February 21, 2008 — The University of Virginia's McIntire School of Commerce has established undergraduate student exchange partnerships with two of the top business schools in Asia: Hong Kong University of Science and Technology's School of Business and Management, and the Guanghua School of Management at Peking University. The separate partnerships will allow McIntire and the Asian schools to send students to one another's campuses for semester-long exchanges starting in the 2008-09 academic year. In addition, the agreements lay the foundations for collaboration in graduate programs and research between McIntire and each of the two schools.
 
"We are extremely excited about our new partnerships with HKUST Business School and Guanghua School of Management," said McIntire Dean Carl Zeithaml. "Globalization is a major strategic initiative for the University of Virginia, and these new alliances will provide outstanding opportunities for student-exchange programs and collaborative faculty research in a dynamic region of the world. Our new partnerships are cemented by a shared commitment to providing students with an education that prepares them to become international business leaders and outstanding global citizens. We look forward to many fruitful years of cooperation and friendship with both of these outstanding institutions."

The acting dean of the Hong Kong Business School, Leonard Cheng, echoed Zeithaml's sentiments. "International student exchange programs like the one we are launching with the McIntire School are very important to our goal of providing all our students with overseas experience as we gradually move to a four-year curriculum. In addition to student exchange programs, our students' overseas experience can be enhanced through other activities, such as study tours, international case competitions, community projects and internship opportunities outside of Hong Kong."

Dean Weiying Zhang of Guanghua School of Management also responded enthusiastically to the new partnership. "We are delighted by our new partnership with the McIntire School of Commerce, and by the many prospects for mutual enrichment that the partnership promises," Zhang said. "Globalization presents us with many challenges, but it also offers us the opportunity to meet those challenges in creative, constructive and collaborative ways. We see our new partnership with McIntire as providing just such an opportunity, and we are very much committed to making the collaboration an outstanding success and finding ways to further deepen our relationship."

In addition to the undergraduate exchange programs with each school, McIntire intends to partner with both institutions as international immersion sites for the new M.S. in Commerce Program, which will enroll its first class in 2008-09. In the spring and summer of 2009, M.S. in Commerce students will travel to Beijing and Hong Kong for more than a month of study and interaction with business leaders in the region. Over the next few years, the McIntire School hopes to offer other commerce graduate students the opportunity to visit and study in these Asian locations. McIntire faculty will accompany the students, and plan to teach and conduct research with the faculty of both institutions.

During the first offering of the M.S. in Commerce Program, students also will have an option to study in Copenhagen. The number of international immersion sites is expected to grow as the program expands.

Established in 1991, the HKUST School of Business and Management quickly established itself as one of the most highly respected business schools in Asia, known for its outstanding research and teaching. The school was the first in the region to be awarded accreditation by both the United States-based Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business and the European Quality Improvement System. HKUST's business programs are consistently ranked among the very best in the world by international media, and the Economist Intelligence Unit called its faculty "one of the world's best qualified."

Founded in 1898 as a comprehensive and national key university, Peking University is one of the most prestigious universities in China. Guanghua School of Management was founded in 1993 and is committed to providing the Chinese and international business communities with cutting-edge management knowledge and to producing graduates who will make a difference in the world.