WASHINGTON – The Department of Education has launched an investigation into the University of California, Berkeley. On Friday, they were unable to report Chinese funds from China after allegedly violating federal law because they failed to report hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign funds from China.
UC Berkeley raked $220 million from Chinese government officials to build a campus in the city of Shenzhen, but did not report payments despite exceeding the $250,000 mandatory disclosure threshold in Section 117 of the Higher Education Act.
Those payments had previously been disclosed as part of a House Committee investigation in 2023, but senior education officials told reporters on Friday that “hundreds of millions of dollars” would be examined.
The study also reveals whether key US technologies have been transferred to entities related to Chinese states as part of the arrangement.
“They will respond for 30 days with the records we request, so they hope they have a significant amount of records, and after examining these records, they will be able to see how much UC Burkelly is or not complying,” an education official told reporters.
This post was contacted by a Berkeley representative for comment.
