Schwarzman Scholars

Everything a scholar needs for the year is covered: tuition and fees, room and board at Schwarzman College, travel to Beijing at the start of the year and home at the end, in-country study tours, required books and supplies, a laptop, health insurance and a personal stipend. The programme does not publish the size of the stipend.

The interview is paid for too. Shortlisted candidates receive economy air or rail travel to their interview, group meals, and a hotel night where needed. Spouses and partners are welcome to accompany scholars, and being married is no disadvantage in selection, but the programme does not fund family members.

The degree is a one-year master's taught entirely in English at Tsinghua. The core has three parts. In global affairs, scholars choose among courses such as international relations theory, the history of globalisation and the history of global governance. Every scholar takes a course on institutional and social change in contemporary China. And every scholar earns four credits in leadership, from courses on leadership in business, diplomacy and security, or the psychology of global leadership, alongside a Leadership in Practice series taught by practitioners.

Electives are grouped around three pillars: China, leadership and global affairs. The year includes the Deep Dive, a graded two-credit course built around a week-long themed field trip to another region of China, with visits to companies, government agencies and cultural sites. Chinese language classes are compulsory in the first module and optional afterwards, at every level from beginner to advanced. Scholars also choose a mentor from business, academia, government or the non-profit world, can take internships with organisations in Beijing, and finish with a capstone project: a case study, policy analysis, industry analysis or field research report, alone or in a group.

The programme is based at Schwarzman College, Tsinghua University, and governed with an advisory board that the programme describes as including former heads of state and government, Nobel laureates and business leaders. Its orientation on leadership is run in partnership with the Rhodes Trust.

The class is deliberately international. The programme aims for about 40 percent of each class from the United States, 20 percent from China and 40 percent from the rest of the world. Chinese citizens, and holders of passports or permanent residence from the mainland, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, apply in a separate cycle earlier in the year and interview at Tsinghua.

Scholars live and study together at Schwarzman College, which has its own teaching spaces, gym and recreation facilities. Much of the year happens outside the classroom: scholar-run clubs for music, theatre, sport and service, trips to the Summer Palace, the Lama Temple and other sites, and travel around China during long weekends and holidays.

Career support runs through the year, with individual coaching, events, site visits and help with job searches and further graduate applications. The first graduates went on to consulting firms, banks, technology companies, think tanks and graduate programmes at leading universities, and the programme presents its alumni network as a lifelong source of support and collaboration.