Dr. Hartman, parents and friends, fellow colleagues and students, alumni, ladies and gentlemen,

Good afternoon!

Before anything else I would like to congratulate the graduating class of 2007 in the successful completion of your studies here in the International MBA program (iMBA) at Tsinghua SEM.  My thanks first go to the parents of our brilliant students, for supporting them over the years.  For the students in this particular program, I would also want to thank our partner school MIT Sloan, which collaborated with us for more than a decade and helped us maintain a program that is considered to be one of the best in China.

Today we celebrate the end of a distinguishing journey, a journey filled with happiness as well as stress, with hard works as well as light moments.  Today, we also commence a new journey, a journey you can’t wait to start.  Indeed, this is the true meaning of the word “commencement.”

The class of 2007 is the 9th cohort in the Tsinghua iMBA family since the program was first launched 10 years ago.  Up to now, 795 iMBA students have graduated in total.  Two years ago, you started the exciting international MBA journey here at Tsinghua SEM.  The Program aims to empower you with the contemporary management knowledge and skills, and on top of that, a global vision of the business world.  For 2 years, you have clustered here, limits were surpassed, the unthinkable was accomplished, and lifelong friendships were built, which will last forever.  Your engagement in the program, such as AACSB accreditation, enables our school to be more international and better than ever.

It was on this journey many of you, in fact more than 50% of you, have experienced the exchange programs with premium business schools worldwide.  The two-way exchange brings you with international experience, cross-cultural learning, and personal confidence.  For example, some of you experienced STEP, the Stanford Tsinghua Exchange Program, and have got a lot of out of the program in terms of entrepreneurship, business insights, friendship and social and cultural understanding.

You were lucky to be part of the celebration of the 10th anniversary of Tsinghua-MIT Management Education Project last year at this time in this room.  You are the witness of the close partnership between MIT Sloan and Tsinghua SEM and the achievements of the program.  MIT’s support and engagement has made great impact to the iMBA program and to the development of management education in China in general.  You are a fortunate class carrying out the transformation from the past “Defining Decade” to a new chapter of future cooperation.  I would like to assure you our commitment to the excellence of this program in the future.

I know some of you have chosen to work in financial companies such as investment banks, commercial banks, security firms, or mutual funds, some of you will join state-controlled companies, and some of you will enter multinational companies like BP, IBM, ING, Emerson, ABB, etc.  No matter which company you will work for, I am sure all of you want to make a difference, and I am confident that you will make a difference.

Today, you stopped being Tsinghua students, and start to be Tsinghua alumni.  As a Tsinghua alumnus myself, I can assure you that you are always in our heart.

Thank you!