their universities cited the rich payoff

[GoodTaste]

For decades, Chinese-born U.S. faculty members were applauded for working with colleagues in China, and their universities cited the rich payoff from closer ties to the emerging scientific giant. But those institutions did an about-face after they began to receive emails in late 2018 from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Source: Science PALL OF SUSPICION

I don't quite understand the use of the word "cited" here. Does it mean "highlighted" or just "mentioned"? Does " their universities" refor to "the Chinese-born faculty members' univerisites (in the US)"?

 

[Tarheel]

1. They mentioned it.
2. Yes. It's the universities they work for in the US.

 

[emsr2d2]

Does "their universities" refer to "the Chinese-born faculty members' universities (in the US)"?

Make sure you read your own posts very carefully before hitting "Post reply". That way you'll avoid simple errors such as the ones I've corrected above. If you haven't already done it, install an English spell-checker on your browser. It would have underlined "refor" and "univerisites" to draw your attention to those typos.