The Sloan School of Management's new China Management Education Project is part of a web of interrelated programs and activities at MIT that focus on China. They include:
MIT International Science and Technology Initiative (MISTI)--MISTI teaches MIT students and faculty how to learn and do research in an international context by providing them with a deep understanding of the societies of other countries. The objectives of MISTI's activities with China are to create a world-class center at MIT for learning about China, to facilitate research projects with China, to collaborate with premier research and educational institutions in China, and to share knowledge and experience with others in industry and academia as they learn to work in China.
Environment--One of MISTI's first projects was an international Conference on Sustainable Development and the Environment, co-hosted by MIT and Tsinghua University and held in Beijing in July 1995. This conference brought engineers, scientists and social scientists together with Chinese educators, researchers and government leaders to discuss ways to minimize possible adverse effects on the environment of China's burgeoning industrial development.
MIT-China Infrastructure Initiative--This initiative is studying the web of issues surrounding long-term economic growth and infrastructure development in China. As part of this initiative, MIT and Fudan University co-hosted a conference in Shanghai in May 1996, in which top decision-makers from key state, municipal and provincial agencies joined with senior representatives of international industry to discuss how best to realize the economic potential of the Yangtze River Basin. A second conference, focused on the infrastructure development issues in southern China, will be held in Hong Kong in October.
Chinese Language and Culture--A number of specific activities are under way aimed at meeting MIT students' growing interests in China. They include the Chinese Language and Literature program, a lecture series on China, the China Film Series, the Faculty Exchange Program, an internship program that will place up to 60 students a year in China, and a project to create the world's first Internet-based video archive of Chinese history.
Made in Hong Kong--A joint research initiative by MIT's Industrial Performance Center and MISTI whose purpose is to analyze the role of industry in the future development of the Hong Kong economy and to formulate recommendations for government, industry and academia based on that analysis. The research is sponsored by a broad spectrum of industrial, trade and government organizations from Hong Kong, the British Crown Colony that will become a Special Administrative Region under Chinese sovereignty on July 1, 1997.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on July 24, 1996.
