International Programs
in The Eyes of Student Reporters
Tsinghua University has been taking large footsteps towards internationalization ever since its establishment more than a hundred years ago. Up to now, over 80 international graduate degree programs have been implemented to enhance students』 global competency and the reputation of Tsinghua worldwide. With various cultural backgrounds, students and teachers from all corners of the world gather in the beautiful campus of Tsinghua University, sharing knowledge and life experiences and opening windows of the outside world for each other. The 「International Programs in The Eyes of Student Reporters」 series are narrated by the program students and teachers, providing readers an in-depth insight to those colorful pictures of cultural integration.
「A Train Going Top Speed」: Why These Future Engineering Managers Are Studying in China
Photo: IMEM students doing a team-building exercise. Tina La
「Control, control,」 insisted one of the students.
「Hold it in the middle,」 said his classmate in front of him.
The wobbling tube of connected metal pipes descended, with eight pairs of fingers underneath moving in unison. If one of the students lowered their hand out of sync with the others, the straight line of the tube would be ruined.
The tube lowered even farther. Eight pairs of eyes followed, riveted, until it touched the floor. Then the team burst into cheers. For a moment, eight people from different countries were united in their concentration on one task: a tricky project that required coordination and cooperation to succeed.
These are students at Tsinghua University in Beijing, studying for an International Masters of Engineering Management (IMEM) program. They are students who want to work in businesses that require an engineering or science specialisation. They just finished a challenge set by their Leadership and Communication class, testing their ability to work as a team and communicate with each other. Cross-cultural communication is a big focus for their degree - IMEM graduates must learn how to work with each other, as well as any hypothetical future Chinese colleagues.
The unofficial goal of the program is to train future managers who can act as a bridge between China and other countries. In short, people who will be the nuts and bolts fastening together the pieces of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China’s multi-billion investment project pouring nearly $1 trillion in funds into 71 countries.
「That's actually the way Chinese people are doing business,」 said Reyadh Mohammad Redwan Ahmed, who prefers to go by the nickname Prime. 「They're hiring you, and they want you to go back to your country to work as their employee and act as a bridge between that company and that country.」 Prime is a new student and a testament to BRI's ssuccess. Though from Bangladesh, he studied in China already for his bachelor's degree and plans to work in China after graduation.
Photo: IMEM students at a class trip to the Great Wall.
Another major focus for IMEM is to familiarise its students with China. When asked about her most valuable lesson from her masters, Rahmatul Istighfarin, a new student from Indonesia, said 「Being in a foreign country, that’s already a good value.」
As international students, they are required to take Chinese language class and a class from the cluster of courses collectively known as Understanding China. Thanks to personal connections from program directors and professors, students also go to different cities on field trips to visit and observe how real companies are navigating the fast-paced world.
Students were invited to the offices of Air China and JD.com, which is top Chinese internet retailer. On the same trip for an international forum on project management, they also visited Baosteel and the Shanghai Turbine Works Co., Ltd..
These visits are conceived to plunge them in the managerial and manufacturing world, but are also a way for students to build relationships and connections for future work positions in these Chinese companies.
Jean Raphael Eid, astudent from France, said, 「When you choose a Master such as IMEM, you don’t come to learn things. Instead, you come to understand how things work, and to develop your horizons and your contacts. If you want to learn academically, you won’t come do this Masters. This is a professional degree.」
Prime is an example of a student using his IMEM degree to develop his horizons. He has clear ideas on where to go. During his bachelors in aeronautical engineering at Nanjing, he realized he had talent for management skills. He used his time in China, not absorbed in solving problem sets, but practicing leadership. He was chairman of the student union at Nanjing, organized events, and raised thousands of yuan in funds for projects. At Tsinghua, he campaigned for his fellow classmates to select him as their class monitor, a sort of liaison between the students and the faculty.
Prime has already received various job and internship offers from Chinese companies. He’s far from the only one. His classmates have also entertained offers from industry professionals, eager for people with managerial skills and technical know-how.
Although the class of IMEM are confident about their future, they cannot ignore that China’s rapid growth and expansion has a dark side. This year, China’s Gross Domestic Product(GDP) growth rate dipped to a mere 6.6%, the slowest since the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis. Despite spending nearly a trillion abroad, China has seen foreign investment into its borders taper off from its peak between 2001 and 2008. Some in the international business world believe they are in an age of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. There’s even a catchy acronym for it: VUCA. According to Nate Bennett at the Harvard Business Review, VUCA is at its most basic 「a catchall for 『Hey, it’s crazy out there!』」used by managers.
In December, this year’s IMEM class attended part of a conference in Shanghai about the topic. Although the official title is 「International Forum on Chinese Characteristics and Cross-Culture Project Management,」 the conference notes refer to it more simply as 「Project Management in the Times of VUCA.」 The Chinese introduction laid out a list of perils: VUCA springs from information overload, resource scarcity, or more plainly, unexpected events.
One of the reasons IMEM was founded at Tsinghua is to train professionals for this new world. In IMEM, it’s not enough to learn how to manage a project, but how to learn how to do in complicated circumstances. In manager-speak, they have to navigate BRI in the age of VUCA.
However, Prime is still optimistic about the future. He said, 「[China] is like a train going top speed. If you leave the train now, it’s a foolish decision.」 He also paraphrased a piece of advice from professor ZHANG Wei, the dean of IMEM. He said that there are countless opportunities and challenges in the fast changing China. It is almost impossible that you can’t find a place here.」
Program Overview
Source:[School of Journalism and Communication] Tsinghua University 「Journalism Practices on International Education」 Project Group
Editors: [Graduate School] Minzhi Lv, Lixia Liu, Fu Sun, Wen Li
[MEM Education Center ] Wei Zhang, Haitao Wang [School of Social Sciences] Junliang Wang