The Belt and Road Institute at Peking University's Guanghua School of Management has launched a "future leaders" dualdegree international undergraduate program to cultivate global talent that understands China.

The program aims to develop the next generation of global leaders by equipping them with an intimate understanding of both China and their home markets, instilling cross-cultural knowledge, development language competency and creating opportunities to form friendships with other outstanding students from across the world, said Liu Qiao, dean of the school.

The first group of about 40 students, from 14 top-tier business schools across the globe, will join their Chinese counterparts at Guanghua School of Management in 2020 for the third and fourth years of undergraduate study, after completing their first two years in their home countries. The program will expand to around 100 students per year in the future, he said.

All participants in the program will receive a full, merit-based scholarship and take a customized, China-focused management curriculum, Liu said.

The students will have the opportunity to engage, through lectures and research projects, with government policymakers and industry experts from international companies, and will conduct company field visits and cultural exploration projects in Chinese cities and regions, he said.

Delegates from 11 universities participating in the program - including Moscow State University in Russia, York University in Canada and the University of Hong Kong - attended a launch ceremony at Peking University on Friday.

Liu Jin, director of the Ministry of Education's Department of International Cooperation and Exchanges, said China has been engaging with other countries on educational cooperation, and diplomas from Chinese universities and higher education institutions in 24 countries participating in the BRI are mutually recognized.

"The ministry is working on new policies to further open up the country's education sector to the outside world, and we will take more innovative measures to support educational opening-up to lay a solid foundation for people-to-people exchanges among young people from different countries," she said.

Other universities have launched similar programs to groom talent interested in China and Chinese culture.

Last year, Renmin University of China founded the first graduate school in China named after the Belt and Road Initiative.

The school welcomed its first group of international students in September. It aims to cultivate high-end international talent and future leaders from countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative who are passionate about Chinese culture and have a deep understanding of China's development path, models and experiences.

The Belt and Road School, at the university's Suzhou campus in Jiangsu province, offers two-year Master of Law degrees to international students, who are exempt from tuition, accommodation and medical insurance fees.