Under threat from Republican lawmakers, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville ended a scholarship partnership for Chinese students.
In early July, Representative John Moolenaar, chair of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), sent letters to seven U.S. institutions of higher education demanding they end relationships with the China Scholarship Council, which he called a “nefarious mechanism” that “exploits U.S. institutions and directly supports China’s military and scientific growth.”
The CSC, which is affiliated with China’s Ministry of Education, partners with U.S. institutions to select and provide scholarships for Chinese students in master’s and doctoral programs.
UT Knoxville entered a memorandum of understanding in 2024, agreeing to support 10 students in doctorate and master’s programs for four or two years, respectively. CSC would pay for in-state tuition, travel and visa application fees and UT would pay the difference in out-of-state tuition as well as graduate assistantship costs, stipends and health insurance, according to Knox News.
The UT Knoxville terminated its agreement with the group on July 10.
Other institutions said they had ended their relationship with CSC prior to receiving Moolenaar’s letter. Dartmouth College terminated its program in 2024, according to the student paper The Dartmouth. Similarly, the University of Notre Dame began winding down its program earlier this year.
The committee has also targeted other programs tying Chinese organizations to U.S. higher ed institutions.
In November, Moolenaar sent the University of Michigan a letter to end its partnership with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, which he claimed was advancing military research for the Chinese government. The university, then under the leadership of Santa Ono, announced it ended the partnership in January.
Similarly, Georgia Tech, the University of California, Berkeley, Eastern Michigan University, Oakland University and the University of Detroit Mercy ended partnerships with Chinese-based institutions in 2024 after receiving pressure from the Select Committee on the CCP as well.
