Recently, Tsinghua University PBC School of Finance (Tsinghua PBCSF) was officially notified by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) that it had been granted AACSB accreditation for a six-year period. This signifies that the school’s overall educational quality in areas such as talent cultivation, academic research, faculty, internationalization, and internal management has been highly recognized by top global business schools. It is a significant milestone in the school’s journey to becoming a world-class finance school with Chinese characteristics.
AACSB accreditation is one of the most prestigious and influential certifications in the global business education field, often referred to as the “gold standard” of business education. The accreditation process is extremely rigorous, covering multiple dimensions such as strategic planning, faculty, curriculum, academic influence, and internationalization. It aims to ensure that business schools meet top international standards in educational quality and management.
Tsinghua PBCSF began its AACSB accreditation journey in 2019. Since then, the school has adhered to high standards and strict requirements, meticulously preparing and steadily advancing. In 2020, the school successfully passed the eligibility application and officially entered the initial accreditation phase. From 2021 to 2024, the school completed three annual progress reports and, starting in 2024, accelerated its efforts to improve the quality of its education and made solid preparations for the accreditation.
Tsinghua PBCSF made great preparation for the accreditation
From March 30 to April 2, 2025, the AACSB peer review team, comprising Professor Jean Chen (University of Kent; former Dean, University of Macau Faculty of Business Administration), Professor T.C. Edwin Cheng (Dean, Faculty of Business, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University), and Professor Shijun Cheng (Dean, Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance, Shanghai Jiao Tong University), visited the school for an on-site evaluation.
The on-site evaluation
Building upon PBCSF's Self-Evaluation Report, the PRT meticulously examined the School's physical and virtual facilities, and engaged in extensive discussions with school leadership, faculty, staff, students, alumni, and employer partners. This process rigorously assessed all aspects of the School's operations against AACSB standards, including strategic direction, internationalization efforts, resource management, teaching innovation, faculty qualifications and research output, and intellectual and societal impact.
During the visit debrief, the PRT expressed strong recognition of PBCSF's overall performance and achievements. Key strengths highlighted included the School's high-quality international scholarship, exceptional faculty and students, practice-oriented teaching, active industry engagement, and positive intellectual and societal impact. The PRT also provided constructive feedback to support the School's continuous improvement.
The PRT gave suggestions to the school
The school has always regarded international accreditation as an important driving force and opportunity for development. During the exchange with the review experts, Dean Jie Jiao expressed his gratitude for their visit and valuable suggestions. He noted that the school, which originated from the People’s Bank of China Graduate School in 1981, has a 40-year history of glory. The school upholds the Tsinghua motto of “Self-discipline and Social Commitment” and the PBCSF tradition of “Endeavour, Innovation, Harmony, Contribution”. It has trained a large number of outstanding graduates in the financial and industrial sectors who have made important contributions to China’s economic and financial reforms and development at different times. Gaining AACSB accreditation is an important step for the school to step onto the world stage. The school will continue to draw strength from its history, leverage Tsinghua University’s comprehensive disciplinary advantages, inherit and promote the school’s traditions and characteristics, actively serve the country’s major strategic needs, and strive to build a world-class finance school with Chinese characteristics by following the strategic path of “More Professional, More Technological, More International, More Humanistic and Distinctive Tsinghua Identity.”
Chairperson of School Council, Liangfei Gu said that under the current circumstances, the school needs to continuously improve its governance system. Through AACSB accreditation, the school hopes that experts will continue to pay attention to its development and offer valuable suggestions. The school is willing to continue interactive exchanges with top global business schools to jointly promote the cultivation of financial talent and academic and policy research.
In recent years, the PBC School of Finance has achieved remarkable results in talent cultivation, academic and policy research, faculty development, and internationalization. The high-quality Master of Finance, Master of Sci-Tech and Finance, and Ph.D. in Finance (including joint Ph.D. programs with the People’s Bank of China) have been highly attractive degree programs. The Finance MBA dual-degree program in cooperation with Cornell University has ranked first in the “Top 10 Best Finance MBAs in China” for six consecutive years. The Finance EMBA program has gathered leading figures from the financial, technological, and industrial sectors. The “Belt and Road” Finance EMBA program, which has been running for eight years, has attracted outstanding entrepreneurs, unicorn founders, and political elites from countries along the “Belt and Road,” becoming an EMBA program with distinct international characteristics. The school’s multi-level and high-level executive education programs have trained a large number of high-quality financial talents. The school’s faculty members have continuously published high-quality research papers in top international and domestic journals and have submitted numerous policy research reports to the country, providing decision-making support for promoting high-quality financial development and becoming one of the most important think tanks in China’s financial field.
Facing the complex and changing international environment, the school has vigorously promoted internationalization under the guidance of Tsinghua University’s globalization strategy and actively expanded international partnerships, forming strategic partnerships with key institutions in key regions. The “Tsinghua PBCSF Global Finance Forum,” which has been successfully held for 11 years, has attracted over a hundred leaders from political, business, and academic fields and tens of thousands of audiences. Focusing on perspectives of “China and the World”, “Reform and Policies”, and “Academics and Practices”, the forum brings discussions on major issues in economic and financial fields, promote dialogue and exchanges.
Looking ahead, the school will continue to uphold its mission of “Leading Finance education and research for national and global prosperity.” Guided by the AACSB accreditation standards, the school will continuously improve its educational quality, focus on the five major sectors emphasized at the Central Financial Work Conference, and promote innovation and breakthroughs in areas such as FinTech and TechFin. It will build a Chinese autonomous financial knowledge system with Chinese characteristics, make unique and important Tsinghua contributions to China’s financial reform and development, and contribute Tsinghua wisdom and strength to global financial education and research.
