Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management (Tsinghua SEM) held an opening convocation to welcome its Class of 2030 undergraduate students and provide them with orientation on August 20, 2026.

Among the attendees were Bai Chong-En, the dean, Lin Zhijie, an associate dean, Zhang Chen, the assistant dean, Feng Runhuan, a teacher representative, and representatives of teachers of the Class of 2030: Zhu Yan, Cao Jing, Luo Ting, Yu Tong and Zhang Shufeng. The heads of various offices of Tsinghua SEM and more than 180 first-year undergraduates also took part in the event. Zhu Yujie, director of the Academic Affairs Office, presided over the ceremony.

Bai Chong-En delivered a keynote speech entitled "Honing Core Skills in the New Era, Embarking Upon a New Journey to Facilitate Chinese Modernization with Youthful Energy and Solid Actions," and elaborated on the essential skills that the first-year students need to acquire to grow academically and professionally. He said for undergraduates, the four years at college is a crucial period to reskill, upgrade thinking and broaden horizons, and he hoped that the first-year students would acquire four core skills in order to successfully launch a career, establish themselves in society and grow professionally.

Accurately identifying problems is the first skill Bai outlined. The students should learn how to find the right direction, identify things that can generate value, and choose a premium area that generates social value, meets the needs of the era, arouses genuine interest, and empowers their academic and professional growth. The second skill is to solve problems in a systemic way. The students should learn how to choose the right path, take the first steps and achieve their goals with solid actions. They should be good at using tools to empower their growth, adhere to independent thinking, and hone their skills in leadership, communication and collaboration. The third skill is to make value-based decisions. The students should learn to make rational decisions and sustain their moral standards. In the decision-making process, they should take social impact into account, and strictly follow the moral rules, in order to root all their explorations and creations in positive values and avoid crossing the line. The fourth skill is to maintain sustained growth. The students should maintain lifelong self-improvement, grow in the right direction and pursue excellence all their life. They should develop the habit of lifelong learning, keep renewing their knowledge and learn to step out of their comfort zones in order to deal with all the changes in this era.

Bai Chong-En delivers a keynote speech at the Tsinghua SEM opening convocation for the Class of 2030.

Bai also emphasized the three crucial abilities that underlie the development and implementation of all the skills. The first ability is critical thinking. The students should be able to identify truths from a torrent of confusing information, make a rational choice from diverse options, shake off empirical shackles and step out of their comfort zones. In this way, they will maintain a grip on reality, remain clear-eyed and fix on the right direction. The second ability is to know how to deal with uncertainty and remain resilient. The students should learn how to make a choice in an uncertain environment. They should acquire the ability to withstand pressure and difficulty, and adopt a never-give-up attitude. Only by doing this will they be able to keep a stable mind, stick to their initial aspirations and make steady progress in an ever-changing environment. The third ability is a comprehensive understanding of the institutional environment, policy and the market. The students should understand the law of value of the markets for products and ideas, and know how to create and harvest value. More importantly, they should understand the logic behind China's political system and policy in order to make personal decisions that suit China's development direction.

In conclusion, Bai expressed hope that the new students prioritize developing their skills by working hard on the majors that they have chosen, practicing thinking, grasping the general trend, focusing on the right direction and taking solid actions. If they do, he said, they will be able to integrate their personal development into the great cause of Chinese modernization. And they will embark on a great journey in the new era, with superior skills, a broad vision and a never-give-up attitude.

Bai Chong-En presents the representatives of the first-year students with copies of Zhu Rongji on the Record at the opening convocation.

After the speech, Bai presented the representatives of the first-year students with copies of Zhu Rongji on the Record.

Feng Runhuan delivers a speech at the opening convocation.

Feng Runhuan, a teacher representative and professor from the Department of Finance, shared insights on life choices. Feng said that after entering college, a student officially gets a "driver's license" to make life choices. He offered three suggestions: First, the student needs to decide what direction they should take, because this will determine their life prospects, and they should proactively make choices and seek answers; second, the student doesn't need to mirror other people's path to success: they should instead consider what path suits themselves and refrain from self-doubt; third, the student shouldn't focus solely on finding the optimal, shortest path to success, but should keep exploring the boundaries of their capabilities.

Feng used Tsinghua's motto "Self-discipline and Social Commitment" to convey an important message. "Self-discipline" means that the student should adhere to the path that they have chosen, and continue improving themselves when facing ambiguous or mixed feedback from outside. "Social Commitment" means the student should acquire the necessary skills, and at the same time they should understand what impact their personal choices will make on others and society. Feng expressed hope that the first-year students learn how to analyze the market and understand themselves. They should learn how to manage an organization as well as their lives. At college, not only should they try to achieve academic excellence, but they should acquire the skills in making judgement calls and a sense of responsibility, which will bring lifelong benefits. They should be brave enough to choose a different path when facing uncertainty to live a life that they desire.

Chen Yiwei, a representative of the senior students, delivers a speech at the opening convocation.

Chen Yiwei, president of the Tsinghua Student Union and representative of the senior students, shared his experiences of Tsinghua SEM. Chen said that college life goes far beyond the theory and principles found in the textbooks: it is an exploration of diverse culture and a learning journey through trial and error. Over the past three years at Tsinghua SEM, he has participated in social field practices, exchange programs both at home and abroad, and cultural and sports activities for students. He has experienced the joy in success after hard work and also felt lost when suffering failures. However, the various experiences have broadened his horizons and enabled him to find the direction of personal development.

Chen made three suggestions to the first-year students: First, be proactive in exploration and communication; second, remain self-motivated and learn to manage themselves; third, learn to position themselves based on the actual circumstances and not be afraid of difficulty and failure. He encouraged the first-year students to be brave, act decisively and remain composed under any circumstances. They should be fearless in exploration, use their hearts to feel the things around them, and learn to understand the world and themselves. They need to learn what they are truly interested in and good at. As Tsinghua SEM students, they should live a full life not defined by anyone else.

Wang Ziyang, a representative of the first-year students, delivers a speech at the opening convocation.

Wang Ziyang, a first-year student representative, also delivered a speech. He used "progress" and "main character" as keywords to share his feelings after coming to Tsinghua as a first-year student. Wang said that "progress" doesn't mean forging ahead nonstop. As a Tsinghua student, he said he plans to take "Self-discipline and Social Commitment" as his own motto, maintain a grounded attitude toward academic studies, and keep exploring to reach new heights. He pointed out that to be the true main character of your life means becoming a grounded person with a great sense of responsibility, rather than staying in the spotlight forever. In this era of economic upheavals, he said he aims to value actions more than words as the school ethos indicate, remain dedicated to his family and the nation, and improve his critical thinking skills. And he said he is determined to retain academic integrity, and remain grounded in his academic studies and life. Wang said that as a Tsinghua SEM student, he feels great pride as well as tremendous responsibility. He expressed hope that he and his peers would fully use the high-quality platform and resources that Tsinghua SEM provides to improve themselves. They should keep their families and country in their minds, spare no effort in their academic studies, he added, and make contributions to China’s economic construction in the future.

At the first-year students orientation session, officials briefed the new students on the evolution of Tsinghua SEM, the talent development strategy, the academic standards, campus life, international exchange programs, future career opportunities and other important issues concerning the students' interests.

Lin Zhijie briefs the first-year students on general information about Tsinghua SEM.

Lin Zhijie kicked off the session by introducing the history and unique features of Tsinghua SEM, elaborating on the educational concepts behind the undergraduate programs, and talking about the resources and programs that Tsinghua SEM offers. Tsinghua SEM emphasizes fostering students' curiosity, imagination and critical thinking, shaping students' scientific and humanistic literacy, and improving their resilient personality and their ability to deal with uncertainty. It lays emphasis on breaking the barriers between different disciplines, and encourages its students to realize their potential and grow into top talents in the areas that they excel at. In addition, Tsinghua SEM provides plenty of opportunities for its students to participate in various social practices, cultural and sports activities, and academic competitions, among some others. It gives its student numerous, diverse platforms for personal development.

Lin encouraged the new students to fully use the high-quality resources that Tsinghua SEM provides, to proactively seize the ample opportunities for learning and applying what they learn into practice, and to broaden their horizons through sustained exploration. In this way, he said, they will realize personal growth and development in a comprehensive manner.

Zhang Chen briefs the first-year students on the majors and programs that Tsinghua SEM provides.

Zhang Chen talked about the educational goals, skills development system, majors and programs for undergraduate students. She said that Tsinghua SEM's undergraduate programs aim to "produce professionals who understand economic rules, artificial intelligence (AI) and data science, and will grow into decision-makers in future industries and value creators in areas of frontier technology". The economic and management disciplines provide a three-tier integrated system for skills development, covering basic thinking skills and personal competitiveness in future industries. The undergraduate programs are designed to break the barriers between different disciplines. They link the curricula of two major disciplines: economics and finance, and information management and information systems. At the same time, Tsinghua SEM provides diverse, frontier and innovative courses, and attaches equal importance to professional education and liberal education. It emphasizes integrating economics, management and frontier technology, and improving its students' AI and data science literacy. It provides its students with great freedom of exploration.

The participants in the opening convocation.

Finally, Liu Yue, director of the Student Affairs Office, Sun Wei, director of the International Affairs Office, and Gu Yingjie, director of the Career Development Center, talked about Tsinghua SEM's student work and activities, international student exchange programs, international exchange initiatives and career guidance for students, among some other topics. Based on the actual needs of the students, the heads of various offices of Tsinghua SEM emphasized the disciplines, requirements and moral standards that the students should follow, and explained how to take part in various campus activities, the requirements and procedures for participating in international student exchange programs, the details about career planning guidance, and what support the students can receive for internships and job seeking. They helped the new students to quickly get familiar with the mature support system at Tsinghua SEM, and guided them on the use of the resources that Tsinghua SEM provides. In this way, the students will be assisted in planning a personal growth path leading from academic studies to a future career.

Editor: Ren Zhongxi