Foreign contributions to American higher education surged to over $5.2 billion in 2025, as reported by the U.S. Department of Education. This influx of foreign gifts and contracts highlights a significant global financial interest in U.S. colleges and universities.
Major contributors in 2025 included Qatar, the United Kingdom, China, Switzerland, Japan, Germany, and Saudi Arabia. These countries formed the bulk of the reportable foreign funding received by American educational institutions, according to recent disclosures from the department.
In a bid to enhance transparency, the department launched a transparency dashboard, cataloging foreign funding data dating back to 1986. Despite being hailed as a transparency tool, critics argue it lacks essential context and does not categorize gifts and contracts by year, which limits the public’s ability to track trends or identify major contributions.
Section 117 of the Higher Education Act mandates that colleges and universities receiving federal financial assistance disclose foreign gifts or contracts worth $250,000 or more annually. This legislation was introduced amid concerns over foreign entities potentially using educational platforms for influence.
Rick Hess, senior fellow and director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, explained that Section 117 aimed to address fears that foreign actors might exert undue influence on American institutions or access American youth.
Trump Administration’s Focus on Transparency
The Trump administration prioritized increasing transparency regarding foreign funds in U.S. academia. This effort included an executive order in April 2025 designed to shed light on foreign financial involvement in American educational institutions and protect students and research from potential foreign exploitation.
The Education Department’s portal, launched in January, is where colleges and universities report foreign gifts and contracts. Furthermore, a partnership with the State Department, announced on February 23, aims to enhance the management of foreign funding disclosures through the portal.
The State Department will assist in assessing compliance, sharing data, and identifying potential threats using its expertise in national security and foreign academia admissions.
Extensive Foreign Funding Data
The dashboard reveals that 555 institutions reported $67.6 billion in foreign gifts and contracts from 1986 to mid-December 2025. Leading recipients of this funding include Harvard University, Carnegie Mellon University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cornell University, and the University of Pennsylvania.
The dashboard also highlights foreign gifts and contracts from “countries of concern,” including China, Russia, and Venezuela. Harvard, MIT, New York University, Stanford University, and Yale University received the most funding from these sources.
Challenges and Criticisms
While the transparency dashboard serves as a comprehensive resource, some higher education groups have raised concerns about its limitations. The inability to view data by year makes it difficult to analyze funding trends over time.
Sarah Spreitzer, vice president and chief of staff for government relations at the American Council on Education, noted the lack of context in the data and expressed concern over the portrayal of certain foreign entities as ongoing funders. For example, the dashboard shows funding from Huawei, a company designated as an entity of concern by the U.S. Department of Commerce in 2019, despite the fact that American institutions reportedly ceased accepting Huawei funds years ago.
Spreitzer emphasized that institutions are meeting their Section 117 reporting obligations and cautioned against making broad assumptions based on the current presentation of the data. She hopes for continued improvements to the dashboard, such as year-based data separation and additional context.
