House Oversight Report Calls for Academic Reciprocity Policy to Guard Against Chinese Influence

53 researchers to intensify efforts to protect their proprietary intellectual property from loss. Promote Reciprocity The academic community nationwide should work toward a common set of principles and practices for protecting academic freedom and promote greater reciprocity. To prevent influencers from using divide-and-conquer strategies (by rewarding some institutions while punishing others), it is important for the national academic community as a whole to come together to formulate and implement these principles. US universities should not only work together but they should also work with other universities around the world to develop a “Code of Conduct” for acceptable and unacceptable practices in academic exchanges with Chinese institutions and funders. (The section on think tanks in this section recommends similar measures.) The academic community and government should also monitor instances where Chinese entities may acquire financially challenged American colleges outright, ensuring that their academic integrity is not compromised.** Universities can and must continue to play a positive role in the US-China relationship. Indeed, by introducing international students to American life and values, and connecting them to new personal and professional relationships, universities are arguably the important means by which the United States exercises its soft power. Generally—but not always—individuals undergoing such an experience take a more positive view of the country. Unfortunately, as Chinese students contribute much, not least monetarily, to American universities, universities have been too slow to help them integrate themselves more organically into campus life. As a result, Chinese students report unacceptably high levels of depression and isolation or simply clubbing up with each other.** While acting to mitigate the risks of improper interference, universities must not forget their obligations to these students nor lose sight of the far greater opportunity to advance cooperation and understanding. NOTES 1 This process is well documented in Li, Cheng (ed.). Bridging Minds Across the Pacific: US-China Educational Exchanges, 1978-2003. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. 2005. 2 “Places of Origin.” Institute of International Education. 2017. https://www.iie.org/Research-and-Insights /Open-Doors/Data/International-Students/Places-of-Origin. 3 “For China’s Elite, Studying Abroad Is de Rigueur.” Economist. May 17, 2018. https://www.economist.com /special-report/2018/05/17/for-chinas-elite-studying-abroad-is-de-rigueur. 4 Ibid. 5 Ibid. Section 4 HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_020512