Troy University Closes Its Confucius Institute

FILE – Troy University (AP Photo/Dave Martin, File)

Troy University has announced that it has closed its Confucius Institute, which was a joint venture with educational partners in China.

Troy’s Board of Trustees voted last month to close the institute and end the agreement with its sponsoring institute in China.

According to the university, the federal government has taken steps to discourage some kinds of Chinese partnership agreements. The 2021 National Defense Authorization Act gave universities a deadline of October to discontinue Confucius Institute programs or lose eligibility for defense funding.

Troy University’s Confucius Institute opened in 2007 as a joint venture with educational partners in China to provide language and cultural learning opportunities to people in Alabama. At the time, the university says there were more than 500 such institutions worldwide and more than 100 in the U.S.

The university says the Troy Confucius Institute was twice named the Confucius Institute of the Year and hundreds of Alabamians had taken its programs.

“Troy University’s strategic goals include continued growth and development as a research institution, which relies in part on access to federal funding, including from the Department of Defense,” said Dr. Lance Tatum, Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, in a statement. “We feel it is in the best interest of Troy’s long-term vision to transition away from our partnership with the Confucius Institute.”

Troy says it will continue to recruit students from China and maintain relationships with Chinese universities.