Agreement establishes formal ties between entrepreneurial centers at each institution

The Lally School of Management & Technology at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the School of Management at Zhejiang University signed a five-year agreement to enhance and strengthen the global reach of each university’s entrepreneurial business and technology programs. The agreement is set to formally launch in November this year. Zhejiang, sometimes referred to as Zheda, is one of China’s oldest and most prestigious institutions of higher education.
 
“In serving the mandate of The Rensselaer Plan to transform the Institute into a pre-eminent technological research university with global reach and global impact, the formal agreement with Zhejiang University certainly hits the mark,” said David Gautschi, dean of the Lally School. “Zheda is a pre-eminent university in China with outstanding faculties of science, engineering, and management. The fit with Rensselaer is very good in terms of research interests.”
 
The agreement formally links the Entrepreneurial Research Center of Zhejiang and the Severino Center for Technological Entrepreneurship of the Lally School. For Zhejiang, the agreement augments a partnership with China’s Ministry of Labor to shift Zhejiang’s educational focus from employment to entrepreneurship. In addition to facilitating student and faculty exchanges, key initiatives will include joint faculty research, delivery of a virtual curriculum across the two institutions, and jointly designed and delivered executive programs on innovation and corporate entrepreneurship.
 
Dean Wang, executive dean of the School of Management, pointed out, “We are very enthusiastic about our collaboration with the Lally School of Rensselaer. Our two institutions have very complementary strengths relating to global entrepreneurship and technology commercialization. We have had very constructive discussions and plan on launching specific collaborative activities this academic year.”

The collaboration will also create internship opportunities for students from each institution at enterprises in China and the U.S. The Lally School sees this agreement as a model for additional international collaborations that involve industry players and academic partners, Gautschi noted.

The entire undergraduate experience at Rensselaer continues its transformation with challenging, engaging, and highly relevant academic and student life programs as outlined inThe Undergraduate Plan. A crucial component of this plan is the goal to provide an international educational experience for all undergraduates during their time at Rensselaer. Such opportunities include structured study abroad programs, as well as other international experiences such as internships, exchange programs, or other overseas opportunities. 
 
“Zheda has almost 2,000 international students who follow studies in English and Mandarin, and is well situated to accommodate the rising demand for student exchanges from all academic units within Rensselaer,” Gautschi said.