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Jack Ma will step down as president of the elite business academy he founded six years ago, according to people familiar with the issue, while Beijing dominates the influence of the billionaire on Chinese society.
Hupan University, a training program for executives that is as difficult to access as Harvard University, will restructure its education program and people have said it has changed its name.
Ma, who has retired from his academy in his hometown of Hangzhou, has been pressured by Chinese regulators to put pressure on the founder of the Alibaba e-commerce group and his business empire.
Ma, one of the country’s most prominent activists, has largely disappeared from the public eye since he gave a speech in October criticizing regulators and state banks.
Antitrust regulators fined Alibaba A $ 2.8 million fine last month for monopolistic practices and Ant Group, Ma’s Fintech company shrink his business and since its restructuring Initial public offering of $ 37 billion it was crushed last November.
The changes in Hupan suggest that Beijing’s continued efforts to limit Ma’s impact continue despite a public appearance at an Alibaba event this month.
A person close to Hupan has said that Ma will not hold any senior official title in the restructured organization. Several friends warned that Ma was keen to stay connected to the school and would give lectures in the future.
Authorities were concerned that Ma was building a strong network in Hupan that could be in line with the Communist Party’s goals, according to a person close to the school. Some senior Chinese officials regard it as a modern version of the Hupan Donglin Academy, dating back to the 17th century. An educational institution of the century, it was a space for discussion of thinkers who influenced politics and weakened the government of the Ming Dynasty.
The Hupan group was created to teach selected entrepreneurship, business management and corporate culture. “We want Hupan to run for 300 years,” Ma said in 2015, when she welcomed the first set of students.
Hupan changed its name on its website last week and became the Hupan Innovation Center in social media accounts. In videos on Chinese social media, the employee was also turned away to remove the name of Hupan University from a large stone sign in front of the campus.
The name change is part of the government’s campaign to ensure that only authorized educational institutions can use the “university” degree. Hupan is not an official university.
Accounts of social networks called Xiake Island, the flagship newspaper of the Communist Party, directed by the People’s Daily newspaper, were heavily criticized by Hupan and his students on Thursday.
China has 1,186 companies with “universities,” the Xiake publication said. “‘Hupan University’ is a private institution that is not really a company, not an educational institution that gives a degree,” the message added, noting that “students” who go to these places want to “join a team, make connections and get resources.”
He also criticized Hupan for his role in promoting a peer group that supported a Hupan student while he was under the control of his business authorities.
“Ma needs to be separated from the organization, but they are concerned that Hupan may have trouble attracting students if Ma comes out completely,” one person said. “The academy is known for it, not its curriculum.”
Ma’s profile photo on Hupan’s website has been changed to a classroom photo.
The Financial Times reported last month, the school suspended enrollment for a new set of first-year students.
Alibaba sent questions to Hupan, which did not respond to repeated requests.
Additional report by Nian Liu in Beijing
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