This spring, the New York University Shanghai Undergraduate Business Association concluded NYU Shanghai’s inaugural year with A Live Webinar from New York with Mr. Stephen Schwarzman, CEO, Chairman and Co-Founder of Blackstone. Mr. Schwarzman recently founded and endowed Schwarzman Scholars, an elite post-graduate program similar to the Rhodes Scholarship, located in Beijing, China. The aim of Schwarzman Scholars is to strengthen international ties by providing the next generation of leaders with the relationships, knowledge and understanding of China crucial to overcoming the defining geopolitical challenges of our time. Mr. Schwarzman kindly began his remarks by commending our class. "I want to congratulate all of you for being accepted to go to school in China at a terrific program and having the courage to do something different,” he said. “Not everybody does that, and I think that's an important step in your life." Schwarzman College, the future home of the 200 annually-selected Schwarzman Scholars, is currently under construction at Tsinghua University, one of China's premier and most selective universities. Students will work towards a one-year Master's degree and each scholar will choose from one of three academic disciplines – international relations, public policy, or economics. Much like NYU Shanghai, each Schwarzman Scholars class will be very diverse, with 45% of students from the U.S., 20% from China and 35% from the rest of the world. The program will begin accepting applications in the fall of 2015, with Schwarzman College opening its doors to the inaugural class in the summer of 2016. "This is a one year program, so we want to make sure students experience as much as they can. We are going to arrange for the students to travel to remote areas of the country, meet prominent officials, hear from international thought leaders, have real-world internship and mentorship opportunities in their area of study," added Mr. Schwarzman. “While at NYU Shanghai, I encourage you to have a good time and study hard. I admire what you are doing; I think it’s terrific and visionary. Congratulations to all of you.” At the conclusion of the talk, after thanking Mr. Schwarzman for his time, many students were already on their smartphones “liking” and “following” the Schwarzman Scholars program on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Who knows... maybe a few NYU Shanghai students could someday become Schwarzman Scholars! More on Schwarzman Scholars can be found at schwarzmanscholars.org, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. This article was written by Alexander Mayes. Send an email to [email protected] to get in touch. Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Undergraduate Business Association at NYU Shanghai