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Elite American universities have accepted millions of dollars from foreign sources on federal watchlists, including some with ties to the Chinese military, according to government data.
State and Education Department officials said dozens of universities reported receiving $27.6 million from foreign entities on at least one federal watchlist during the second half of 2025, according to CBS News. The universities include Northwestern University; the University of California, Irvine; the University of Connecticut; Bryant University and the University of California, Berkeley.
“American universities have received nearly $405 million from counterparties of concern — entities that pose a very real risk to our national security and that of our allies,” an Education Department spokeswoman told Fox News Digital.
“While previous administrations often looked the other way or kept this data hidden, that policy changes now. Through our updated Section 117 Dashboard, the Trump Administration is bringing this cash out of the shadows so every student, family and taxpayer knows exactly who is signing the checks, while equipping the State Department to use that data to protect our nation.”
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If these institutions, among them some of America’s top research universities, continue their relationships with these entities, they could see their access to federal grant funding restricted, according to a letter Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Sarah B. Rogers sent them last week.
“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,” the letter, obtained by CBS News, reads.
CBS News was the first to report on the payments to universities from watchlisted foreign entities.
The Aero Engine Corporation of China, which is on the Treasury Department’s Foreign Assets Control List due to its relationship with the Chinese military, paid $7.8 million spread across Northwestern University, UC Irvine and the University of Connecticut over the past several years.
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Documents filed with the Department of Education do not disclose how the funding was used.
Previously, the records did not even show the specific origin of the funds, simply their country of origin. President Donald Trump issued an executive order in April 2025 directing the Department of Education to collect more information from universities about the sources of their foreign funding.
In addition to appearing on the Treasury Department’s Foreign Assets Control List, the Aero Engine Corporation of China is also considered a “military end-user entity” by the Department of Commerce. The company develops engines for fighter jets and attack helicopters used by China’s People’s Liberation Army.
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“This has been a conversation going on for years now in research security circles,” LJ Eads, the founder of Data Abyss and director of research intelligence at Parallax Advanced Research, told CBS News. “It’s been a huge policy fail in terms of implementing restrictions without follow-through over the years. I relate it to having kids and not parenting well. Or giving your teenager a cellphone and having no restrictions on cellphone use.”
UC Berkeley, a leading research institution in several technology-related areas where the United States and China are direct competitors, has also received funds from Chinese entities that appear on federal watchlists. Included among these was a $7.6 million grant from Sun Yat-sen University, which hosts China’s National Supercomputing Center.
Sun Yat-sen University is on the Pentagon’s “1286 List,” which enumerates research institutions it believes to be engaged in “problematic activities.”
“We wish to state, unequivocally, that UC Berkeley complies with all of the statues and regulations that apply to contracts and gifts from foreign sources,” a spokesman for the university told Fox News Digital on Tuesday.
“Second, we are still in the process of analyzing and fact-checking the characterization of the government’s data and the referenced CBS reporting.”
The spokesman said that CBS’ report erroneously claimed that UC Berkeley manages the Department of Energy’s primary high-performance computing facility at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
“In this instance, ‘Berkeley’ refers to its geographical location, and not to any form of institutional management or oversight on the part of UC Berkeley,” the spokesman added.
Bryant University had a $22.6 million contract with the Beijing Institute of Technology to maintain “a jointly operated academic program in China.” The Beijing Institute of Technology appears on two federal watchlists.
“The reporting reflects payments associated for a now-terminated accounting program whose contract was originally established in 2014 with the independent Beijing Institute of Technology, Zhuhai and terminated ten years later in 2024,” a university spokesman told Fox News Digital. “The program was educational instruction only and never included research activities, federally funded research, defense-related work, technology transfer or intellectual property development.
“After learning that Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT) had fully acquired the Zhuhai institution and following BIT’s addition to the Department of Defense’s 1286 list, Bryant initiated termination of the relationship, stopped enrolling new students and is completing a teach-out period for existing students in accordance with accreditation requirements, with completion on June 30, 2027.”
Northwestern University, UC Berkeley, UC Irvine and the University of Connecticut did not respond to requests for comment when reached by Fox News Digital Tuesday. Fox News Digital additionally reached out to the Department of Education on Tuesday.
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