Former Premier Meets With Tsinghua University's Advisory Board

(Beijing) — Former Premier Zhu Rongji met about two dozen members of the Advisory Board of the elite Tsinghua University's business school recently, expressing gratitude toward board members for contributing to Tsinghua's academic achievement, according to a statement the school released on Sunday.

Zhu, 88, was premier of the State Council, the country's cabinet, from 1998 to 2003. He is the founding dean of Tsinghua's School of Economics and Management and now the honorary chairman of the advisory board.

Among those attending were former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson and Ma Huateng, founder of internet giant Tencent Inc., who joined the board this year.

Also speaking at the meeting was Nitin Nohria, dean of the Harvard Business School and a member of the advisory board.

Nohria said his students can get a rare insight into what's happening in the Chinese business community, particularly the Chinese internet and high-tech firms, through some of the cases his school is able to share with Tsinghua.

Ma, who founded Tencent in the southern city of Shenzhen in 1998, joined the board as a new member along with Cyrus P. Mistry, chairman of Tata Sons; Brian L. Roberts, chairman and CEO of Comcast Corp.; and Jacob Wallenberg, chairman of Investor AB, according to a school statement on Oct. 17.

Two Nobel laureates in economics — Eric S. Maskin and Michael Spence — were also inducted as members of the board, which also includes Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook and top economic academics and regulators around the world.

Ma told a global forum on business management at Tsinghua on Saturday that it is important for management at a company to keep themselves abreast of what's trending among the younger generations, and to make the best use of talented young workers.

"My conviction nowadays is that if you do not have a solution, you should leave it to the people with the know-how," Ma said.

Contact reporter Li Rongde (rongdeli@caixin.com); editor Kerry Nelson (kerry@caixin.com)