Atlanta, September 6, 2024 – Georgia Tech announced that it has ended its partnership with Shenzhen Insitute. Given Georgia Tech’s extensive role in national security, it immediately began conducting a thorough review of all its activities and partnerships in China, according to a released press statement.
Georgia Tech signed an agreement in December 2016 with Shenzhen Municipal Government and Tianjin University to establish GTSI in the city of Shenzhen, the “Silicon Valley of China.”
Tianjin University was blacklisted in December 2020 by U.S. Department of Defense to its Entity List, a compilation of foreign organizations that deemed a threat to U.S. national security concern.
“The choice to end our many years of successful educational development initiatives to grant Georgia Tech degrees in the region was a difficult one,” said Steven McLaughlin, provost and executive vice president for Georgia Tech's Academic Affairs.
The remaining 300 admitted students in degree programs at GTSI will have the opportunity to fulfill their degree requirements.
“It’s sad to hear that Georgia Tech has ended the partnership in Shenzhen, NACA has committed $18,000 in annual scholarship funding for the past seven years. That includes 5 scholarships. It is important that as a top-notch university, our students are exposed to a diverse world view including study in Europe and China. Asia will be an important regions in the coming decades. To be able to study in Location will benefit our students greatly,” said Lani Wong, Chair of the National Association of Chinese Americans (NACA), who supported Georgia Tech's scholarship program for GTSI since its inception.
