The CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella, and the presidents of Tsinghua University and the University of Washington put their signatures on a historic agreement -- one that will bring a Chinese research university to U.S. soil for the first time.
One of China's leading research universities is teaming up with a U.S. university in a 40 million dollar venture backed by tech giant Microsoft.
The CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella, and the presidents of Tsinghua University and the University of Washington put their signatures on a historic agreement -- one that will bring a Chinese research university to U.S. soil for the first time.
"Just think what will be possible in the next 5, 10, 15 years across health care, education, citizen services and many other industries all over the globe," Nadella said.
Opening in fall 2016, the Global Innovation Exchange will offer a Master's Degree in innovation technology.
The main building of GIX will go up here in Bellevue on Seattle's east side. It's strategically located about 16 kilometers from the University of Washington's campus, and just about four kilometers away from Microsoft's headquarters.
Faculty will come from both universities. Initially, the technology institute will only admit 30 to 40 students.
"At the end of the day, all three of us are in the talent business. And we're going to bring the best talent in the world here and that unquestionably will draw other people," said Ana Marie Cauce, interim president of University of Washington.
"Tsinghua University is one of the top universities in China. Internationally, this is part of an important process to make Tsinghua University a world class university," said Qiu Yong, president of Tsinghua University.
The exchange hopes to educate 3,000 students over the next 10 years.
"Beyond the classroom, they can actually work on projects that are practical in the real world. And they get the chance to directly work with mentors like the researchers and engineers and the business people in Microsoft," said Harry Shum, exec. VP of Microsoft Research.
This initiative aims to attract other business partners to the global technology hub created by Amazon and Microsoft.
