The CAMPUS Act (Countering Adversarial and Malicious Partnerships at Universities and Schools Act of 2025) would impose new restrictions and oversight related to Chinese institutions of higher education and their ties to the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and China’s Military-Civil Fusion strategy. The core idea is to identify PRC-based universities that support the PLA or participate in military-civilian fusion, and then bar or limit U.S. government funding and access to certain programs, facilities, and visas for individuals connected to those institutions. The bill also expands limits on K-12 and higher education program funding, tightens visa policy for some foreign nationals, and increases transparency around foreign gifts to colleges and universities. It further promotes Mandarin language and Chinese culture programming in the United States through Taiwan-based partnerships and authorizes related grants. In short, if enacted, the bill would create a formal, ongoing process to identify PRC universities involved with military-specific activities, and it would restrict U.S. federal funding, security clearances, visa eligibility, and K-12 funding for entities tied to those universities, while simultaneously broadening Mandarin/Cultural programming efforts in partnership with Taiwan.
Key Points
- 1Identification and annual reporting: The Director of National Intelligence, with the Secretary of Defense, would identify PRC universities that support the PLA or participate in Military-Civil Fusion or the PRC defense industrial base, and must submit a list to Congress within 180 days of enactment and annually thereafter.
- 2Prohibition on DoD funding: No DoD R&D, testing, or evaluation funds may be provided to an entity that has a contract with an identified PRC institution.
- 3Classified information access restrictions: Defense security agencies cannot designate a facility as eligible to host or store classified information unless the entity certifies it has no active research partnership with any listed PRC institution.
- 4Visa restrictions: The Secretary of State may deny visas to nonimmigrant students or employees associated with identified PRC institutions.
- 5K-12 funding limitations: No Department of Education funds for K-12 education may go to elementary or secondary schools that contract with a PRC-domiciled entity.
- 6Taiwan partnership and language programming: The bill expresses a sense that U.S. efforts with Taiwan should expand Mandarin language instruction and Chinese cultural programming, and authorizes grants to support such programming in partnership with the American Institute in Taiwan and TECO.
- 7BIS/Entity List alignment: Federal research funding may not go to entities contracting with PRC-domiciled entities listed on the BIS Entity List or identified on the Congress-required list.
- 8Foreign gifts disclosure: Section 117(a) of the Higher Education Act would be amended to lower the foreign gifts disclosure threshold from $250,000 to $50,000.
- 9Definitions: Clarifies what counts as an “institution of higher education” domiciled in China, what qualifies as K-12 education, and who are the “appropriate committees of Congress” for reporting and oversight.