Bill Gates-led facility promises to deliver to China professional sector skills training

The first class of 49 students, from 14 cities across China, has started at the China Global Philanthropy Institute - an organization created by Microsoft Corp co-founder Bill Gates and other leading philanthropists.

Ma Weihua, its first chairman and former president and CEO of China Merchants Bank Co Ltd, said the event marked the official start of what he described as China's first truly international philanthropic institute.