• Microsoft has invested $40M in GIX, a Chinese university graduate program at the University of Washington.

Microsoft has invested $40M in GIX, a Chinese university graduate program at the University of Washington. (Photo : Reuters)

China's Tsinghua University (THU), one of the country's top schools, will team up with the University of Washington to offer the first master's degree in the United States.  The announcement of the Chinese University's graduate school program follows a $40 million Microsoft investment.

The program called Global Innovation Exchange (GIX), will at first offer a 15-month master's degree in Technology Innovation to 30 to 35 students, at a future site near Seattle. College classes will start in fall 2015.

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GIX's curriculum will focus mostly on connected devices. It will be closely linked to what is commonly referred to as the Internet of Things (IoF).

This is the first time a China research university has offered a master's degree program in the U.S., according to SCMP. Tsinghua University is located in Beijing.

Meanwhile, more American and European universities are also teaming up with Chinese universities. They include New York university.

However, The University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC) claims that it is China's first Sino-foreign university. It opened in 2004.  

TSU, established in 1911, has been dubbed "China's MIT," and is the country's top school for the sciences and engineering. Famous alumni include China's presidents Xi Jinping (2012-present) and Hu Jintao (2002-2012), according to PC World.

GIX has plans to become a world-class university during the next decade. Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel, told Bloomberg that it hopes to build a huge facility that will combine four world-leading schools with 3,000 pupils.

The launch of GIX and its link to a Chinese university could help to improve sour relations between the tech giant and the world's biggest economy. Last year Beijing investigated Microsoft for breaking antitrust laws.

GIX's selection of Seattle over locations such as Berkley and Stanford was interesting, due to the latter's link to Silicon Valley. The city is becoming a tech hub.