Xi praises US-Chinese scholarship programme
April 21, 2013, 7:16 pm

The human society needs to foster talent through education says the Chinese president [BRICS5]

Xi made the remarks in a congratulatory letter to Sunday’s launch ceremony of Schwarzman Scholars programme jointly founded by Tsinghua University and Stephen Schwarzman, chairman of US investment and advisory firm Blackstone.

The $300 million scholarship offers a one-year study in China for postgraduates around the world to hone their international perspective and leadership quality, according to a statement on the official website of Tsinghua University.

“The human society needs to foster talents, pass on knowledge and explore the unknown through the means of education in order to understand and transform the world and create a better future for human beings,” Xi said in the letter.

US President Barack Obama also sent a congratulatory letter to the launch ceremony, calling for cooperation between nations and peoples to cope with challenges.

Among the donors to the programme are British Petroleum, Boeing, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Credit Suisse.

The Schwarzman Scholars programme will pay all expenses for 200 students each year from around the world for a one-year study in China.

According to The New York Times, the scholarship’s advisory board includes three former secretaries of state, Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell and Henry Kissinger; two former treasury secretaries, Robert Rubinand Henry Paulson Jr, former president Nicolas Sarkozy of France, and the former prime ministers of three countries, Tony Blair of Britain, Kevin Rudd of Australia and Brian Mulroney of Canada.

Mr Schwarzman was quoted as saying that the programme would try “forming an international network that can bridge differences between China and the West.”

With inputs from Xinhua