US risks losing appeal to Chinese students due to visa restrictions, surging pandemic: senior diplomat

WASHINGTON - The United States risks losing its position as the top choice of destination for overseas study and research for Chinese students and scholars due to its visa restrictions and surging COVID-19 pandemic in the country, a senior Chinese diplomat has said. “Student exchange is the most active part of China-US. educational cooperation. However, the current situation has made studying in the U.S. much less attractive, at least in the near future, especially for STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) majors,” said Yang Xinyu, minister counselor for educational affairs at the Chinese Embassy in the United States, in a recent conversation with Julia Chang Bloch, president of U.S.-China Education Trust, a Washington D.C.based nonprofit organization, and former US ambassador to Nepal. “The pandemic has made most in-person exchanges impossible... Besides the fact that in the past few months federal policy has changed to make international students nervous, Chinese students and scholars are also facing more challenges and feeling unwelcome or even threatened,” said Yang. The Trump administration has issued tougher immigration policies for international students, in particular, special scrutiny and restrictions for Chinese students, who make up one third of over 1 million international students in the United States before the pandemic. “I have heard of very outstanding Chinese students giving up offers for STEM majors in prestigious U.S. universities and turning to less attractive universities in other countries in fear of possible risks,” said Yang. “In the short term, it means loss to both the student as an individual and the American university as an institute. But in the long run, it will be detrimental to the educational exchange and research collaboration between the two countries,” she added.

(Xinhua)