On Sunday, April 21st, in Beijing, the private-equity financier Stephen Schwarzman announced one of the single largest education gifts ever - $300 million - to fund a new study in China initiative. According to The New York Times, the Schwarzman Scholars program will pay all expenses for 200 students each year from around the world for a one-year master’s program at Qinghua University in Beijing. The program plans to fund 10,000 students over the next 50 years, with 45% coming from the United States, 20% from China, and 35% from Australia, Canada, Europe, Latin America and the rest of Asia.
While growing, the share of Americans studying in China continues to lag behind the economic importance that China plays both in the US and worldwide. This has been particularly true in Colorado and at CU. The Schwarzman Scholars program is envisioned as the Rhodes Scholarship of the 21st century. Hopefully it will begin to shift the balance in study abroad opportunities for US students toward Asia. CAS will keep the CU community up to date on the program's developments.
Link to article in the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/21/world/asia/us-financier-backs-china-scholarship-program.html
A New Yorker interview with Schwarzman: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/evanosnos/2013/04/rhodes-east-why-is-the-schwarzman-scholarship-in-china.html