A yearly report on international study shows the number of Chinese students in the United States fell by a small amount last year. Meanwhile, a growing number of Chinese students are choosing to go to less costly countries like Britain and Australia.
Experts say the cost of studying in the U.S., a struggling Chinese economy, and tension between the two countries are reasons for the changing numbers.
The number of foreign students studying in the U.S. during the 2022-23 school year passed 1 million for the first time since the COVID pandemic. That information comes from Open Doors, the yearly report on international study.
While the U.S. saw a 12-percent increase in foreign students in 2022-23, the number of students from China fell by 0.2 percent to 289,526. China still had more students in the U.S. than any other country that year.
India was the second-largest country to send students to the U.S. in 2022-23, with 268,923 students. That represents an increase of 35 percent from the previous year.
In the 2021-22 school year, the number of Chinese students in the U.S. fell nine percent. The COVID pandemic saw Chinese student numbers in the U.S. drop in 2020-21 by nearly 15 percent. That number is about the same as the drop in students from all parts of the world in 2020-21.
Vincent Chen advises Chinese students about studying abroad. He is based in Shanghai. He said most of the students he advises are still interested in studying in the United States. However, he also said there are growing numbers of students applying to study in Britain and Australia.
"If you just want to go abroad, a one-year master's degree in the U.K. is much cheaper,” Chen said. “Many people can't afford to study in the U.S., so they have to settle for the next best thing."
Data from the nonprofit U.S. group College Board Research shows that in the 2023-24 academic year, the average cost for a U.S. private college four-year education increased 4 percent to $41,540 compared with the previous academic year.
Foreign students, including Chinese students, also study in public U.S. universities. Those schools are generally less costly than private colleges.
The British Council said three to four years of undergraduate tuition in Britain costs as little as $15,000 per year.
The number of Chinese students in Britain was 154,260 in 2022-23, according to the U.K. Higher Education Statistics Agency, HESA. That is about 22 percent higher than in 2018-19, when the number was 121,145.
Australia’s Home Affairs office said in the 2023-24 program year, China was the top foreign country for new students at 43,389, up slightly from the previous year.
Chen gave two other reasons more Chinese students are choosing to study in Britain and Australia: Chinese media's negative image of the United States and concerns about unfair treatment in the U.S.
Bruce Zhang is a Chinese citizen who received his master's degree in Europe after studying in China. He told VOA’s Mandarin Service that he had such an incident happen to him after he was admitted to a U.S. university’s Ph.D. program.
When he entered Boston's Logan International Airport last year, Zhang said customs officers questioned him for more than an hour about his research. They asked him if it had any connections to the military. And he said they took his computer and mobile phone for examination.
Zhang was permitted to enter the U.S. for his studies in materials science. Still, the questioning left him so upset that he has told other Chinese to study elsewhere.
Cui Kai is a study abroad advisor based in the American state of Massachusetts. She told VOA Mandarin that experiences like Zhang’s -- or worse -- happen for a reason.
Cui said those students who are questioned or denied entry have usually come to the U.S. for advanced study in an area related to security.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump signed Proclamation 10043 in June 2020. That ruling denied visas to any Chinese student who had studied or worked in an organization connected to China’s “military-civil fusion strategy”.
The U.S. says China has been using students and researchers to get important technology. Under Proclamation 10043, the U.S. took away more than 1,000 visas given to Chinese nationals and has denied thousands more.
Critics say the policy is costly to the U.S. and is making Chinese students look to universities in Europe and other places.
I’m Andrew Smith. And I'm Anna Matteo.
