W&L’s Daichinkhuu ’16 Among 2022 Class of Schwarzman Scholars Oyumaa Daichinkhuu ’16 will complete a one-year master’s program at China’s Tsinghua University inspired by the Rhodes Scholarship program at the University of Oxford in England.

By Erica Turman
December 11, 2020

Oyumaa Daichinkhuu ’16 has been selected for the 2022 class of Schwarzman Scholars, a one-year master’s program at China’s Tsinghua University. Now in its sixth year, the Schwarzman Scholarship program was inspired by the Rhodes Scholarship program at the University of Oxford.

As an undergraduate student at Washington and Lee, Daichinkhuu majored in economics. Since graduation, she has worked as a senior consultant at EY Consulting, supporting clients’ digital transformation journeys across the U.S. and Asia Pacific regions and leading educational initiatives. Daichinkhuu helped establish EY’s wavespace innovation center in Hong Kong and was named champion in EY’s global mobile solution design competition.

Following a highly competitive application process, 154 Schwarzman Scholars were chosen from a field of more than 3,600 applicants representing 39 countries and 99 universities. The Class of 2022 cohort will enroll in August 2021.

“I was elated to find out that I will have the opportunity to study in Beijing alongside such a diverse and distinguished group of young leaders,” Daichinkhuu said. “I also felt immense gratitude to the mentors who guided me throughout the application process and to my professors at Washington and Lee who helped nurture my interest in international development and Chinese and global political economy, which I will continue to pursue during my time at Tsinghua University.”

The Schwarzman Scholars program is designed to prepare future global leaders to meet the geopolitical challenges of the 21st century. The vision of Schwarzman Scholars is to bring together the world’s best young minds to explore and understand the economic, political and cultural factors that have contributed to China’s increasing importance as a global power and to make them more effective as links between China and the rest of the world.

“Through Schwarzman Scholars, I hope to gain a better understanding of the Chinese political and economic institutions spurring entrepreneurship and the viability of these models as accelerants in developing countries,” Daichinkhuu said.