US colleges scale back cooperation with Chinese institutions after Pentagon's push

Virginia Tech is accelerating the closure of a joint undergraduate program with China's Xidian University, bringing forward the end of a partnership that it had previously planned to keep running until 2029, according to a university spokesperson and a copy of an official letter reviewed by the South China Morning Post. This decision comes as the Pentagon's push to tighten oversight of US universities' research ties with China has led to more than 80 termination-related actions across 30 American colleges, with some schools scaling back academic partnerships with Chinese institutions. Margaret Ashburn, Virginia Tech's associate director of media relations and deputy spokesperson, shared a copy of the school's letter to the Pentagon and told SCMP that the university had recently decided to accelerate the closure of the joint program with Xidian University. "The program noted in the letter will officially terminate after the current academic year," she said. In the letter, the school said it had previously decided in 2025 to wind down the program and stopped admitting new students, but enr