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Qatar is largest donor, giving $7.7 billion to Cornell, Georgetown, and others
Foreign countries and entities have funneled $67.6 billion into American universities over the past four decades, according to a recent U.S. Department of Education report.
The top foreign funder of American universities is not China, as may be expected, but Qatar. The Middle Eastern country has donated $7.7 billion to higher education institutions since 1986, the department reported in a foreign funding disclosure portal.
American universities received more than $1 billion from Qatar last year alone. The money represents 20 percent of all foreign dollars that flowed to universities in 2025.
Under Section 117 of the Higher Education Act, colleges and universities that receive federal funding are mandated to report foreign gifts and contracts totaling $250,000 or more to the Department of Education twice a year.
Qatar’s favorite institution so far is Cornell University, which has received $2.3 billion from the country.
The Weill Cornell Medicine campus in Doha is the main recipient of this money. Weill declined to comment on the matter and referred The College Fix to the university’s media relations office.
“Cornell receives funding to operate a medical school in Qatar,” a Cornell spokesperson told The Fix in a recent email.
“Budgeted funding for the medical school in Qatar has averaged approximately $156 million per year since 2012,” the spokesperson stated.
The spokesperson did not comment on The Fix’s questions asking how Cornell ensures foreign gifts do not interfere with academic independence, how Qatar’s funding supports Cornell’s mission and global engagement strategy, and how the partnership is beneficial.
School officials previously stated that the donations are mainly for the medical school and do not interfere with academic freedom.
Most money from the Qatar Foundation, which is controlled by the country’s royal family, goes to the medical school, Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff told Jewish Insider last year.
“The most important thing is this narrative that somehow Qatari funding coming to the university affects the university’s decisions or faculty courses could not be further from the truth,” Kotlikoff said during the interview.
Still, a national security expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies said foreign entities can use large sums of money as leverage over U.S. institutions.
“[N]o two countries’ interests align completely,” Brandy Shufutinsky wrote in an email to The Fix. Risk arises especially “when we think about how particular subjects are taught, what academics are hired, who chairs certain departments, and who owns the intellectual property produced.”
Shufutinsky said evaluating Qatar’s influence on U.S. institutions requires looking beyond the size of the donations to how the money is used. This includes examining who receives funding, what research and campus activities it supports, and whether related media outlets promote narratives that favor Qatari interests over balanced reporting.
“A recent example are the reports that contracts between Qatar and Northwestern University limit the free speech of students and faculty, forbidding them from criticizing the Qatari regime,” she said. “That appears to be evidence that Qatar’s funding influences, or perhaps even controls, academics, research, and campuses.”
A report by the Middle East Forum found that Northwestern’s contract “effectively forbids criticism of the Qatari regime by the entire NU and NU-Q communities—a draconian requirement that demonstrates the hollowness of both institutions’ claims of intellectual independence from the Qatari regime.”
Shufutinsky supports more restrictions on foreign funding “to maintain a strong and fact-based education system in the United States.”
Carnegie Mellon, Georgetown also have campuses in Qatar
Carnegie Mellon, Georgetown, and Texas A&M universities also maintain close ties with Qatar, operating campuses in Doha.
Carnegie Mellon established its campus in 2004. Its website advertises multiple financial aid opportunities funded by the Qatar Foundation. In an ongoing lawsuit, a judge ordered the university to reveal the details of the $1 billion in funding it receives from Qatar.
Georgetown started its Qatari campus in 2005 and recently extended its contract until 2035. An Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy report shows the Qatari influence from 2005 has pushed Georgetown’s programming “toward a distinctive pro-Islamist and anti-Israel orientation.”
The Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy did not respond to The Fix’s inquiries regarding concerns over foreign funding of U.S. universities, its impact on academic freedom, or the adequacy of federal oversight.
Additionally, a Middle East Forum report states that Qatar has extended its influence into Georgetown’s education and hiring by handing tuition to the Qatar Foundation to create and pressure “financial dependencies.”
Texas A&M’s Qatar engineering campus opened in 2003, but the university’s Board of Regents voted in 2024 to shut it down by 2028 to focus on domestic Texas education. The vote came after a January 2024 message from the Texas A&M president stated that the campus complies with U.S. laws, does not conduct nuclear or defense-related research, and upholds tight security standards.
However, according to a Texas Public Policy Foundation article, more than $100 million in Qatari research funds was rerouted through the university’s Engineering Experiment Station, which it used to avoid federal disclosure requirements.
Carnegie Mellon, Georgetown, Texas A&M, and their Qatar campuses did not respond to The Fix’s inquiries about how Qatari funds are used, whether they support Qatar-based campuses, and how they protect academic independence.
Harvard largest recipient of foreign funds
While Cornell benefits from Qatari money, it is not the largest recipient of all foreign funding over the past 40 years.
Harvard University received the largest amount, about $4.2 billion from 6,377 transactions.
Second is Carnegie Mellon, the recipient of about $3.9 billion, and third is Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which received approximately $3.5 billion.
The Department of Education did not respond to questions about potential penalties for noncompliance or its enforcement of foreign funding disclosures.
Last week, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said the Trump administration has been working to increase transparency regarding international donations to American universities.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, we remain firmly committed to ensuring that universities uphold their legal and ethical obligations to disclose the true origins of their foreign relationships,” McMahon stated in a news release about the foreign donations report. “This transparency is essential not only to preserving the integrity of academic research but also to ensure the security and resilience of our nation.”
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