China's vice minister of education visited a small college in Kirkland on Tuesday with hopes of picking up some ideas for improving technical education in her country.

Xin Lu also expressed enthusiasm for working with Lake Washington Institute of Technology on a number of cooperative projects, including an ambitious plan to send teachers from China's technical colleges to the United States to learn about U.S. teaching methods.

The Chinese technical-college system has 1.1 million teachers and about 113 million students. She pointed out that the number of technical-college students in China equals about half the U.S. population.

The college of nearly 5,000 part- and full-time students doesn't have the capacity to take on that many new learners, but college officials said they looked forward to working more closely with their counterparts in China.

The Washington technology school currently has more than 150 students from 34 countries, including China. It has 15 "sister colleges" in China and just started to expand its international program about five years ago, said Myung Park, executive director of global and extended learning.

College President David Woodall welcomed the proposals and made plans to continue the discussion when he visits China early next year.

The delegation proposed a number of possible ways they can work together, including sharing both curriculum and students. It suggested the possibility of bringing some U.S. curriculum back to China and then sending the students who benefit from that exchange back to the United States to complete their degrees.

Some of the areas of study mentioned include food, energy, information technology, airplanes and aerospace and health care.

The Chinese delegation toured some educational programs, including funeral services, dental hygiene, automotive and welding.