'Largest,' 'wealthiest' US colleges fail to report billions from foreign entities: report

The Department of Education released a report highlighting unreported foreign funding to colleges and universities across the country, including funds given by the technology company Huawei, which is connected to the Chinese Communist Party.

The report includes findings of the investigation into many U.S. colleges and universities, such as Texas A&M University, Cornell University, Georgetown University, and more, after taking a look at their compliance with Section 117 of the Higher Education Act of 1965, which requires that the institutions report foreign gifts and contracts exceeding $250,000.

Many institutions of higher education did accept foreign funding and failed to comply with Section 117 of the HEA, the report found.

“The facts uncovered during the Department’s investigations and information collection confirm that many large and well-resourced institutions of higher education have aggressively pursued and accepted foreign money while failing to comply with Section 117 of the HEA,” the report states.

[RELATED: Harvard, Yale under federal investigation for shady foreign gifts]

The report also states that universities “regularly” work with companies who are known to present national security risks, such as Huawei. 

Noting that the company has said that it receives “support from the Chinese government,” the department deems that this makes
“its presence a potential tool of the Chinese government,” which is a “grave national security concern.”

These institutions often work with Huawei on “sensitive topics” such as nuclear science, robotics, and more, according to the report.

“Across these investigated universities, many of these Huawei agreements and gifts strategically concerned sensitive topics like nuclear science or those related to competitive industries like robotics, semiconductors, and online cloud services,” the report states.

The Wall Street Journal reported that based on context provided by the report, Cornell University received  $760 million from Qatar and $1 million from Huawei.

[RELATED: REPORT: Feds scrutinize Ivy League’s foreign dealings]

The report indicates that the universities receiving the most money in foreign gifts or funding are often “the largest, wealthiest and most sophisticated of America’s institutions of higher education.”

The report also accuses the colleges and universities of lacking any concern for national security or taxpayers.

“However, the evidence suggests institutional decision-making is generally divorced from any sense of obligation to our taxpayers or concern for our American national interests, security, or values,” the report states.

Cornell University pointed Campus Reform to astatement which says that the university, through an internal review, “identified gaps” in their reporting of foreign funding, but said they are cooperating fully with the investigation.

Case Western University declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation by the Department of Education

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