by Angela Feng and Angela Hua

Tsinghua University’s School of Economics and Management hosts one of the university’s 19 full – English programs, the Tsinghua-MIT Global MBA Program. The program offers four core modules to its students during the first academic year – soft skills, analytical foundations, management fundamentals and China and the World. For the second year, students are free to choose amongst 9 tracks of electives or an exchange semester abroad.

When asked about their program, students are unanimous, one of the elements that they like the most is the diversity amongst the students. The general feeling about the program is that it represents a large array of cultures and diversity.

“It’s a truly diverse group of people. At Harvard, they like to say how diverse they are, but really people mostly came from the same background, just from different countries, they probably did the same things growing up, excelling in the same things, but here, people do not only come from different countries, they also have different careers and do things I am not familiar with, so it is a very interesting mix of people” said Tian, a 2018 Chinese student, who is also a Harvard alumnus.

Tian used to work in a talent agency in Hollywood and has, since then, evolved in the movie industry, after coming back to China. But since the movie business is in transition and it is hard to say where it is heading to, he decided to take a break and see how the industry would evolve, giving him time to get a new degree. 

Tian ZENG (曾天）

Country of citizenship: China

Education background: BA in Comparative    Literature, Harvard University

Related industry: Movie, TV,    Entertainment

Most recent employment: Infinity    Pictures

German student and Oxford alumnus, Moritz Bartsch just started the program in the Fall of 2018. Very enthusiastic about China and the Chinese culture, Moritz decided to pursue this master to develop his soft skills. After working as a data scientist in London, he is eager to learn some other soft skills. “I have missed a side of the bigger picture. “ Said Moritz.

“Having this international class of half-half challenges you in non-class situation. Also I got a chance to develop some intercultural skills which I would not have in Europe or America” said Moritz. His Chinese classmates are a big help to his adaptation to the life in Beijing. 

Moritz Bartsch ( 墨瑞 ）

Country of Citizenship: Germany

Education: Worcester College, Oxford University and University of Mannheim

Related industry: Consulting, Insurance, Tech

Most recent employment: Deloitte UK

Venezuelan, born to a Syrian father and a Hungarian mother, Olga Kasabdji is definitely one of the program’s most culturally diverse students. As she worked in the event planning sector and as the treasurer for a multinational group in the sporting and camping sector, Olga hopes she could further develop her skills.

Being recently married, her husband and she would like to change environment. As they are both curious about the Chinese environment, they decided to pursue degrees in China. Fortunately, they both got accepted in Tsinghua’s programs: her in Tsinghua-MIT Global MBA Program and her husband in the International Master in Engineering Management (IMEM). “We both got in, same year and the programs are both last for two years. That’s so perfect”

Olga G. Kasabdji Raffensperger

Country of citizenship:  Venezuela and Hungary

Education background (Undergraduate/postgraduate education): Bachelor’s degree in Economics ; with a degree in financial engineering from the Metropolitan University in Caracas, Venezuela

Related industry:  Wholesale, and Finance

Most recent employment:  KR Management Group

The program’s class committee tries to bring people from different backgrounds and ethnicities together, they even have a “blind date” system which pairs a Chinese student and an International student to allow them to bond outside of their usual groups and discover each other’s culture.

All three students say that the program brings a new perspective to them and helps a lot to shape their minds business-oriented. The career development opportunities offered by the program is probably one of the major reasons that attract students in the first place. And upon arrival, they further discovered a wide panel of different and diverse people in the classroom.