The U.S. Department of Education has released data compiled from foreign funding disclosures submitted by American colleges and universities for 2025. The portal documents over 8,300 transactions worth more than $5.2 billion in reportable foreign gifts and contracts.
These disclosures are required by Section 117 of the Higher Education Act (Section 117), which obligates universities receiving Federal financial assistance to disclose foreign source gifts and contracts with a value of $250,000 or more annually to the Department.
This data is now available for public inspection on the new foreign funding reporting portal, which the Department launched earlier this year and upgraded today to include new data visualization capabilities. Including the most recent 2025 disclosures, a total of $67.6 billion in foreign funding has now been reported by American universities since the Higher Education Act was amended to include Section 117 in 1986.
The new portal allows the American people, Congress, and the media to inspect and analyze key features of disclosed foreign funding, including gifts and contracts received from parties designated as entities of concern by the U.S. Department of State among other federal agencies. It includes 11 additional data elements—a 61% increase in data points made available to the public.
“Thanks to the Trump Administration’s new accountability portal, the American people have unprecedented visibility into the foreign dollars flowing into our colleges and universities—including funding from countries and entities that are involved in activities that threaten America’s national security. This marks a new era of transparency for the American people and streamlined compliance for colleges and universities, making it easier than ever for institutions to meet their legal obligations,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. “Under President Trump’s leadership, we remain firmly committed to ensuring that universities uphold their legal and ethical obligations to disclose the true origins of their foreign relationships. This transparency is essential not only to preserving the integrity of academic research but also to ensure the security and resilience of our nation.”
The most recent disclosures from 2025 identify Qatar (over $1.1 billion), the United Kingdom (over $633 million), China (over $528 million), Switzerland (over $451 million), Japan (over $374 million), Germany (over $292 million), and Saudi Arabia (over $285 million) as the largest foreign sources of reportable gifts and contracts to American universities (including both state and non-state entities).
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