Summary: Universities across the country have received billions of dollars from foreign governments in the last two decades, with those in Tennessee collecting $311 million from foreign governments, including tens of millions from Saudi Arabia and China.
1. What is this funding for and why should people question it?
A: This shows that countries try to buy foreign influence in higher education and it’s worrisome because three of the top donors across America are Qatar, Saudi Arabia and China, each contributing billions to American universities.
Of the $311 million to Tennessee universities since 2005, $20 million came in last year.
Tennessee universities received $42 million from Saudi Arabia and over $9 million from China, two countries with massive human rights abuses.
Saudi Arabia tortures people, they hold unfair trials that end in the death penalty and women have little rights, and are required to have male guardians
In China, people don’t have freedom of speech, or freedom to practice their religion of choice, they’re tortured, have forced abortions and forced sterilization, state-sponsored forced labor and more.
2. How does that $311 million break down among universities in Tennessee?
A: University of Tennessee got $61 million — almost $11.5 million from Saudi Arabia, over $7.6 million from China
Middle Tennessee State University got almost $34 million - $29 million from Saudi Arabia — in part to pay tuition for Saudi students — $1.4 million from China, another $3.3 million from Scotland and Oman.
East Tennessee State University got just under $1 million from Saudi Arabia in 2023 and 2024 to pay tuition for Saudi students
Vanderbilt University got the bulk of foreign funds - $211 million – but just under $1 million from Saudi Arabia, the rest from dozens of countries all over the world — Europe, Africa and Asia.
The records don’t always include any details on what this money is for.
It can be research it’s funding, scholarships for students, usually from those foreign countries, like I’ve mentioned, fellowships, various programs and symposiums and that can be examples of foreign governments trying to buy influence over American universities.
3. Universities are required to report their foreign funding but there’s a bill to increase transparency, tell us more.
A: Universities must report payments of more than $250,000 from foreign sources to the Department of Education.
The DETERRENT Act lowers the $250,000 reporting threshold to $50,000 for most countries, or down to a single dollar for adversarial nations like China, Iran, Russia, North Korea.
They would also be required to get permission from the Education Secretary to do business with “countries of concern”
It passed the House with 31 Democrats voting for it – and needs passage in the Senate.
By passing the DETERRENT Act, taxpayers can get a handle on the full scope and scale of cooperation with (and influence from) China and other adversarial nations.