The Tsinghua School of Economics and Management was founded in 1984 and was the first mainland Chinese institution to have achieved AACSB and EQUIS accreditations for its business and accounting programs.

More than half of the students admitted to Tsinghua SEM rank in the top 10 in their respective provinces on the National Higher Education Entrance Examination (also known as the Gaokao).

"[15] The GMBA program now offers global courses and elective modules in cooperation with several other highly ranked universities as well as international teaching resources in both English and Chinese.

[16][11] It is particularly visible as an academic collaboration between the United States and China by virtue of frequent lectures and course offerings from prominent executives and business thought leaders.

In contrast to a fairly rigid first-year curriculum similar to those of many Western MBA programs, the second-year GMBA experience balances a more flexible variety of on-campus elective coursework at Tsinghua, academic exchange stints abroad, work opportunities for domestic and international students, and thesis completion and defense.

Upon completion of required courses, students may select from varying curricular tracks such as banking, enterprise innovation, accounting analysis, and international business administration.

[12] Leading economic and business thought leaders give regular guest lectures, including McKinsey Chairman Dominic Barton, Rio Tinto CEO Tom Albanese, and Walmart President Doug McMillon.

In recent years, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Tim Cook, and other CEOs have given guest lectures and participated in dialogues with GMBA students during the annual advisory board meeting at Tsinghua SEM.

The GMBA program offers dual-degree opportunities with MIT, HEC Paris, and Columbia University in New York City.

[12] The program also offers short-term overseas modules at MIT Sloan, Stanford University's Graduate School of Business, and other partner institutions.

Visiting faculty and guest professors from both MIT and a variety of other universities come to Tsinghua each year and offer lectures and module courses for GMBA students.