SIU Carbondale among 30 universities ordered to review foreign partnerships
FOX23 News at 9 p.m
CARBONDALE, Ill., (KBSI) — Southern Illinois University Carbondale is among 30 universities nationwide ordered by the Pentagon to review academic, financial and research relationships with certain foreign institutions.
The Pentagon announced the reviews Aug. 17 as part of an effort to identify university relationships with what the federal government considers “foreign entities of concern.”
Universities that received notices are being asked to review foreign collaborations, determine whether sensitive or export-controlled research may have been exposed and report their findings by Aug. 31.
A U.S. official provided DefenseScoop with a list of the 30 universities, which includes SIU Carbondale. The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Illinois Institute of Technology are also on the list, along with Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Duke University, Cornell University and Johns Hopkins University.
Federal officials have not publicly said why SIU Carbondale was selected for the review. The university’s inclusion does not mean it has been found to have violated federal law or improperly shared research.
SIU currently has a partnership with Shenyang Aerospace University in China. SIU’s website lists a memorandum of understanding and a “2+2” agreement with the Chinese university that run through 2028.
The relationship dates back more than a decade. In 2019, SIU announced that its Aviation Technologies program and Shenyang Aerospace University had finalized a collaborative degree program allowing students to study for two years in China and two years at SIU. The agreement also included faculty exchanges.
The partnership has previously drawn attention from Congress. A report from the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party identified the SIU-Shenyang dual-degree program while examining relationships between U.S. universities and Chinese institutions.
The congressional report described Shenyang Aerospace University as being supervised by Aviation Industry Corporation of China, a Chinese aerospace and defense company that has been placed on U.S. government blacklists.
The Pentagon has not said whether SIU’s relationship with Shenyang Aerospace University is connected to the university’s inclusion in the latest review.
According to the Pentagon, the reviews are intended to protect federally funded research from unauthorized technology transfers, intellectual property theft and exploitation by foreign adversaries.
Universities could be required to end partnerships found to raise concerns in order to remain eligible for future federal research funding.
