Although it’s at the center of debates over transparency in foreign spending at American colleges, China ranks fourth in sources of overseas gifts and contracts, according to a new public database from the U.S. Department of Education. The largest donor country, Qatar, gave or awarded nearly $6.6 billion to higher-education institutions, $2.5 billion more than Chinese sources.
But Qatar is not among seven “countries of concern” that lawmakers, both in Congress and in the states, have sought to more strictly police. Neither are the two other countries that outpaced China in funding, Germany and England. Meanwhile, Iran and Russia, which are also considered adversarial nations, don’t crack the top 10.
China is the largest source of foreign funds for just one institution that ranks among the largest recipients of overseas funding — Columbia University.