Influence flows with money in international higher education

Citing the "revolving door" of those moving around academia and politics, think-tanks and various industries, the Biden administration's U.S. Department of Education continues to refine policy and track gifts from foreign entities to higher education and by May of 2023 chose to maintain previous requirements. The Bipartisan Innovation Act "is meant to boost America's competitiveness in the global economy, but also includes language that would beef up foreign donation transparency laws." Individuals and institutions receiving donations of more than $50,000 will have to report these gifts.

The House Education Committee proposed to reduce the foreign gift threshold from $250,000 to $50,000. The proposed DETERRENT Act would also require reporting of gifts to faculty and staff as well as report foreign investments in endowments exceeding $6 billion. The House Committee approved the overhaul of gift reporting with its chair, Virginia Foxx, saying it would "help address declining public confidence in American universities."

The legal requirement to report gifts goes back to 1986 but widespread failure in reporting was alleged during the DeVos years as Secretary of Education. Fear of the influence of China's Confucius Institutes drove some of the concern about foreign gifts. But the reality is that many countries offer gifts to individuals and institutions that go beyond sharing ideas to improve educational practice and impact. Doug White, a philanthropy scholar, warned "There is a national interest to be sure that money coming from foreign sources doesn't infiltrate power policy making in the United States. The origin of the money and how it was spent - these things need to be known to the public, not just internally."

The Director of the FBI defended its probe of Chinese influence in U.S.A. higher education. A Bill was also introduced in the U.S.A. Congress to encourage major universities to withdraw endowment investments in China. These actions are based on the assumption that Chinese investments would support China's advancement in the world scientific and economic systems.

The new wrinkle is that a Department of Defense sponsored report has now opened a path to approving Confucius Institutes again. The former Director of the Confucius Institutes U.S. Center responded by saying, "If we really want to cooperate with China, if people can work together to change their countries, we need those people-to-people programs. This report may build momentum for academic institutions to take a leading role and to be resilient in continuing to work on those peope-to-people programs." Approval to host Institutes requires a waiver approval.