US stops funding for ‘American Corners’ university project

The United States government has halted funding for its ‘American Corner’ programmes in at least two top Portuguese universities amid its revision of contracts and grants with foreign universities, which includes asking them controversial and ideological questions.

American Corners are “learning and gathering places” that promote interaction among local audiences in more than 140 countries through physical spaces, facilities and activities, by which the US encourages “science, innovation, creativity and the entrepreneurial spirit”, according to the US Embassy in Lisbon.

“We received notice of the termination [of funding] in March and a questionnaire to complete,” Paulo Jorge Ferreira, rector of the public University of Aveiro (Universidade de Aveiro – UA) and president of the Council of Rectors of Portuguese Universities (Conselho de Reitores das Universidades Portuguesas) told University World News.

Besides the UA, the questionnaire was sent to five other public higher education entities hosting American Corners in Portugal, namely the University of Lisbon’s School of Arts and Humanities (Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa – FLUL), the Instituto Superior Técnico (Técnico), NOVA School of Science and Technology (Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa – NOVA FCT), University of Porto’s Faculty of Arts and Humanities (Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto – FLUP) and University of Azores (Universidade dos Açores – UAc).

Among 36 questions, which covered work undertaken within the American Corner programme and the hosting institutions, were queries about counterterrorism checks on their employees, connections with communist, socialist or totalitarian parties, and whether they had received funding related to China, Russia, Cuba and Iran, according to Ferreira.

The US also asked, for instance, if local American Corner projects included diversity, equity and inclusion or climate change advocacy aspects.

It also asked if projects fought “gender ideology”, if they reinforced US sovereignty by limiting dependence on international organisations, and if they impacted efforts to strengthen US supply chains or secure rare earth minerals – all matters of interest to the Trump administration.

“We decided not to answer [the questionnaire] because there were questions that clearly did not apply to us,” said Ferreira.

He said that this US partnership with Portuguese universities, which has been in place for around 10 years, also provides “free access to technical-scientific and cultural information”, and each centre gets around EUR20,000 (US$22,644) annually for American Corner activities, conferences and more.

For instance, at FLUP, a TV studio was created under the American Corner project.

At UA, an American Corner was installed at its library, with a collection of monographs, films and computers that allow access to a set of databases of scientific and cultural information through the digital platforms eLibraryUSA and the publishing platform EBSCO.

Despite the suspension of funding, the American Corner at the UA still has ongoing activities, such as an exhibition, “The Climate Line”, according to the university.

Looking ahead, however, the UA will launch an “Atlantic Hub” initiative, a “Portuguese Corner” with similar objectives to its American counterpart that will be “open to potential patrons interested in the promotion and dissemination of science and in exchanges between peoples,” Ferreira told University World News.

Impact of cuts at Técnico

Responding to enquiries about the suspension of US funds for the American Corners project, Técnico told University World News some funding had been halted, noting the “suspension of two grants that were in execution, in their final stage, for specific projects”, but did not give further details or confirm whether this covered the entirety of the American Corners budget.

However, their response comes in the wake of local media comments by Técnico President Rogério Colaço to the effect that he had received a notice cancelling the programme with “immediate effect” on 5 March. On the same day, he received the questionnaire containing “quite inappropriate questions”.

António Jarmela, president of the Students’ Association of Técnico (AEIST), said students were concerned about the future of a Técnico Innovation Laboratory, iStartLab, created by the American Corner and co-financed by the US.

The lab has 3D printers, and students have been using these facilities, among other activities, to develop a Formula One car and an electric motorcycle. Jarmela stressed how important the facility is for “innovation” and for the “development of all Técnico’s projects”.

However, according to Técnico’s online information, the iStartLab “continues to operate normally”, thanks to “a variety of support that ensure this operation”.

That said, stressed Jarmela, the American Corner greatly enhanced cooperation with the US, boosted connections with science and the industry and has impacted “several generations” of students.

He welcomed reports that Portuguese higher education institutions had refused to reply to the questionnaire because it had “insinuations” and questions, including about terrorism, “that go beyond anything that a public institution, even more so one managed with public funds, could answer”.

“Any response could even lead to a diplomatic crisis because … many of them were offensive to the institutions themselves,” he argued, suggesting that replies should be made by Portuguese diplomats since the whole Portuguese higher education system was “questioned” by these questionnaires.

Portugal’s Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education did not reply to University World News questions on the issue.

However, Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel told Portuguese language media that the questionnaire was “contrary to the [Portuguese] constitution”, but nothing could be done about the funding cuts that might follow a refusal to reply to the Trump administration.

Paula Pinto Costa, dean at FLUP, told University World News that the American Corner at her institution is working as usual and did not reply to other questions.

NOVA FCT and FLUL did not reply to questions either, but on its website, FLUL branded the questionnaire as an “unacceptable intrusion into the academic freedom and the autonomy of the institution”.

Historical connections with the US

Maria Amélia Fonseca, pro-rector for cooperation, internationalisation and distance learning, and institutional mobility coordinator at the UAc, the only public university in the Azores, said: “That was probably a general questionnaire for companies and other types of institutions … We wouldn't even know what to answer [to] some of the questions.”

Still, at UAc, there is hope that a refusal to complete the questionnaire will not cause American Corner projects to be defunded.

Fonseca told University World News that the UAc projects under the American Corner for 2023 to 2025 were terminated a few months earlier and projects for 2024 to 2026 underwent significant changes but are still active, while the university waits for the approval of the 2025 to 2027 programmes by the summer, as usual.

Meanwhile, UAc’s exchange programmes with US universities are continuing as usual, and Fonseca “does not see this affecting these types of relationships yet”.

The Atlantic archipelago has important links with the United States, hosting the strategic American air base Lajes Field.

“There is a historical relationship between the Azores and the US,” and almost all UAc students have family in the US, stressed Fonseca.

Laudalina Esteireiro, coordinator of the American Corner at the UAc, praised the “fantastic team at the [US] embassy”, adding that calm is key now.

Esteireiro underlined that the American Corner also has a social role. For instance, it tries to “draw parallels” between both cultures, especially considering what is “brought mainly from our immigrants”.

Funding reviews for all foreign universities

A US State Department spokesperson told University World News that “US missions are reviewing all” their contracts and grants “to ensure they are consistent with the recent White House Executive Orders”.

Therefore, “contractors and grantees are being asked for the certification required by the President’s Executive Order on Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity”.

Under this order, approved in January, the government said it would scrap the diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility policies it funds.

However, the same source stressed, no US federal orders apply to entities unless “they are controlled by a US employer and employ US citizens”, and that these questions relate “solely to vendors or other organisations who have or seek to have contracts with, or grants from, our missions”.

Even United Nations aid groups received similar questionnaires in March.

University World News contacted several universities with American Corner projects in Ethiopia, Cape Verde, Rwanda, Chile and Spain about letters from the US, but only the public Bandung Institute of Technology (Institut Teknologi Bandung), in Indonesia, replied, saying it did not receive a letter since it “is no longer in collaboration with the US Embassy through the American Corner programme, as the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has ended and was not renewed”.

According to an online article on the university website, the programme was active for about 16 years, and the last MoU was signed in February 2023.

However, US funding for university projects in other countries has been cancelled.

For instance, the Group of Eight, a coalition of Australia's most research-intensive universities, warned in March that the Trump administration had cut US funding to some of its researchers and asked others who receive US government support to prove their work was aligned with American interests in a questionnaire.

The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich) confirmed to Swiss media that it had received a questionnaire about research funded by the US, but it refused to reveal the specific projects involved.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have received CHF2.5 million (US$3 million) annually from the US government over the past 10 years, although it lacks an American Corner.

Also in March, the Canadian Association of University Teachers said researchers working on projects funded by the US had been sent “a lengthy questionnaire to determine how their work aligns with the Trump administration’s political agenda”, a move perceived widely as an attempt by the Trump administration to undermine the integrity and independence of Canadian academic research.

In the Netherlands, two researchers at the public Wageningen University & Research contributing to a satellite forest monitoring project received a letter from the US Geological Service containing 36 political questions, and were advised not to reply.

New paths for research and collaboration

In Portugal there are growing concerns among academics and students about the US policies.

Jarmela warned that “the outlook is not very good” in the “country that has promoted technological development the most” (the US), adding that the entire university community fears for the “future of research and the connection between all peoples in terms of research”.

Ferreira is more optimistic and believes issues with American Corners in Portugal will not impact “exchanges and collaborations with American scientists and universities”, stressing that “contemporary science is intensely collaborative, and international contact promotes progress”.

The situation can even be seen as an opportunity. A survey by Nature released in late March indicated that more than 1,200 scientists (75% of more than 1,600 questioned) were considering leaving the US following the “massive changes in US research brought about by the new administration”, and “many said they were looking for jobs in Europe and Canada”.

Considering this, Ferreira said countries should “create favourable conditions for them”.

The European Commission seems to agree. In early March, the European Union executive European Commission announced a planned new initiative, also called “Choose Europe”, with a budget of EUR22.5 million to attract top talent globally”, which would help fund the recruitment of top scientific talent from around the world.

This will now be debated by the EU Council of Ministers and European Parliament.

Jarmela said while “Europe in general could gain talent due to these US policies,” Portuguese public institutions “are unable to be competitive in terms of remuneration”.

That is why Ferreira recently published an article calling for “additional funding” for higher education in Portugal, warning “it is time to act with ambition and speed, but also with responsibility”, and even suggesting a programme called “Choose Portugal” to attract foreign academics.