Dozens of major American research universities received a combined $27.6 million from foreign entities that appear on U.S. government watch lists, according to a CBS News review of university funding records submitted to the Department of Education.
The disclosure forms, which had not been previously reported, cover funding received in roughly the second half of last year. The money originated from entities flagged on at least one of 10 federal watch lists overseen by the departments of Treasury, Commerce, Homeland Security, Defense, and State. Those lists identify companies and organizations that warrant extra scrutiny because of ties to foreign government interests.
In one example from the records, a Chinese company that develops aeronautics technology for the People's Liberation Army gave more than $7 million total to three American universities considered top-tier research institutions. The largest single disclosure in the records was $22.6 million, given in 2020 under a 50-year contract from the Beijing Institute of Technology to Bryant University in Rhode Island.
On Wednesday, Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Sarah B. Rogers sent a letter to the governing boards of major research universities warning that future grant-making agencies would check whether institutions accept money from foreign entities on watch lists and could pull federal funding from those that do. The letter went to 187 schools classified as Research-1 universities, the category that includes institutions awarding the most doctoral degrees and conducting the most significant research programs.
"In light of the above, I urge you, as board members, to ensure heightened diligence on this matter which has important national security implications for our country," Rogers wrote in the letter, obtained by CBS News.
The State Department and Education Department are working together to crack down on academic partnerships that the Trump administration says could threaten national security.
The total amount of foreign funds flowing into American universities has grown in recent years, reaching $1.5 billion in 2022, the most recent year for which data is available, according to the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics. That figure represents less than 2 percent of the $117 billion in total research and development funding awarded to U.S. universities that year. More than half of that total comes from the U.S. government.
