U.S. Science and Innovation Policy – författare

More than 100 U.S. institutions of higher education hosted Confucius Institutes (CIs), Chinese government-funded language and culture centers, on campus during the late 2000s and 2010s. While CIs provided a source of funding and other resources that enabled U.S. colleges and universities to build capacity, offer supplemental programming, and engage with the local community, CIs presented an added, legitimate source of risk to host institutions with respect to academic freedom, freedom of expression, and national security.

By 2017, deteriorating U.S.-China relations led some U.S. colleges and universities to reconsider the value of having a CI on campus. Sustained interest by Congress and political pressure led numerous U.S.-based CIs to close, especially following the passage of the Fiscal Year 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, which contained a provision that ultimately barred institutions receiving Department of Defense (DOD) critical language flagship funding in Chinese from hosting a CI. While this provision allowed for a waiver process - and several affected colleges and universities applied for waivers in 2018 and 2019 - DOD did not issue any waivers. Today, seven CIs remain on U.S. university and college campuses. At the request of DOD, Confucius Institutes at U.S. Institutions of Higher Education presents a set of findings and recommendations for waiver criteria to potentially permit the continued presence of CIs on U.S. university campuses that also receive DOD funding.

Foreign-funded language and culture institutes exist on U.S. campuses beyond Confucius Institutes (CIs)—Chinese government-funded centers established by the Chinese Communist Party to extend the reach of Chinese language and culture and to enhance worldwide opinion of China through offering classes in Mandarin Chinese and highlighting positive aspects of Chinese culture. Regardless of the sponsoring nation, foreign-funded language and culture institutes may pose risks for U.S. host institutions regarding academic freedom, freedom of expression, governance, and national security. This is particularly true if the values of the sponsoring nation do not align with the democratic values held in the United States and if the sponsoring nation is suspected of engaging in activities adversely affecting human rights, academic freedom, freedom of expression, association, dissent, and U.S. national security.

This report explores the role of other foreign-funded institutes at U.S. institutions of higher education, describing characteristics and features of such institutes; determining characteristics and features of foreign-funded institutes at U.S. institutions of higher education that could be flags for institutions to engage in further deliberation and vetting prior to entering into a partnership; identifying implementable practices for U.S. institutions of higher education to ensure appropriate operations; and continuing exploration of what role the sensitivity of the research conducted on campus should play in determining which foreign-funded partnerships are appropriate. Foreign-Funded Language and Culture Institutes at U.S. Institutions of Higher Education recommends actions that U.S. colleges and universities can take to minimize risks associated with hosting foreign-funded language and culture institutions, such as a CI, on or near campus and protect academic freedom and national security.

Despite advances over the past several decades, the clinical trials enterprise has struggled to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse U.S. population. To help address this issue, a 2023 National Academies workshop sought to identify the expertise and disciplines needed to achieve the aspirations for a transformed clinical trials enterprise by 2030 and enable a workforce that can better support the evolving needs of drug R&D - one that is resilient, culturally aware, anti-racist, and interdisciplinary. The workshop, hosted by the Forum on Drug Discovery, Development, and Translation and Roundtable on Black Men and Black Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine explored strategies to bolster workforce capacity and challenges and opportunities associated with supporting the next-generation drug R&D workforce.