Pitt terminates partnership with Chinese university

Pitt recently ended its partnership with Sichuan University following a House Republican report that raised concerns about transferring U.S.-based technologies to Chinese institutions. 

The report, investigated by the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party and the Committee on Education and the Workforce, said these joint institution partnerships — including Pitt’s — were inadvertently funding the advancement of Chinese military applications and technologies. The Committee posited that these technologies could be used against the U.S. military by China’s People’s Liberation Army in the event of a conflict.

Although the University did not directly respond to the allegations, the partnership with Sichuan and their joint engineering program, Sichuan University Pittsburgh Institute formally ended after the report, accompanying eight other universities across the country. 

The Committee praised this move in their follow-up report, stating the decision to end the partnership was the “right thing for academic freedom and U.S. national security.”

SCUPI was formally established in April 2013 by the Swanson School of Engineering.
According to the Swanson School website section dedicated to SCUPI, which is still publicly available, the partnership combined “research with education, professionalism with academics, and Eastern with Western approaches” and offered three degree programs — Industrial Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering and Mechanical Engineering.

The reasoning and timing behind Pitt’s decision to end its partnership with Sichuan have not been disclosed. A Chinese outlet, ThinkChina, alleged that the termination occurred sometime in May of this year, reporting that enrollment was paused around the same time.

Pitt did not provide a date or explanation for the program termination but did confirm the partnership had formally ended.

“The University of Pittsburgh’s relationship with SCUPI had run its course, and the decision was made to end its involvement with the program,” according to University spokesperson Jared Stonesifer.

Although enrollment ceased this year, current students at SCUPI will be able to graduate on time, and their degrees will not be affected. For future programs, SCUPI has established a new postgraduate program in collaboration with Rutgers University.