Jack Ma and Hupan University: Cultivating the Next Generation of Chinese Entrepreneurs Through Failure Education

Hupan doesn't do graduation. Once admitted, students are required to show up at the campus for 4 days every 2 months, attending the school's 3-year, part-time based academic program in order to get all the necessary credits.

After completing the learning requirement, which includes writing a thesis paper for the 3rd year, students are still welcomed to auditing for new classes or participating in discussion groups at any time, both within and beyond campus.

"We are not a formal public higher education institution and we don't intent to be", introduces Zhou, "the whole purpose of our university, as principal Ma repeatedly emphasized, is to create an environment for knowledge-thirst entrepreneurs to learn and grow as a community, instead of just showing up, networking or grabbing a degree. It's is all about education."

From students, staff members, trustees to Principal Ma himself, everyone at Hupan shares a humble respect and burning passion for learning. As a community of impact-drivers and change-makers, they understand the value of knowledge, and are genuinely open to share just about every valuable, personal experience with each other.

Classes at Hupan University.

So how to create an education experience that truly enriches its students?

For Hupan University, the answer lies in its careful yet innovative curriculum design. "The University is super flexible when it comes to course development," said Zhao Yi, the CEO of Earth&People,  Hupan University's student of the 2015 class. "The staff team will ask for our specific needs in terms of what we want to learn, and we could even request for a particular teacher/mentor for specific classes. As a student of Hupan, I could feel that there is really no limit for the school when it comes to mobilizing teaching resources for us students."

And there really isn't. Unlike traditional MBA courses which are taught mainly by academic professors, the majority of Hupan's classes are taught by the most influential, top-tier entrepreneurs in today's China.

Education is what matters.

Having grasped the opportunity of China's social and economic changes in the early 90s and fought their way up fiercely until this day, these folks are the real drivers of the Chinese economy. For them, things never just stay on papers; they poured their hearts and souls on the battlefield, made many bloody, cruel mistakes, tripped, stagnated and even failed. Yet again and again, they managed to bounce back and continue to march forward in creating new ventures in China and globally.

After over 3 decades of relentlessly hard work, today, more than anything, they are passionate about sharing all of their experiences to a new generation of emerging Chinese entrepreneurs. The things they missed before success, the dangers that trapped them in desperations, the lessons they didn't learn and wish they'd have learnt now looking back, these are what being shared openly and intimately again and again inside Hupan's classrooms.

Mr. Liu Chuanzhi, the founder of Lenovo, taught a class for Hupan students last year titled "How to Deal With Complex Relationships as an Entrepreneur ".

He revised his lecture contents for over 10 times before actually teaching the class, "I've never so carefully prepared for my notes in a decade," says Liu, "I truly believe Hupan University's students would be the future forces of the Chinese economy."