UW Seattle has long been the target of a donation war between Bill Gates, Paul Allen, Intel, and others. Their CSE department is one of the richest on the campus. But space on the campus is at a very high premium. I wonder if they have options to expand to a different location.

This development will be located somewhat near the newly-accredited Bellevue College, which only recently gained 4-year degree approval. Perhaps BC will spin up their technology undergrad degree soon, then they might be able to feed undergrads into this new institute as well.

The vast majority of programmers, developers, architects, and IT that I've worked with in this area have degrees in other areas: business, sociology, English, sports therapy. It's become a tradition to major in an interesting subject during college, then leave that career behind for a better-paying job. And joining these self-taught software engineers are the ones who never attended college.

I wonder how this will impact the immigration and visa situation - I met some people in college who were not allowed to stay after graduation. The article implies that graduates will remain local and fill the glut of tech workers, but it sounds almost like Tsinghua University will be sending students there as well. So maybe it will be a program where Chinese students learn at this joint university, and then return to China?

Microsoft just announced $10M towards a planned CSE building, and the university is angling to get another $30-something million from the state and lots more from other donors.

http://www.geekwire.com/2015/microsoft-gives-10m-to-universi...

http://www.geekwire.com/2015/university-of-washington-gradua...

EDIT: The building will be on the Seattle campus, but I'm not sure where. I'm not even sure if the University knows where yet. I don't know if they're planning on tearing down another building or if there is some open space somewhere.

> So maybe it will be a program where Chinese students learn at this joint university, and then return to China?

I wouldn't be surprised if this is one of the methods they will use to retain talent in China. I went to Tsinghua University, and perhaps 30-40% of the graduating CS undergraduate students chose to go to graduate school in the US. I don't know the actual stats but that is my estimate for what I saw in my class.

This place is only going to hand out Masters degrees in 'technology innovation.' It's goal is to be a diploma mill for people Microsoft wants to bring over from China because there is a higher H1B cap for people with masters degrees. Obviously, people trying to get a real graduate degree will go to a top 100 school where actual research is going on.

UW is #6 in the nation in CS (US News & World), #48 in national universities (US News & World) and #26 in global rankings (Times Higher Education Rankings)...

This school is not UW though, is it. Who, specifically, is going to teach at this new institute since UW profs are already at capacity and Tsinghua profs are in China. They certainly are not funding any new research here. How can you have a graduate institute in technology with no research, pHds, or even undergrads? What are the diploma's going to say? GIX, UW, Tsinghua, Microsoft?

You could make this argument for any nascent learning institution. Obviously, they're going to do what anyone does when starting a school: pull respected faculty from other schools, start new research programs and import research-in-progress if possible, hire PHDs and other lecturers, and eventually develop an undergraduate program.

And I'd guess that since the Global Innovation Exchange will be the name of the school, that's what the diplomas will say too.

You mean like the University of Washington? (tied for #6 for CS in the latest US News rankings)

University of Washington might have a top CS department, but this institute is not teaching CS or even STEM. This sounds like a fluff school for rich families that want their kids in the US. Microsoft execs will control a complete immigration pipeline from student visa through green card.

If it's as you describe, then I don't see Microsoft being the only firm benefitting. Amazon, Adobe, Expedia, Facebook, Google, Nordstrom, Redfin, Starbucks, and others will jump at that chance as well, I'm sure.

Maybe they'll help to make Seattle more affordable again. I don't want this place to become another SF.

That ship has sailed; this won't do anything to alleviate that. Seattle will never be affordable again while homes are in such short supply. Even if salaries were depressed here, people moving here from California would continue to raise the cost of living.

It's an H-1B funnel from China. Seattle is competing to take the reins as the #1 startup center (along with many other cities), but they need engineers to do it.