), started a term abroad at LSE (UK), attended Student Board meetings in HKUST (Hong Kong, China), Malta and NOVA SBE (Portugal), did an internship in Germany and finished my Business Project at Tsinghua SEM (China). It shaped what and how I think of myself, society and the world. The magic is that CEMS brings us together.”

--Yun Jannik XU, Tsinghua MiM-CEMS 2020 Graduate, Strategy Manager, Vivo

Source: Tsinghua SEM
Editors: Guo Lili, Sangeet