University of Texas Ties to China Target of New Federal Probe

The Department of Education has initiated an investigation of University of Texas System contracts with a Wuhan lab and possible failures to report gifts or contracts with other entities in China.

The department is seeking records of agreements with the Wuhan Institute of Virology as well as the Chinese Communist Party, Huawei Technologies, and 20 other Chinese firms or universities.

The probe was first reported Friday by the Wall Street Journal.

The outside of Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on the campus of The University of Texas at Austin, seen Sept. 6, 2014.

Photographer: Chris Covatta/Getty Images

Between 2014 and 2019, the University of Texas reported 24 contracts with state-owned universities in China and 10 contracts with Huawei technologies worth more than $12.9 million, according to a letter to UT from the Education Department.

The department has opened similar reviews at several colleges and universities since last year looking into failures to comply with Section 117 of the Higher Education Act. The law requires that colleges disclose gifts or contracts from foreign sources of more than $250,000 to the federal government.

The Education Department said in February that since it began those reviews last year, it has identified $6.5 billion in foreign income that colleges failed to report properly.

A department spokeswoman didn’t immediately comment on what prompted the review of UT’s ties to Wuhan or other Chinese entities.

The University of Texas System didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.