Eric Haichen Zhang, GMBA Class of 2017

"If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a movable feast."

— Ernest Hemingway

As a dual-degree student from Tsinghua-MIT Global MBA to HEC Paris MBA, I have now spent almost half a year in HEC Paris, benefiting not only from the academy but also from the experience obtained from my daily life in Europe.

In HEC Paris, dual-degree and exchange MBA students can tailor their term by choosing one of five specializations: Entrepreneurship, Finance, Advanced Management, Marketing, and Strategy. Each specialization holds a 'set menu' of advanced courses focusing on a particular management topic, including a 'backbone' course of 36 hours and six courses of 18 hours each. Since I worked for a private equity firm focusing on equity investment, I chose the Entrepreneurship track to have more opportunities to communicate with seasoned and aspiring entrepreneurs from all over the world. After filtering by post-interview faculty selection, 25 students were admitted into the track and divided into 8 groups to work on real business projects to help French scientists in marketing their technology, identifying a validated business model, and developing a go-to-market plan. Spending three months, our team worked on music identification technology, interviewing more than 30 industrial professions, brainstorming the business model, and organizing the go-to-market strategy. Finally, each team will pitch their project to a jury that consists of more than 100 well-known entrepreneurs from diversified industries. The Entrepreneurship track is so practical that many students work on their project after their graduation to set up the real company.

Beyond the academic life, in Paris there are numerous opportunities to go all over Europe and take in the abundant cultural relics and natural landscape. During the last half-year, accompanied by various Tsinghua GMBA classmates studying all over Europe, I went to Northern Norway to chase the northern lights; the Sahara Desert in Morocco to see the Milky Way; and, all told, more than ten countries in Europe to know more about European culture. These experiences will no doubt benefit us in building a global mindset to understand gaps between different cultures and to understand how to put oneself into another’s shoes.

Thanks to my prior one year of study in the Tsinghua-MIT Global MBA program, I had developed deeper China roots with a truly global vision. During my study in HEC Paris, I could add value to my classmates and course discussions by sharing my opinion from a Chinese angle. Nowadays, the connection between China and Europe is increasing dramatically. From my study at both Tsinghua and HEC Paris, I could feel the strong desire from both sides to cooperate, and fittingly, I expect to contribute to that trend and will continue to work on cross-border investment upon my graduation.