Republicans urge US universities to cut ties with China-backed
scholarship program
[July 10, 2025]
By COLLIN BINKLEY
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans are urging seven U.S. universities
to cut ties with a Chinese scholarship program that lawmakers call a
“nefarious mechanism” to steal technology for the Chinese government.
In letters to Dartmouth College, the University of Notre Dame and five
other universities, leaders of the House Select Committee on the Chinese
Communist Party raise concerns about the schools' partnerships with the
China Scholarship Council, a study abroad program funded by China.
The program sponsors hundreds of Chinese graduate students every year at
U.S. universities. After graduating, they're required to return to China
for two years. In the letters sent Tuesday, Republicans described it as
a threat to national security.
“CSC purports to be a joint scholarship program between U.S. and Chinese
institutions; however, in reality it is a CCP-managed technology
transfer effort that exploits U.S. institutions and directly supports
China’s military and scientific growth,” wrote Republican Rep. John
Moolenaar, chair of the committee.
The Chinese Embassy didn't immediately respond to a request by The
Associated Press for comment.
Dartmouth said Wednesday it has had fewer than 10 participants in the
program over the last decade and already had decided to end its
participation. Notre Dame said it began the process of terminating its
association with the program earlier this year. University of Tennessee
said it had also received the letter and was reviewing the committee's
request.
Letters also were sent to Temple University and the University of
California campuses in Davis, Irvine and Riverside. The office of the
University of California's president, Dr. Michael V. Drake, said the
university follows all federal laws and works with the government to
protect sensitive research. “At the same time, we believe that
international students and global academic partnerships are critical to
scientific progress, economic growth, and our educational mission,”
Drake's office said in a statement.
The House committee said it's opening a review into the program's
“infiltration” of U.S. universities and demanded records related to the
program from all seven institutions.
The universities' partnerships with the council can bring up to 15
graduate students a year to Dartmouth, along with up to 60 at Temple and
40 at Notre Dame, according to the letters. Some schools split the cost
of attendance with China. Dartmouth, for instance, covers 50% of tuition
and provides a stipend to doctoral students.
Among other records, lawmakers are demanding documents showing whether
scholarship recipients worked on research funded by the U.S. government.
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Students cross the campus of Dartmouth College, March 5, 2024, in
Hanover, N.H. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)
President Donald Trump and House Republicans have stepped up
scrutiny of Chinese students coming to the U.S. In May, Secretary of
State Marco Rubio said the United States would revoke visas from
some Chinese students studying in “critical fields.” During his
first term, Trump restricted visas for students affiliated with
China’s “military-civil fusion strategy.”
Many U.S. universities acknowledge a need to improve research
security but caution against treating Chinese scholars with
hostility and suspicion, saying only small numbers have been
involved in espionage.
China is the second-largest country of origin for foreign students
in the U.S., behind only India. In the 2023-24 academic year, more
than 270,000 international students were from China, making up
roughly a quarter of all foreign students in the United States. For
a majority of them, their college tuition is paid by their families,
rather than by the Chinese government. Many stay to work in the
U.S., while some return to China after graduation.
Moolenaar has made it a priority to end partnerships between U.S.
universities and China. In May, he pressed Duke University to cut
its ties with a Chinese university, saying it allowed Chinese
students to gain access to federally funded research at Duke. Under
pressure from the committee, Eastern Michigan University ended a
partnership with two Chinese universities in June.
Last year, House Republicans issued a report finding that hundreds
of millions of dollars in federal funding had gone toward research
that ultimately boosted Chinese advancements in artificial
intelligence, semiconductor technology and nuclear weapons. The
report argued China’s academic collaborations served as a “Trojan
horses for technology transfer,” accusing China of “insidious”
exploitation of academic cooperation.
___
Associated Press writer Cheyanne Mumphrey in Phoenix contributed to
this report.
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