LEXINGTON, Ky. — The University of Kentucky (UK) announced Wednesday the closing of their Confucius Institute (UKCI) on campus due to a federal law that may have jeopardized funding in other departments on campus.
What You Need To Know
- The University of Kentucky's Confucius Institute has closed
- A stipulation in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2021 would have pulled DoD funding from campuses hosting a Confucius Institute
- UK received over $50 million in DoD funding over the last five years
- Campus representatives and UK's president said the decision was not made lightly
“For a long time, it’s been a really valuable resource. In terms of the kinds of exchanges that you want to have with an academic institution and another country and educational institutions in that country,” Jay Blanton, UK spokesperson said.
According to the National Defense Authorization Act of 2021, the Department of Defense could limit the higher education institutes from receiving DOD funding if the college or universities are hosting a Confucius Institute.
According to the Government Accountability Office, researchers and government officials have been concerned for years about Confucius Institutes with their written content as well as the role and power of the Chinese government.
“This year there was some pretty specific language about being eligible for Department of Defense grants and research grants if you have a Confucius Institute. The Department of Defense is frankly the largest funder of research in the country,” Blanton said.
An email sent out to the campus from President Capilouto read, “Nine UK colleges currently receive significant DoD research and academic funding, which we cannot jeopardize. That’s some $50 million in the last five years alone with nearly 50 active projects and another 50 in the proposal stage.”
Blanton said the university will use this time to work on a transition plan to determine how to continue their relationships and partnership programs with China. They also understand that this decision may be difficult on some students, faculty and staff members, and said closing the UKCI was not done lightly.
“We have hundreds of students from China," Blanton said. "This does not affect any scholarships or any of those sorts of opportunities. These students make an incredible impact and are very important contributions to our campus life, not only in terms of their scholarly proceeds and research, but they're important members of our community."