American newspapers published
accusations that officials in educational institutions across the United States
sought money from foreign governments, most of them came from countries, most
notably Qatar and China, and said the motives for the donation were "in
search of opportunities to steal research" and "spread propaganda in
the interest of foreign governments."
The Wall Street Journal
reported that the US Department of Education began investigations with Harvard
and Yale as part of a continuous review, finding that American universities
have failed to report at least 6.5 billion dollars in foreign funding from
countries such as China, according to ministry articles reviewed by the
newspaper. Wall Street Journal.
Investigations into
educational institutions under the Ivy League [elite universities] are the
latest in a row between American universities and a coalition of federal
officials including law enforcement professionals, research funders such as the
National Institutes of Health, and a bipartisan group of Congress that has
raised concerns about accrediting educational institutions Higher on foreign
funds, especially from China.
The ministry described higher
education institutions in the United States, in a document reviewed by the
newspaper, as "multi-billion dollar multinationals that use obscure
institutions, foreign universities, and other complex legal structures to
generate revenue."
In addition, universities must
disclose to the Ministry of Education all contracts and gifts that come from a
foreign source and that, separately or collectively, their value amounts to a
quarter of a million dollars or more per year. Although the statute has been in
place for decades, the Ministry has only started implementing it firmly
recently.
Officials have accused
American educational institutions of seeking funds from foreign governments,
companies, and citizens known to be anti-American and possibly in search of
opportunities to steal research and publicity for foreign governments,
according to the document.
In addition, and while the
department said it found foreign capital flows generally go to the wealthiest
universities in the United States, "this money does not seem to reduce or
equal the education costs of American students," according to the
document.
For their part, US officials
said that China uses a variety of methods to target academia, including
government-funded talent programs such as the Thousands of Talents Scheme.
The issue was highlighted by
the arrest last month of the head of the Harvard Chemistry Department for lying
about receiving millions of dollars in Chinese funding through the program,
while the United States spent more than $ 15 million to fund his research
group.
The officials also wrote a
letter to Harvard dated Tuesday and posted on the Ministry of Education
website, in which they referred to the recent Ministry of Justice issue, and
asked the educational institution to disclose records of gifts or contracts
related to governments including China, Qatar and Russia.
They also requested records
related to the telecom giant Huawei, the Chinese company ZTE, Casper SkyLab,
the Russian Skolkovo Corporation, the Iranian Alawi Corporation, and others.
For its part, the Ministry of
Education said that Yale University failed to disclose at least $ 375 million
in foreign funding after no reports were submitted from 2014 to 2017, according
to a document reviewed by the newspaper.
In a separate letter dated
Tuesday to the university, the ministry sought records of foreign contributions
from Yincheng Academy at Peking University, the National University of
Singapore, Qatar, and others. It also asked the university to provide details
of foreign funding for the Paul Tsai Center China at Yale Law School and the
new Yale Jackson Institute of Global Affairs.
If educational institutions
refuse to disclose information, the Ministry of Education can refer the matter
to the Ministry of Justice, which in turn tracks civil or criminal cases.
It is worth noting that the
motivation behind the disclosure of funding is concerns about the exploitation
of foreign efforts by the American academic community.
Administration officials of
President Donald Trump and a group of two-party allies in Congress fear that
China and other foreign competitors will seek to use donations or collaborative
research to gain scientific knowledge that will allow them to achieve national
strategic goals and bridge economic or military gaps with the United States.
Some university officials have
dismissed the US government's broader national security concerns regarding
foreign involvement in universities and considered them to be exaggeration or
even discriminatory, and they said there should be no restrictions on
non-confidential research that will be published anyway.
They also added that
international cooperation - especially with China - is necessary to enhance
scientific discoveries that will benefit humankind.
An investigation by the Senate
Standing Subcommittee of Investigations in February 2019 described the funding
of a foreign government for American universities as a "black hole",
and the investigation stated that about 70% had failed to properly report
funding from Chinese government-supported cultural and language programs known
as institutes Confucius.
Senator Rob Portman (Ohio
Republican) and Tom Carper (Delaware Democrat), who chairs the Senate
Committee, said in a joint statement: "The fact that $ 6.5 billion in
foreign gifts to US institutions has not been reported yet is a shocking fact.
It is unacceptable. We are pleased that the Ministry of Education increases
enforcement efforts and takes a step toward ensuring academic freedom in
America. ”
In June 2019, Ministry of
Education officials launched a series of investigations into universities'
external funding.
The Harvard and Yale
investigation is the seventh and eighth investigation of the department, and it
follows other investigations into educational institutions including Georgetown
University, Cornell University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Ministry of Education
officials also mentioned in the document reviewed by the newspaper that its
investigations have pushed public and private universities across the country
to progress since July 2019 to collectively report over $ 6.5 billion in
foreign funding not previously disclosed.
A spokeswoman for the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology revealed that the university's reports on
gifts and foreign contracts are based on "improved operations" since
January 2019 and that it is committed to working constructively with federal
officials.
A spokeswoman for Georgetown
University also announced that the university takes seriously its reporting
obligations and that it regularly discloses payments from Qatar Foundation,
which sponsors the Georgetown University campus in Doha, and gifts related to
the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Christian-Muslim Understanding at the
university, for example . "Georgetown carefully reviews all gifts to
ensure they are consistent with our educational values and goals, and it
maintains full authority in spending decisions," she added.
The Ministry of Education has
responded to universities that have criticized the latest enforcement campaign.
For example, in a letter in September 2019 addressed to a group representing
more than 200 universities, an official described the reporting obligations of
universities as "clear and unbelievable."
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