Elite capture exposed: $530M in Chinese funds flow to U.S. schools with little oversight

China provided more than $530 million to top-ranked American universities in recent years, but the schools failed to disclose how the funds were spent, prompting concerns about foreign influence, according to an open-source intelligence report. Here’s what you need to know about Chinese funding at U.S. universities and transparency concerns:

Massive undisclosed funding

NYU leads recipients with $198 million, minimal reporting:

• China provided more than $530 million to top-ranked American universities in recent years, but schools failed to disclose how funds were spent, prompting concerns about foreign influence, according to an open-source intelligence report
• New York University, largest recipient of Chinese funds, received $198 million between 2022 to 2024 and only reported to federal government details on how $360,000 was spent, according to report
• Beijing paid other schools tens of millions of dollars between 2022 and 2024. Major recipients included Stanford University ($50 million), Yale University ($35 million) and Duke University ($37 million), according to Education Department data
• Most of schools failed to provide details on how money was spent, raising concerns that funds are intended to buy influence at U.S. universities, including among professors and students

Limited transparency from elite schools

Top universities report spending details on small fractions of Chinese money:

• Stanford disclosed in reports to Education Department how $5.9 million of its Chinese money was spent; Yale provided details on $9.8 million; and Duke reported on $1.6 million of its Chinese funds
• At Harvard University, China provided elite school with $44 million, with explanations on expenditures detailed for just $4.6 million that went to endowments for professors, financial aid for Chinese students and China-focused programs, Data Abyss report said
• Columbia University, exception to transparency lapses, disclosed how $31.5 million of its total of $43 million in Chinese money was spent on research, teaching chairs, scholarships, operations and infrastructure

Elite capture concerns

Research firm identifies Chinese influence operations:

• Report by Data Abyss, China-focused research firm, said lack of transparency highlights what critics call Chinese “elite capture” — use of money to influence intelligentsia — American professors, researchers and students to support Beijing’s political, economic and technology goals
• Report is based on newly released data required under Section 117 of 1965 Higher Education Act
• Law requires all universities that receive federal funding to disclose foreign payments over $250,000

Trump administration response

Executive order targets foreign funding transparency:

• Disclosure of hidden Chinese funding at universities follows executive order signed by President Trump in April ordering Education Secretary Linda McMahon to investigate universities that fail to comply with Section 117 reporting requirements
• “Protecting American educational, cultural, and national security interests requires transparency regarding foreign funds flowing to American higher education and research institutions,” order states
• Executive order said that during first Trump administration, Education Department probed 19 universities that failed to report $6.5 billion in foreign funding
• Biden administration limited department’s ability to track foreign funds, order said

Military and strategic connections

Some funding linked to Chinese defense programs:

• Some of funds have been linked to Chinese military and economic programs
• Texas A&M University worked on $10 million contract with Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, facility that is linked to naval research for Chinese People’s Liberation Army, report said
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology was given $28 million contract from Ningbo municipal government for program called Ningbo China Institute for Supply Chain Innovation that is involved in China’s Belt and Road international development program and China’s military-civil fusion program
• Rochester Institute of Technology received $108 million for joint programs with Beijing Jiaotong University, institution that works with PLA on logistics and drones systems
• At Bryant University, school joined in $40 million partnership with Beijing Institute of Technology Zhuhai that is embedding Chinese Communist Party governance and ideological education

Funding surge patterns

Recent years show dramatic increase in Chinese university investments:

• According to report, 15 U.S. universities received $534.5 million since 2022, with tens of millions sent in surge of funding between 2023 and 2024
• NYU, for example, received $80 million from China in 2024
• Of 6,818 Education Department reports on China’s university funding, 889, or 13%, included descriptions of how money was spent, with 87% lacking details

Research findings

Study reveals systematic lack of transparency:

• Report, “Academic Capture: China’s Expanding Financial Footprint in U.S. Universities and the Transparency Gap,” was published this week by Parallax Advanced Research, think tank
• “Without stronger disclosure requirements, policymakers and public are ’flying blind’— able to see scale of Chinese money but not its influence,” report said
• “The selective transparency skews narrative, risks masking strategic vulnerabilities, and undermines accountability at precisely universities where Chinese funding is most concentrated”
• “That means correlations between foreign funds and their intended purposes can only be drawn in handful of cases,” report said

Expert analysis

Report author highlights troubling patterns:

• L.J. Eads, director of research intelligence at Parallax and author of report, said universities receiving largest sums from China are providing least transparency about what that money supports
• “With only 13% of Education reports showing how nearly billion dollars in Chinese gifts were spent over past two years shows we have virtually no insight into how hundreds of millions of dollars are being used across U.S. universities, including public institutions,” he said
• “Even within that limited transparency, details reveal troubling patterns, from professorships and endowed chairs to contracts where Beijing appears to hand-pick Chinese participants, raising concerns that Chinese Communist Party is quietly steering who and what gets funded inside U.S. academia,” Mr. Eads said

Congressional investigations

House probes Harvard’s CCP connections:

• Congress is investigating foreign funding at universities. House legislation passed in March calls for requiring all details of foreign funding by adversaries to be disclosed in detail
• House Select Committee on Chinese Communist Party wrote letter to Harvard President Alan Garber in July asking for documents related to what panel said is extensive evidence of links between CCP and Harvard
• Specifically, committee investigators are probing Harvard’s ties to CCP Organization Department, unit in charge of promoting “Xi Jinping Thought,” ideology of Chinese president
• Harvard is considered coveted educational institution for Chinese Communist Party. Chinese President Xi Jinping’s daughter, Xi Mingze, graduated from Harvard in 2014, and school is said to be preferred school for offspring of other senior CCP leaders

Former lawmaker’s assessment

Ex-House committee chair warns of university corruption:

• Former Rep. Mike Gallagher, until recently chair of House Select Committee on CCP, said China poses threat to U.S. universities
• “Universities love Chinese students because they generally pay full freight, often subsidized by Communist Party state,” Mr. Gallagher said in recent Wall Street Journal article
• “Universities need that money to feed their ever-expanding bureaucracies, and this dependency corrupts them”

Legal consequences

Some schools face penalties for disclosure failures:

• Stanford in 2023 paid $2 million to settle Justice Department claim that university failed to disclose foreign research funding
• In Michigan, FBI arrested two Chinese nationals at University of Michigan who are charged with smuggling potential “agroterrorism weapon” into U.S.

Read more:

• Universities failed to disclose spending details on millions in Chinese funds