Joint Institutes, Divided Loyalties | Select Committee on the CCP

Over the previous two years, the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party and the Committee on Education and the Workforce’s (Committees) investigations revealed how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) exploits U.S. universities to gasoline its navy and technological rise. 

Last fall, the Committees launched CCP on the Quad, a report exposing how American researchers—many funded by the Department of Defense (DOD), Department of Energy, and National Science Foundation—enabled main developments by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in nuclear know-how, synthetic intelligence, robotics, and quantum computing. The report additionally revealed that U.S.-PRC joint institutes facilitate know-how switch and pose nationwide safety dangers. 

This report supplies new findings on joint institutes and different problematic partnerships between U.S. universities and the PRC, new data on stepped-up enforcement of overseas present disclosure guidelines and college responses. This investigation:

 1.   Further highlights the dangers these partnerships pose,

 2.   Exposes universities that proceed to disregard the dangers, 

 3.   Identifies dozens of not-yet-reported educational collaborations that create dangers to U.S. nationwide safety, 

4.    Examines adjustments in college disclosures of overseas funding, and 

5.    Reveals the affect of the Trump Administration’s stepped-up enforcement of overseas present reporting necessities. 

Joint Institutes—entities based mostly in China that pair American universities with Chinese establishments—will not be typical educational collaborations that profit college students from each international locations. They are underneath the thumb of the CCP. They function underneath PRC legislation; are run by Chinese-majority boards and have Party presence in management; and are aligned with the CCP’s nationwide technique, together with its navy buildup. Chinese authorities funding dominates these joint institutes, and using funds is restricted by legislation to align with CCP objectives. Curriculum and analysis prioritize CCP-defined objectives—particularly in military-relevant science and know-how fields. Finally, U.S. establishments comply with PRC-imposed limits on educational freedom, speech, and governance independence.

But many others haven’t. Last fall, the Committees recognized high-risk joint institutes on the following universities, all of which have did not act: Duke University; University of Arizona; University of Delaware; Drake University; University of Houston; Kean University; University of Miami; New York University; University of North Alabama; Northeastern State University (Tahlequah); Portland State University; State University of New York – Stony Brook; and Trine University.

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These joint institutes are removed from the one collaborations between U.S. universities and Chinese entities that create nationwide safety dangers. In the follow-on investigation, the Committees recognized greater than 100 extra educational partnerships that contain PRC entities that pose a nationwide safety danger.

More than fifty such partnerships are described beneath, together with the nationwide safety danger components. These partnerships embrace:

— Three joint diploma applications between U.S. universities and China’s Seven Sons of National Defense. The Seven Sons of National Defense are universities hand-picked by the CCP to propel China’s navy and defense-research ahead. 

— A partnership in submarine engineering analysis between the University of Houston and Dalian Maritime University, which is supervised by a Chinese defense-focused authorities company and companions with Chinese protection conglomerates on engineering analysis.

— A twin diploma in plane energy engineering between Shenyang Aerospace University, which is supervised by blacklisted Chinese navy firm the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (the developer of China’s fifth Generation Stealth Fighter), and Southern Illinois University Carbondale. 

— A joint program in mechanical design, manufacturing, and automation between North China Institute of Aerospace Engineering—a college managed by blacklisted Chinese navy firms that produce China’s Long March Rockets and different missiles—and Saint Martin’s University in Washington state.

The second a part of the report examines adjustments to overseas present disclosures because the launch of CCP on the Quad. After years of inaction by the Biden-Harris administration, the present Trump Administration has taken vital steps to bolster enforcement of the overseas contract and present necessities in present legislation underneath part 117 of the Higher Education Act (HEA). Institutions that associate with joint institutes have taken some steps towards improved disclosures, however critical gaps nonetheless stay. 

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Select Committee Chairman John Moolenaar and Education and Workforce Chairman Tim Walberg due to this fact suggest adopting into legislation the Securing American Funding and Expertise from Adversarial Research Exploitation Act of 2025 (SAFE Research Act), which: 

— Prohibits federal science, know-how, engineering, and arithmetic (STEM) analysis funding to researchers who collaborate with overseas adversary-controlled entities that pose a nationwide safety danger.

— Prohibits DOD funding to universities that associate with overseas adversary-controlled entities that pose a nationwide safety danger. 

— Requires enhanced disclosures of overseas adversary collaborations, journey, and affiliations from overseas adversary entities. 

The SAFE Research Act was launched and adopted by the House as an modification to the Fiscal Year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (FY26 NDAA), which handed the House on September 10, 2025. We stay up for working expeditiously to maneuver this invoice ahead and enact it into legislation. 

In addition, overseas present disclosures stay insufficient. The lack of robust enforcement provisions within the legislation and shortcomings in college reporting nonetheless stay and display the continued want for legislative motion equivalent to H.R. 1048, the Defending Education Transparency and Ending Rogue Regimes Engaging in Nefarious Transactions (DETERRENT) Act. The DETERRENT Act handed the House on March 27, 2025, by a vote of 241 to 169. It is now awaiting Senate motion. The Chairmen proceed to induce the Senate to cross the DETERRENT Act expeditiously. 

Read the report right here