Arne Duncan, American Secretary of Education, signed a joint statement on exchange and cooperation in higher education on April 16, 2009 with a delegation of senior Chinese education officials in Washington led by Madame Liu Yandong, the Chinese government’s highest-ranking woman and the Politburo and State Council’s only female member.

Liu has full supervision of all programs relating to technology, sports, culture, science, and education. Liu, together with Zhou Ji, China’s Education Minister, went to see Duncan’s department to learn about President Obama’s education agenda and the latest trends in U.S. education.

There were two statements signed by Duncan and Zhou, the first one was for exchange and cooperation in higher education, and the second statement dealt with a joint US-China work plan. The statement on cooperation persuades the sharing of information on issues pertaining to higher education between schools in both countries. The work plan promotes cooperation not only for higher education but also for K-12 education, and language teaching and learning.

K-12 is Kindergarten through grade 12, the first and last grades of free education in the US.

The first statement, the one on higher education, states that the two nations would try to promote partnerships between American and Chinese universities leading to dual-degree and joint programs, shared research projects, and student exchanges.

Posting links to Chinese academic-accreditation web sites on the site of the US Network for Education Information, and posting American links on Chinese sites, is one way of making the “work plan” work.

The US Education Department will encourage development of Chinese-language and Chinese-studies courses at American universities and colleges as part of an effort to intensify better knowledge about each country’s language and culture.