新加坡海峡时报:浙大跻身中国“亿万富豪大学”前三!
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冯用军博士接受《新加坡海峡时报》采访,揭秘浙大跻身“亿万富豪大学”前三
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The Straits Times (Singapore)
February 24, 2011 Thursday
874 words
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Zhejiang among 'billionaire
varsities';
The partner of fourth S'pore varsity
ranks third in China for producing rich alumni
Ho Ai Li, China Correspondent
BEIJING: A key partner of
Singapore's fourth public-funded university has been ranked third
in China in terms of producing billionaires.
Zhejian
g University, which is in a tie-up with the Singapore University of
Technology and Design (SUTD), has come in at No. 3 in the league of
Chinese varsities with the richest alumni.
It is just behind China's best
colleges, Peking University and Tsinghua University, in the
billionaire alumni sweepstakes.
Some 66 billionaires came from
Zhejiang, compared to 79 and 70 from Peking and Tsinghua,
respectively, in the study released last month by the China
University Alumni Association and local media partners.
Zhejiang is way ahead of Shanghai's
Fudan University, in fourth place with 46 billionaires. It also has
the most generous alumni in China, said the same study, which
traced the schools of about 2,000 Chinese billionaires, who have a
net worth of at least a billion yuan (S $194 million) each.
Universities which did well tend to
be comprehensive ones that aim to produce scientists, politicians
as well as businessmen, noted the researchers of the report.
'Zhejiang University is a five-star
university with a first-class teaching team and scholars of global
renown. It is a comprehensive varsity outstanding for grooming
talent and contributing to science,' Dr Feng Yongjun, one of the
researchers, told The Straits Times.
The area where a college is located
also plays a part, he noted. Those in the top 10 tend to be in
prosperous cities or regions such as Beijing, Shanghai or
Guangdong, with more business opportunities.
Zhejiang is based in Hangzhou,
capital of coastal Zhejiang province, which is known for
entrepreneurship.
'The province has a culture of
commerce and many small and medium enterprises,' said Professor
Chen Jin, deputy dean of Zhejiang University's undergraduate
school.
It is famous for producing computer
and textile tycoons alike. The wealthiest of them all is former
tailor Zhou Chengjian, 45, the man behind the popular Metersbonwe
casual wear brand found in cities across China.
Mr Zhou, who did an Executive Master
of Business Administration (EMBA) course at Zhejiang, was No. 15 on
the Forbes 2010 list of the 400 richest Chinese, with an estimated
net worth of US $3.6 billion (S $4.5 billion). He is from the Class
of 2004.
Others on the list include Mr Duan
Yongping, 50, an engineering graduate from the Class of 1978 who
founded the Bu Bu Gao Electronics Group; and Mr Tian Ning, 34, a
zoology graduate from the Class of 1997. Mr Tian is behind Zhejiang
Panshi Information Technology Co which sells computers as well as
online advertising.
'In our curriculum, we also
emphasise innovation and entrepreneurship,' said Prof Chen.
For the past 10 years, the
university has been offering a 'mini MBA' course to 60 talented
undergraduates each year. Through classes, internships and
networking sessions, students get to hone their business skills, he
added.
It also offers seed money to
students who aspire to start their own ventures. Right now, less
than 3 per cent of Zhejiang graduates become bosses and the
university wants to bump it up to 5 per cent, he added.
In its partnership with the SUTD,
lecturers from Zhejiang University will fly to Singapore to teach
classes in areas such as design, entrepreneurship and urban
planning.
'We'd have special lessons on how to
set up businesses in China. We hope to transmit the Chinese
elements in our lessons,' Prof Chen said.
Students will be able to apply for
internships of eight weeks with companies in Zhejiang.
The SUTD is slated to open its doors
next year.
hoaili@sph.com.sg
Wealthy alumni = good varsity?
Rankings rankle
IS IT right to rank universities by
the number of rich graduates they have?
Some in China have criticised a
recent ranking of universities for promoting the wrong values,
Xinhua reported.
The emergence of the wealthy has
come about due to China's reforms and opening up in the past 30
years and is not a direct result of brand-name schools or
knowledge, Renmin University academic Zhou Xiaozheng told the state
news agency.
There were about 2,000 individuals
with a net worth of at least a billion yuan (S $190 million) each
as of the end of 2009, according to the Hurun Report.
How many of these billionaires owe
their riches to the universities they attended, or was it a case of
billionaires going to the universities to get their academic
laurels, asked Beijing's Jinghua News in an editorial.
Professor Chen Jin, deputy dean of
Zhejiang University's undergraduate school, thinks there is nothing
wrong in ranking universities according to the number of
billionaire alumni they produce. 'Creating wealth is not a bad
thing. Universities should also contribute to the creation of
wealth.'
Dr Feng Yongjun, one of the
researchers behind the ranking, told The Straits Times the ranking
of rich alumni was just one of several indicators to assess
universities. Other indicators include the number of scientists or
political figures produced.
World-class universities such as
Harvard and Yale in the US are also known for their rich and
generous alumni, said Dr Feng, who is from Xiamen University.
'World-class universities are also
first-class in creating wealth and in terms of alumni giving,' he
said.
HO AI LI
February 23, 2011