The world is becoming ever smaller, which is why it is welcome news that Kansas University is forging important new relationships with higher education in China.

KU recently announced that it had signed an agreement to develop a direct exchange with the prestigious Peking University. Leaders at the Chinese university reportedly are particularly interested in sending more graduate students to KU and in fostering strong exchange programs for faculty and scholars from the two schools.

Although KU has direct exchange programs with three other Chinese universities, the partnership with Peking University is significant because of the school’s international reputation. The university has about 30,000 students, more than 200 research institutes and 42 colleges and departments, according to a KU press release. It offers nearly 500 specialties and was ranked by the Times of London as one of the top 40 universities in the world and the fifth ranking university in Asia in 2007.

At about the same time the Peking University pact was being signed, KU’s Confucius Institute was being honored as a Confucius Institute of the Year by the international organization that covers about 210 institutes around the world. It was one of only four institutes in the United States and 20 in the world to receive the designation.

This is quite an accomplishment for an institute that was only dedicated in May 2006. William Tsutsui, executive director of the KU institute, was the only U.S. citizen invited to address the opening ceremony of the group’s conference in the Great Hall of the People on Tiananmen Square in Beijing.

Both because of its huge size and its focus on building its economy, China is perhaps the most important developing nation in the world. Forming ties with China and its top universities gives KU an important connection to that country’s economic and educational growth.

Much emphasis has been placed on giving university students in Kansas broader experience with international cultures and education. The Confucius Institute honors and the new partnership with Peking University are important steps in KU’s efforts to accomplish that goal.