Georgia Tech Ends Partnership With Entity-Listed Chinese University
The Georgia Institute of Technology is severing ties with China-based Tianjin University, a school added to the Bureau of Industry and Secuirty’s Entity List in 2020, saying Tianjin’s placement on the list has made their relationship “no longer tenable.”
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Georgia Tech said it has been working with the university since December 2016 to provide “educational opportunities” to students through Georgia Tech Shenzhen Institute (GTSI), an “accredited instructional site” in Shenzhen, China. After Tianjin University was added to the Entity List, Georgia Tech said it “immediately began conducting a thorough review of all its activities and partnerships in China,” which resulted in the school nixing a planned Ph.D. program through the partnership and capping the number of GTSI students at 10% of the “original intent.”
It decided last week that it will officially “discontinue its participation in GTSI,” the school said in a Sept. 6 news release.
The announcement comes amid BIS efforts to boost its outreach to U.S. universities about the research securities risks associated with schools and research organizations with ties to the Chinese government. The agency in 2022 launched an academic outreach program, an initiative designed to improve compliance at universities that have a higher risk for illegal tech transfers (see 2303100021 and 2206290019).
The agency in August outlined the types of export violations that universities are most commonly disclosing to BIS (see 2408140049). During the past 10 years, BIS said it has received at least nine reports from universities disclosing possibly illegal exports to entities on its Entity List.
Georgia Tech said the approximately 300 admitted students in degree programs at GTSI still will be able to “fulfill their degree requirements. Georgia Tech remains committed to providing meaningful global experiences for its students through its many study-abroad programs and international experiences, including in Shenzhen, a city of global prominence in technology, manufacturing and business.”