Graduate School of Business MBA Students Take Part in Offsite Module in China
MBA students of the HSE Graduate School of Business have recently completed the international component of their studies at the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University. The module focused on developing business through innovation. The participants discussed the impact of new technologies on corporate structures and visited companies operating in robotics and renewable energy.
Seventy MBA students from the HSE Graduate School of Business explored cultural and infrastructural specifics of doing business, strategies for marketing innovative products, product strategies for developing innovations, venture financing, organisational design for the companies of the future, the future of AI, and the nuances of product strategies for entering the Chinese market.
Over the course of a week, top managers and businesspeople from Russia examined how venture mechanisms work, how the innovation ecosystem is structured, and why Chinese companies are growing at such a remarkable pace.
Together with leading lecturers from Tsinghua University, participants discussed the cultural characteristics of doing business, the role of the state and investors, and the specifics of innovative thinking that underpin China’s technological success. The students analysed how technologies are transforming corporate structures, which tasks are being taken over by AI agents, and how companies are reorganising employee motivation systems under new conditions.
The practical part of the programme included visits to companies working in robotics and renewable energy. Participants saw how Chinese engineers create robots for medicine and industry, as well as innovative solutions for green energy—from wind turbines to intelligent power supply systems.
‘The rapid success of Chinese business and the economy is the result of a systemic approach rather than a series of coincidences. The key to the success of Chinese companies is their distinctive entrepreneurial mindset. They use a venture-driven approach: launching numerous brands to test the market quickly through trial and error and to implement changes at tremendous speed. MBA education must keep pace with these trends. Venture financing, rapid product launches, and AI-driven organisations—this was the focus of our module at Tsinghua University. The HSE Graduate School of Business will undoubtedly continue to collaborate with this university,’ said Vladimir Koptsev, Director of the Centre for MBA Programmes at the HSE Graduate School of Business.
All participants received certificates confirming their completion of the 40-hour programme. They noted its usefulness, rich content, and high quality.
HSE University has built strong partnerships with Tsinghua University, and the institutions are carrying out a number of joint projects together. In particular, on May 8, 2025, during an official visit of President of China Xi Jinping to Moscow, the parties signed an agreement on enhancing academic, cultural, and educational collaboration. In addition, in September this year a new bilateral agreement was concluded to develop joint projects in biology—from molecular and computational neurobiology to big data analysis with the help of artificial intelligence—including the creation of research groups, the preparation of academic publications, the organisation of internships for students and postgraduates, and the holding of scientific and educational events. In July, HSE University hosted early-career researchers from Tsinghua University, who attended a lecture on developments in artificial intelligence at the Faculty of Computer Science and held master classes for HSE students as part of the Day of Chinese Culture.
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