By Rikki N. Massand and Lyndon Qing Cao (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-03-06 09:23

CAMBRIDGE: Harvard's graduate school has renewed a five-year agreement for a joint program with Tsinghua University.

The agreement helps 50 to 60 officials go on a six-week rotation program, four of which is spent at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, or the graduate school, says Prof Tony Saich. During the other two weeks they visit New York, Washington D.C. and Michigan to experience US government's operations, according to Saich.

Executive associate dean of Tsinghua University's School of Public Policy and Management Xue Lan has been traveling between the two universities.

"Tsinghua University translates the Harvard cases for classes in China. Kennedy School professors are also getting to know China," he says.

Nearly all of Xue's fellow instructors have incorporated elements of China into their lessons, says Saich.

To attract future world leaders, policy organizers and decision-makers, the school recently adopted a shorter name, Harvard Kennedy School or HKS, and a new slogan: "Ask What You Can Do", from the famous speech of assassinated US president John F. Kennedy.

The school's associate dean for Communications & Public Affairs, Melodie Jackson, says the change reinforces the connection to Harvard and makes it clearer and more concise for the media.

The school looks to marketing tools to move forward and has already tapped one. More than any other country, China will factor into the school's present and future, says HKS Dean David Ellwood.

Ellwood's goal is to get more students from China, and he considers reducing the cost of the programs as his biggest mission. To do so, financial initiatives such as scholarships and fellowships are being contemplated.