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kaszz writes:

Microsoft will give 40 million US$ to help fund a graduate-school program with the University of Washington (UW) and China's Tsinghua University. The Global Innovation Exchange, which will be located in the Seattle area, marks the first time a Chinese research university has established a physical presence in the USA. The center will open in 2016 with the goal of attracting 3 000 students within a decade, according to Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith.

UW Interim President Ana Mari Cauce and Tsinghua President Qiu Yong made the announcement Thursday afternoon in downtown Bellevue, accompanied by Governor Jay Inslee and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Both Cauce and Smith waved off concerns about the possibility that a partnership with a Chinese university could lead to corporate espionage or hacking. "The solution to mistrust is more contact, not less," said Cauce, whose UW currently hosts more than 3 500 students from China. The Exchange will initially offer a degree for engineers who can work on connected devices, called the Internet of Things. That, along with expertise in other areas such as data analysis, are among the skills sought by technology companies in Seattle and elsewhere.

Impact on H1-B and send special letters home people?