Universities and other higher education institutions in China are seeking to reposition themselves and redefine their relations with the government, society and the business world. To reshape their functions smoothly, decision makers should collaborate and exchange more with their foreign counterparts, including Silicon Valley.

In a meeting with alumni and entrepreneurs in the San Francisco Bay Area, Chen Jining, the visiting president of the Tsinghua University, acknowledged that his school is facing many challenges. For example, he and his management team need to cope with the changing needs that society and the general public impose on higher education, and figure out what role Tsinghua should play to expedite China’s opening up and technological innovation as the world’s second largest economy develops.

"Modern education around the world is encountering many challenges," said Chen. "I don’t think any single university could claim that by itself it can overcome the difficulties."

Tsinghua has been on the fast track of launching academic collaboration and exchanges with prestigious Western counterparts in recent years, and has signed agreements establishing joint institutes with schools in Israel and the United States this year.

Chen, the 50-year-old professor of environmental system analysis and a member of the National Environmental Advisory Commission, received his PhD from Imperial College of London in 1993 and was named president of Tsinghua in 2012. Since he took this position, he has spared no effort to inspire and promote cross-border cooperation between institutions.

In May, the XIN Center, a joint institute between Tel Aviv University in Israel and Tsinghua University was created on a $300-million budget, and is expected to initially focus on research on nanotechnology, and later expand into developing solutions for problems in water treatment, environmental issues and medicine. The Xin Center will bring together scientists and students from both institutions.

"Higher education across the globe is changing rapidly, and universities are exerting a new impact on the economy and society," said Chen at the signing ceremony in Tel Aviv. "The aim of the XIN center is to cultivate the innovators and entrepreneurs of the future."

In September, Chen signed an agreement with his counterpart at the University of California, Berkeley, Chancellor Nicholas Dirks, to establish a joint institute in South China’s Shenzhen to promote research collaboration and graduate student education between China and the US.

The two universities aim to integrate their research programs to address social needs and global challenges, said Dirks at the signing ceremony. The Tsinghua-UC Berkeley Shenzhen Institute, to be located on Tsinghua’s Shenzhen campus, will be launched by the end of the year and conduct research in nanotechnology and nanomedicine, low-carbon and new energy technologies, data science and next-generation information technology.

Chen said that the enrollment of doctoral students is set for early 2015 followed by establishment of master's program in 2016. "There will be about 50 doctoral students, 30 percent of them from abroad," he added.

Calling the partnership a "milestone", Chen said it is expected to provide a unique environment for transformational technology research and education. "It will be essential to cultivate tomorrow's entrepreneurs and world leaders in science and technology," he said.

Although Chen is uncertain about whether an entrepreneur is born or can be taught and trained through a modern education system, he said he will lead Tsinghua to work more closely with the business world circle to nurture top-notch entrepreneurship on campus.

"Today's entrepreneurs are no longer company executives who manage the enterprise, which was Tsinghua's strength before. They are the founders who start a company," said Chen at the opening ceremony of Tsinghua’s X Lab, an innovative interdisciplinary educational platform to cultivate talent for entrepreneurship and innovation in 2013.

The entrepreneurship education goes beyond the old model, said Chen. He believes that an increasing number of future leaders will come from among entrepreneurs. "They will become the core force of society, which is a trend in social development," he said.

Xie Qing, founder of Fortinet and NetScreen and alumnus of Tsinghua, said Silicon Valley is a mecca for people with entrepreneurial minds and innovative ideas. The seamless connection between academia, industry and startups, and the transformation between research findings and technology execution in the Bay Area serves as an excellent example for Tshinghua, Xie said.

Chen and his delegation are on a tight schedule in San Francisco. He visited Facebook on Tuesday and will sit with US and Chinese entrepreneurs at the Bay Area Council on Wednesday, besides meeting faculty members and partners at the University of California, Berkeley.

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