PBC School of Finance (PBCSF) of Tsinghua University was inaugurated on March 29 in the University Main Building. PBCSF, the 17th school of Tsinghua, is a successful result of cooperation between the central bankTsinghua on the basis of the Graduate School of People’s Bank of China (PBC), which was established in 1981.

The ceremony was attended by Minister of Education YUAN Guiren, Governor of PBC ZHOU Xiaochuan, Tsinghua University President CHEN Jining,Chairman of University Council HU Heping.

Governor Zhou was appointed as the honorary Dean while Madame Wu Xiaoling, Former Vice Governor of PBC, was appointed as the chairwoman of the BoardDean of PBCSF. Other board members includes vice presidents of Tsinghua University, vice governor of PBC, vice chairman of China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC), vice chairman of China Securities Regulatory Commission(CSRC), vice chairman of China Insurance Regulatory Commission(CIRC), representative of Liu Hongru Financial Education Foundation,representative of alumni.

The Minister said that the establishment of PBCSF as a high-end finance education platform is of great significance in terms of bringing China’s higher education to a new level, exploring cooperation on education between universitiesindustries, reforming China’s finance education,stepping up efforts to build world-class universities. He also hoped that PBCSF would capitalize on its strengths to provide well-trained, creative-thinking,high-level financial minds; focus on enhancing basic, appliedinterdisciplinary researches that are at the forefront of world finance studyin line with China’s interests;provide strong intellectual support as a national finance think-tank for China.

Governor Zhou talked about the high requirements on finance educationresearch placed by changes of the global finance landscape, rising of emerging economies,deepening of China’s reform. He reassured the central bank’s support for the Schoolalso hoped that it would forge a synergy between Tsinghua’s resources as a comprehensive, research-basedopen university, cultivate finance professionals who know both Chinainternational markets well,strive to be a leading finance education school both at homeabroad.

President Chen highly appreciated the contribution that the Graduate School of PBC has made to China’s finance reform in the past 30 years. He disclosed that the new finance school, PBCSF, is part of the overall development strategy of Tsinghua. President Chen also encouraged the School to continue its connections with finance regulators, synergize resources of the UniversityGSPBC, go on exploiting greater strengths through reform,make greater contribution to China as a world-leading finance school.

Madam Wu stated that the founding of PBCSF reflects that educationfinance communities long for high-end finance professionals. The School, according to her, will be a leading finance education, academicpolicy research platform that aims to cultivate high-level finance professionals with creative thinkingglobal perspectives.

ZHANG Zhiping, alumni representativePresident of Oriental Patron, said in his speech that with everyone’s support PBCSF is about to be the best among finance schools.

The ceremony was attended by over 200 people, including directors of PBC, alumnipresent students of GSPBC, Tsinghua’s faculty membersstudents, as well as other representatives.

In 1981, with the urgent responsibility of providing professionals for China’s financial reform, the Central Bank established the “Graduate School of People’s Bank of China Research Center” (later its name changed to the “Graduate School of People’s Bank of China”). In the same year, with the permission of the Ministry of Education, the School admitted its first class of graduate students. In 1987, it launched its Ph. D. program. The School enjoys an influential alumni network with 1,814 Master’s degree holders247 Ph.D. degree holders as of September 2011.

In PBCSF, the Dean will work under the supervision of the Board. It will recruit the best finance scholarseducators from all over the world to form its own facultyresearch teams.

The School will have Master of Science in Finance, Ph. D. in Finance, EMBAMBA programs. It also plans to send every doctoral candidate under its program overseas for a 1-2 year exchange program.

The School will be dedicated to academic research, policy researchfinance case studies,work as a consultant agency for policymakers in the central bank as well as other finance regulators.