Chinese leader will visit campus to herald deal

The University will teach Chinese officials about the free market. Chinese President Jiang Zemin's 30-minute visit to campus Thursday, one of only three university stops he will make while in the country, is significant for both China and Penn -- but not for the reasons many might think. Despite some media reports, Jiang is not coming to receive an honorary award from the University -- Penn spokesperson Ken Wildes stressed yesterday that he's "answered the question at least five or six times?. We're not giving him a degree." Nor will he visit his former mentor, Engineering Professor Emeritus Gu Yuxiu, while on campus. Jiang and Gu will have tea privately during Jiang's half-day visit to Philadelphia. Instead, plans for the Chinese president's 5:30-6:00 p.m. appearance at the University Museum revolve around a "landmark agreement" to allow the Wharton School and Graduate School for Education to teach senior Chinese government officials the ways of the free market, according to Wharton's Office of Public Affairs. Jiang is expected to acknowledge this agreement -- which has been in the works for two years -- before the small group invited to his appearance at the University Museum. The new Executive Education management program is designed to familiarize executives in state-owned Chinese enterprises and multinational corporations with free market practices in order to enhance their competitiveness. "As the People's Republic of China continues to emerge as a significant force in the global economy, government administrators and executives will need to understand the dynamics of a competitive environment," Executive Education Vice Dean Robert Mittelstaedt said in a written statement. Executive Education Custom Programs Director Scott Koewer added that the Chinese government's interest in the program is not connected to the country's recent reacquisition of Hong Kong, whose free-market economy is one of the strongest in the world. The program has three tiers, one for each level of government-run companies. Provincial managers of such companies will be pre-selected by the government to participate in the program, and will take 6-8 weeks of classes in Philadelphia. National managers will also be preselected, but will take classes in Beijing. The city-level program in Shanghai will be open-enrollment. Wharton will fund the national program, which school administrators regard as "an investment," Koewer said. "[Wharton's involvement] is not much different from what a multinational corporation might do? it's a development opportunity," he added. Executive Education Division administrators made use of longstanding ties to the region to finalize the agreement. According to the statement, Wharton has over 500 alumni in the Greater China region, with clubs in Shanghai, Taipei and Hong Kong. Wharton created its first "watershed" senior executive program for the Shanghai municipal government in 1990, and the school is developing the current program in partnership with a very prominent local connection -- Jiang's son, Shanghai businessman Jiang Mian Heng. The program is being designed in cooperation with the Graduate School for Education, which will provide English language and cultural instruction for the executives, according to Education Dean Susan Fuhrman. Koewer added that professors from Wharton and the Graduate School for Education will teach both collaboratively and individually when participants in the program are on campus. "[The program] will be a very intense experience for all of us," he said. Daily Pennsylvanian staff writer Maureen Tkacik contributed to this article.