Does "studying" refer to "(Lee) learning from/serving as a student of"?

Context:

Fang also mocks Lee for calling himself a "student" of Steve Jobs" in his book, pointing out that he worked at Apple (AAPL) after Jobs had left the first time around but before he returned. "So how can you call yourself a Jobs student," Fang asks. But in his book, Lee simply says in the past "20 years I m very honored and lucky to study and grow near to Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Eric Schmidt." Whether Lee was "very near" to Jobs is not clear, but the late Apple founder did call Lee in Beijing before he took the Google job in 2005 to try to get him to come to Apple. Plainly, they had some relationship. And as for "studying" Jobs, well, who in Silicon Valley over the last 30 years didn't, whether working with him at Apple or competing against him elsewhere? To publicly flog Lee for that relatively innocuous sentence in his book seems a bit much.

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Controversy over ex-Google China chief

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Originally Posted by NewHopeR

Context:

Fang also mocks Lee for calling himself a "student" of Steve Jobs" in his book, pointing out that he worked at Apple (AAPL) after Jobs had left the first time around but before he returned. "So how can you call yourself a Jobs student," Fang asks. But in his book, Lee simply says in the past "20 years I m very honored and lucky to study and grow near to Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Eric Schmidt." Whether Lee was "very near" to Jobs is not clear, but the late Apple founder did call Lee in Beijing before he took the Google job in 2005 to try to get him to come to Apple. Plainly, they had some relationship. And as for "studying" Jobs, well, who in Silicon Valley over the last 30 years didn't, whether working with him at Apple or competing against him elsewhere? To publicly flog Lee for that relatively innocuous sentence in his book seems a bit much.

More:

Controversy over ex-Google China chief

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No, it means studying the man, Steve Jobs, to try to understand what made him successful.