University Chancellor Announces Updated Background Screening Policy for Foreign Students / Lab Researchers

In a CBS News report broadcasted on Tuesday, the Chancellor of the Texas Tech University System, Dr. Tedd Mitchell, announced that his university will continue to conduct background checks on foreign students /researchers embedded in their labs for over six months.

And, added, they will now also do background screening for those visiting their university for only a few weeks at a time.

As he stated in the CBS interview, ““[T]hat’s the whole problem with this is when you have folks that are embedded in your labs, we don’t know exactly what all is being lost.

“They come in there literally just a week or two,” Mitchell said. “Historically, we’ve not done background checks on those folks. We are starting to do that now to make sure that if somebody’s coming to our campus, even if it’s for a short period of time, that we know where they’re from, we know whether or not they’re being financed by government agencies elsewhere.”

The CBS News report does not go into the depth of the background screening, except to say that the university wants to know what, if any foreign governments are financing the foreign visitors’ work.

My earlier post titled, “Blueprint for Screening Candidates / Organizations—Trade Secrets Protection” details what the FBI recommends you should consider in conducting a background check.

ADDITIONAL READING

IP Probe Blog– 11/18/22 — “U.S. Intelligence Appeals to Academic IP Researchers: Watch Out for Chinese Spies”

IP Probe Blog – 10/4/19 — U.S. Educated Chinese Students–Abuse U.S. Temporary Work Program

IP Probe Blog – 6/29/19 — Does China Threaten—Students, Researchers, Scientists—Working or Studying in the U.S. to Bring Back IP or Their Families Are Put in Jeopardy?

IP Probe Blog – 5/3/19 — Know Your Researcher – Academic Espionage – Trade Secrets Theft

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