FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—The Department of Education on Monday notified universities that it’s launching a new portal holding them accountable for failures to disclose foreign funding, as is mandated by law.

Higher education institutions will be required to use a new foreign funding reporting portal, set to launch on Jan. 2, to disclose foreign source gifts and contracts with a value of $250,000 or more, The Daily Signal first reported.

“The Trump administration is launching a new state-of-the-art system for colleges and universities to more efficiently and securely report their foreign gifts and contracts as required under the law,” Secretary of Education Linda McMahon told The Daily Signal. “After years of neglect by the Biden administration, the new portal will assist our institutions of higher education in fulfilling their statutory responsibilities and enable us to protect our national security by facilitating improved compliance.”  

The move is in line with Section 117 of the Higher Education Act, which requires colleges and universities to biannually disclose foreign source gifts and contracts to the Department of Education.

Institutions that don’t comply could face Department of Justice enforcement, including civil actions compelling compliance and recouping the full cost of enforcement.   

“America’s taxpayer funded colleges and universities have both a moral and legal obligation to be fully transparent with the U.S. government and the American people about their foreign financial relationships,” McMahon said. “We are grateful to the many stakeholders for their feedback in designing this portal and look forward to vigorously protecting our educational institutions from potentially harmful foreign influence.”

The current reporting portal has not been meaningfully updated since the first Trump administration, according to an agency official.

The Biden administration did not prioritize enforcing Section 117 or monitoring potential foreign influence at American universities, the agency says.

The new portal, a top priority for the Trump Education Department, has already undergone internal and external testing by universities, and it was designed based on years of comments and feedback from university filers.

Nine universities, including the University of Texas at Austin, MD Anderson, the University of Texas Medical Branch, the University of Southern California, Pepperdine University, Purdue University, Indiana University, Washington University, and the University of Arizona, beta-tested the portal and provided feedback.

The portal’s improved features include the ability to upload foreign funding disclosures in bulk rather than individually; executive summary visualizations to improve public transparency; and other tools for drafting, reviewing, and submitting reports to the department. 

Trump’s April executive order, “Transparency Regarding Foreign Influence at American Universities,” makes it a priority “to end the secrecy surrounding foreign funds in American educational institutions and safeguard America’s students and research from foreign exploitation.”

The new reporting portal represents an “important step” to carry out the directive, according to the agency.

A senior Department of Education official previously told The Daily Signal the agency would undertake more investigations into universities that fail to accurately disclose funding from foreign adversaries.

Trump’s Department of Education has already launched investigations into Harvard, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Michigan, and the University of Pennsylvania for what it says are untimely and inaccurate foreign financial disclosures, in violation of Section 117 of the Higher Education Act.

There’s only a 40% compliance rate with Section 117 among universities, the official said.

Universities that are funded by foreign adversaries can allow that to influence their decision-making, according the official.

Foreign governments use donations to get sought-after lab seats in Ivy League science, technology, engineering, and math programs. Universities funded by Middle Eastern adversaries have often been hesitant to condemn antisemitic, anti-Israel activity, the official said.

The post EXCLUSIVE: Universities Aren’t Disclosing Foreign Funding. Here’s What Trump Plans to Do About It. appeared first on The Daily Signal.