UC Berkeley to cut ties with Chinese university, has received $87 million from China: report
Garrett Marchand - University of Alabama • February 11, 2025 • The college fix
Tens of millions in unreported cash from China funded joint venture at UC Berkeley, watchdog reports
The University of California, Berkeley, is now cutting ties with a Chinese university after receiving $87.5 million from China to fuel a joint venture.
“After careful consideration, which began nearly a year ago, UC Berkeley is in the process of relinquishing all ownership in the Tsinghua Berkeley Shenzhen Institute non-profit entity in Shenzhen,” Dan Mogulof, assistant vice chancellor for UC Berkeley, told The College Fix via email.
“The University continuously reevaluates and responds to the risks and benefits posed by foreign engagement and takes concerns about research security very seriously,” he said.
According to a recent Open the Books report, millions of dollars from China funded the TBSI, a “hub of global research and education at UC Berkeley designed to promote global research collaboration and graduate student education,” according to the program’s webpage.
Open the Books states that the joint venture has locations in the U.S. at Berkeley and in Shenzhen, China. Two large Chinese contracts worth $19 million and $15 million were used to fund the institute at Berkeley.
Christopher Neefus, vice president of communications at Open the Books, told The Fix, “Universities are required to report all foreign contributions to the Department of Education” but “are not responsible for publicizing the full contract or providing a detailed description of the purpose.”
“As a result, we’re able to see which countries and foreign entities sent money to our universities, but we cannot always ascertain the purposes,” he said.
However, in the case of Berkeley, the watchdog group was “able to elucidate some of China’s spending through the House Select Committee on the Communist Chinese Party.”
The report reveals that Berkeley and other universities may be receiving more foreign funding than they have disclosed, due to inadequate oversight and incomplete reporting, Neefus told The Fix.
MORE: Contracts between U.S. universities, China total more than $2 billion
UC Berkeley’s joint program with China’s Tsinghua University bypassed reporting requirements, as it was considered a separate legal entity from the universities themselves, he said.
Amid these findings, free speech advocates are raising concerns about the broader impact of such funding on academic independence.
“There is serious cause for concern about the role foreign funding can play in higher ed,” a scholar with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression told The College Fix via email.
“Not only is there a risk that authoritarian countries may privately pressure universities to conduct their operations in a way that’s beneficial to those countries’ political goals, they may not even have to do so,” Sarah McLaughlin said.
McLaughlin also said universities often fear negative press and are “unwilling to admit if foreign funding influences institutional decision making.”
“Universities may fear the ramifications of alienating these partners and self-censor around political issues sensitive to them — all without ever having been asked,” she said.
McLaughlin cited a 2015 example that occurred at Harvard Law when an event about human rights in China was rescheduled so it would not interfere with the university’s prospects. She also cited a 2009 North Carolina State University event featuring the Dalai Lama, which was canceled to protect the state’s financial interests in China.
“I would not be surprised if many more stories like these went under the radar. Universities should be transparent about funding, including with foreign partners,” McLaughlin told The Fix.
“Unfortunately, billions of dollars have gone undisclosed and unreported by universities in recent years. They should also publicize the conditions of contracts and grants associated with their partnerships so that their communities can see if inappropriate provisions exist,” she said.
MORE: China heavily funds Harvard, Stanford, many other top universities: report
IMAGE: Tsinghua University/Youtube
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