WASHINGTON — A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine proposes a set of criteria for the U.S. Department of Defense to consider in developing a waiver process that would potentially allow U.S. institutions of higher education to receive DOD funding while hosting a Confucius Institute. The proposed criteria identify conditions that should be met by colleges and universities with respect to academic freedom, freedom of expression, and national security. 

Confucius Institutes (CIs) are Chinese government-funded language and culture centers located worldwide. More than 100 U.S. institutions of higher education hosted CIs on campus during the late 2000s and early 2010s. Sustained concerns from Congress about the potential for encroachment on academic freedom and freedom of expression as well as for espionage and intellectual property theft, coupled with a provision in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019, led to the closure of dozens of Confucius Institutes on U.S. campuses. As of December 2022, the study committee that authored the report was aware of seven U.S. institutions with active Confucius Institutes, two of which receive DOD funding for scientific research.

The committee’s work was conducted in response to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021. The law contained a provision that barred institutions hosting Confucius Institutes from receiving DOD funding, but allowed for DOD to waive this limitation after consultation with the National Academies. 

While Confucius Institutes provided a source of funding and other resources that enabled U.S. institutions of higher education to build capacity in Chinese language and culture, they presented an added, legitimate source of risk to host institutions with respect to academic freedom, freedom of expression, and national security, the new report says. 

The committee is not aware of any evidence at the unclassified level that Confucius Institutes were associated with espionage or intellectual property theft. While incidents affecting academic freedom, freedom of expression, and shared governance did take place, the report says, the most egregious of these occurred at Confucius Institutes outside of the U.S. 

The report identifies conditions that DOD could use to evaluate whether an institution of higher education has taken appropriate precautionary measures to understand and address risks, and to consider granting a waiver to a college or university to host a Confucius Institute: 

• U.S. host institutions should demonstrate that the CI is a formally established center or institute at the institution, thereby subjecting the CI to all policies and procedures prescribed in faculty, staff, and student codes, as well as in shared governance documents that ensure that similar units within the university support the key values of American academic institutions, including academic freedom and openness and respectful behavior toward other host institution academic units. If a U.S. host institution is not structured in a way that allows for formal centers or institutes, it should develop a structure for oversight and include the details for that structure in the documents governing a CI. 
  
  
• U.S. host institutions should demonstrate that they meet and comply with all applicable DOD requirements for information, data, physical, and research security. 
  
  
• U.S. host institutions should demonstrate that they possess full managerial control of Confucius Institute curriculum, instructors, textbooks and teaching materials, programmatic decisions, and research grants. 
  
  
• U.S. host institutions should ensure that no contract or other written agreement pertaining to creating or operating the Confucius Institute calls for the application of foreign law to any aspect of the Confucius Institute’s operation at any U.S. campus of the host institution. 
  
  
• U.S. host institutions should demonstrate appropriate fiduciary and financial oversight of the Confucius Institute. 

• U.S. host institutions should demonstrate that the CI is a formally established center or institute at the institution, thereby subjecting the CI to all policies and procedures prescribed in faculty, staff, and student codes, as well as in shared governance documents that ensure that similar units within the university support the key values of American academic institutions, including academic freedom and openness and respectful behavior toward other host institution academic units. If a U.S. host institution is not structured in a way that allows for formal centers or institutes, it should develop a structure for oversight and include the details for that structure in the documents governing a CI. 
  
  
• U.S. host institutions should demonstrate that they meet and comply with all applicable DOD requirements for information, data, physical, and research security. 
  
  
• U.S. host institutions should demonstrate that they possess full managerial control of Confucius Institute curriculum, instructors, textbooks and teaching materials, programmatic decisions, and research grants. 
  
  
• U.S. host institutions should ensure that no contract or other written agreement pertaining to creating or operating the Confucius Institute calls for the application of foreign law to any aspect of the Confucius Institute’s operation at any U.S. campus of the host institution. 
  
  
• U.S. host institutions should demonstrate appropriate fiduciary and financial oversight of the Confucius Institute. 

Full details on the waiver criteria can be found in the report. 

In the absence of any applicable adverse information that cannot be addressed or mitigated through the criteria or other means, DOD should grant a waiver if an applying institution of higher education meets the stated waiver criteria, the report says. If DOD does not grant any waivers, or decides not to grant a waiver to a specific institution of higher education when others are awarded, it should specify the reason for denial to the extent possible at the unclassified level. The committee recognizes that the U.S. government has the right to withhold taxpayer dollars from going to institutions of higher education where the Chinese government is embedded on campus if proper risk-mitigating measures to secure and protect research data and intellectual property are not present or sufficient. 

Outside input is critical to ensure that the waiver application process is free from undue administrative and regulatory burden, the committee said. The report encourages DOD to solicit external input from key organizations including industry, higher education associations, and universities in addition to U.S. government input as it considers the waiver criteria and develops a waiver process for implementation beginning in fiscal year 2024. 

A second report exploring foreign-funded partnerships on U.S. campuses more broadly will be released in summer 2023. 

The study, undertaken by the Committee on Confucius Institutes at U.S. Institutions of Higher Education, was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine are private, nonprofit institutions that provide independent, objective analysis and advice to the nation to solve complex problems and inform public policy decisions related to science, technology, and medicine. They operate under an 1863 congressional charter to the National Academy of Sciences, signed by President Lincoln. 

Contact:
Megan Lowry
Office of News and Public Information
202-334-2138; e-mail news@nas.edu