University of Missouri ending ties with Confucius Institute

(AP) The University of Missouri plans to end its contract with the Confucius Institute.

The university said Wednesday that the partnership will end in August, six months before the contract was scheduled to end.

The institute is one of several Confucius Institutes across the country. It hosts public events and trips to promote Chinese culture, and provides instructors to teach classes in Mandarin in the Columbia school district.

The university said it’s ending the relationship because of changes in U.S. State Department guidelines that would require state-certified teachers in Mandarin to be in every class with Confucius Institute staff. The university says that would be too expensive.