The University of Alabama (UA) has been asked by the Department of Education (ED) to provide records of any contracts, gifts, or donation agreements it may have had with dozens of China-funded companies and institutions listed by the department. The request was sent in a Dec. 22 letter (pdf) from the ED’s office of the general counsel to the university’s president. The letter starts off by pointing out that under Section 117 of the Higher Education Act of 1965, institutions of higher education are required to report any contract or gifts “from or with a foreign source.” The department wants “True copies of each gift or donation agreement, contract, and/or conditional gift or donation agreement” the university had, if any, with the companies or institutions listed—within a 30 day time period. Companies like Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. were listed in the letter, as well as a number of China-based universities such as Chengdu Technological …