Honorable Ms. Annie Wu and Dr. Philip Kwok, distinguished guests, faculty and staff, dear friends, proud families, and most of all, the Tsinghua SEM International MBA Graduates, Class of 2011,

Congratulations to the students in the MIT-Tsinghua International MBA Program, Class of 2011 on completing your studies.  Also, congratulations to your family members.

You are part of a commemorative class of 101 students and among you, 50 are the international, Hong Kong and Taiwan students.  You graduated in the year of “triple happiness”: 100 years of Tsinghua University, 20 years of MBA education in China and at Tsinghua, and 15 years of collaboration between MIT Sloan and Tsinghua SEM.

But perhaps the most significant of all is the fact that you are the first class of MBA students at Tsinghua to experience our new MBA curriculum.  You have taken several courses not taken by your fellow students before.  Being the first in China’s business schools to launch such a reform, such as more soft skill courses, more experiential learning, and more integrative learning, is not easy.  Being the first cohort, you have made critical and yet constructive suggestions on how the school can better train you to become future leaders, how to provide you with deeper understanding of China business practice and business environment, and how to equip you with variety of soft skills.  Now you are graduating, and I want to thank you for your understanding, tolerance, appreciation, and your effort to make our program and our school a better one, especially your participation and support as the first class in the new Tsinghua MBA curriculum.  We will not forget your contributions.

From today onward, you are no longer Tsinghua students, and instead, you become Tsinghua alumni.  You will always be part of MIT-Tsinghua IMBA’s community and part of Tsinghua.

Congratulations again to each of the Class of 2011 International MBA Program graduates.  I wish you every success.

Thank you.