USM cutting ties with Chinese government-funded language program The program provides Mandarin Chinese language classes and other cultural programs. Associated Press Share The University of Southern Maine is closing a program that gets funding from the Chinese government and provides Mandarin Chinese language classes and other cultural programs on campus, officials said. The university remains dedicated to “person-to-person exchanges, enhancing global understanding, and promoting cross-cultural learning” but that too few students were utilizing the Confucius Institute, said Marc Glass, director of public affairs at USM. “While our relationship with Confucius Institute enhanced our language curriculum, we found that it reached too few students to be sustainable,” Glass said in a statement.