Stephen Schwarzman, the chairman of the Blackstone Group has launched a new scholarship programme aimed at foreign students to allow them to attend Beijing’s elite Tsinghua University.

Tsinghua University is located on a former Qing Dynasty royal garden with breathtakingly beautiful imperial courtyards and ponds and it is known for educating top Chinese officials from Hu Jintao to Xi Jinping. The new scholarship programme will allow students from the U. S., Europe, South Korea, Japan, India and beyond to have an opportunity to attend the prestigious Chinese educational institution.

“China's economy is growing at three times the rate of the West, and if that growth continues, China will become the largest economy in the world within the next couple of decades,” Schwarzman said at an event ahead of launching the event.

Schwarzman is providing US $100 million of his own wealth to the fund and is aiming to raise another US $200 million through external scholarship programmes. He has received expressions of interest and pledges a host of global firms working in China like Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Boeing, Caterpillar and several others.

Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, past-French President Nicolas Sarkozy, former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, ex-Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, Henry Kissinger, Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice and famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma are among the advisers on the scholarship board.