On the afternoon of Feb 26^th, 2014, Prof. Richard Levin, the 22^nd president of Yale University and the president with the longest tenure in Ivy League’s history, paid a visit to RUC upon the invition of President Chen Yulu of RUC and Mr. Zhang Lei, Chairman of Hillhouse Capital and Hillhouse Academy. Prof. Richard Levin gave a speech named “Liberal Arts Education and Leadership in New Century” in the Yifu Meeting Center. Some leaders of RUC met with Prof. Levin before the speech,including President Chen Yulu, Executive Vice President Wang Liming, Vice President Yi Zhihong, Chairman of Hillhouse Academy and Hillhouse Capital Zhang Lei, Director of the International Office Zhang Xiaojing, Dean of the business school Mao Jiye, and Secretary of Hillhouse Academy Council FengJiyong. They exchanged ideas about how to promote the liberal arts education, deepen cooperation between two universities and build an international think tank mutually. In the following speech, Prof. Levin first explained the concept of liberal arts education. “what should people know?”, “how does the education influence people’s life?”, these most ancient and basic philosophy questions stimulate people’s attention to liberal arts education around the world. As an education mode with a long history in the US, the concept of liberal arts education is the best answer to these questions from Yale University and the Ivy League. As for “what should people know”, Prof. Levin pointed out that the purpose of liberal arts education is to cultivate good citizens who can make a contribution to the society. Therefore, people should know something about arts, history and philosophy. The people under education should have an interdisciplinary knowledge background. At the same time, people should keep their independent judgements, so that they can give their own suggestions to society, especially the ability to think critically and independently. “Different subjects have different logics and research methods, so they can enable us to see the society in different ways.” Prof. Levin thinks in this information age, dealing with the knowledge comprehensively is more difficult than obtaining the knowledge. We will have difficulty moving forward in front of the complicated reality without the broad knowledge background. Prof. Levin emphasized that liberal arts education is even more indispensible for the cultivation of leaders. He pointed out that being a leader requires one to know something about every aspects of the organization. Only in this way, can one manage the organization better upon the understanding of the demands of different employees. At last, Prof. Levin talked about his personal education and managing experience, explained to the Gaoli students the significant meaning of liberal arts education for one’s personal life and destiny, and called on the students to conquer the difficulties and challenges in study in their entire lifetime. In the following Q&A session, Gaoli students and other audience asked questions about how to cultivate international eyesight, how to manage the time, how to cultivate leadership and how to balance the “specialty” and “interdisciplinary” in liberal arts education, etc. During the speech, Prof. Levin spoke highly of Hillhouse Academy of RUC for the improving liberal arts education mode. Hillhouse Academy is established by in 2011 Zhang Lei, the outingstandingalumnus of RUC and Yale University. As the brand program, “Gaoli Elite Program” selects elite students from Renmin University, Tsinghua University and Peking University, reorganizing the high-end resources in fields like economics, finance, investment, business management, laws, international relations, journalism and so on. This program would invite great entrepreneurs and politicians from around the world, along with other practical projects like the TIP (Total Immersion Practice), in order to establish a liberal arts education platform that can “pass on the knowledge and solve the confusion”. This program has been carried out successfully for three years so far, and cultivated more than 200 students from those three universities, forming the most potential future leader circle in Beijing and China. Executive Vice President Wang Liming host the speech. Vice President of Baidu Liang Zhixiang, Li Kefei from United Bank of Switzerland, Shan Lihong from HARBOURINVEST, President of Kunyu Capital Yang Ge, Wang Huiyao from China and Globalization Think Tank, Wang Jianli from China America Education and Culture Exchange Center, Liu Yang from Nomura, Chen Donglin from Hannengqingyuan, ZhengXu from Yinhua Fund, Du Xuedun from China Everbright Bank, President of Huiyuan net Wu Hongbin and some other guests attended this speech.