Parents hesitate over sending children to US for education

Remedy measures

To prevent a steep decline of Chinese student enrollment, some US universities have resorted to special arrangements to allow them to pursue their programs without leaving China.

Under the New York University Global Network's "Go Local" plan, NYU Shanghai will host students who are currently in China and are unable or prefer not to travel to their US campuses this fall.

The Shanghai campus will welcome some 2,300 Chinese undergraduates and 800 graduate students from NYU and NYU Abu Dhabi for the fall semester, the university said.

Duke University also plans to allow around 125 students to spend the fall semester at Duke Kunshan University, the college it runs with Wuhan University in Kunshan, Jiangsu province.

Cornell University unveiled a "study away" program last month that will allow Chinese students to spend the fall semester at one of several elite domestic colleges, including Peking and Tsinghua universities in Beijing.

Hu Min, president of New Channel International Education Group, an overseas study consultancy based in Beijing, said although the pandemic has dampened the enthusiasm of some parents and students for overseas study, it was not a major hurdle for those who were committed to studying abroad in the long term, as they would come up with ways to deal with the inconvenience it has brought.

"It has not changed the fact that many parents still want their children to receive a quality education, gain international experience and become more independent, disciplined and confident by studying abroad by themselves," he said.

While the US has tightened visa policies for some Chinese students, the UK has reopened its post-study work visa to attract more international students, Hu said.

Given that Chinese students have become a major source of revenue for foreign universities, many have lowered admission requirements, making it easier for Chinese students to be admitted to well-known universities abroad, he added.

Tom Dretler, chairman of education consultancy US News Global Education, said he thinks the atmosphere of interaction and the overall cooperation framework between the US and China in terms of education remain healthy, despite current bilateral frictions.

The broad context of the policies issued by the Trump administration this year was that the US is going to have an election in around 90 days. The president is trying to determine a strategy, or any strategy, to reverse his standing in the polls, and one of his strategies is to make comments about China-US relations, Dretler said.

Many US universities now offer spring and summer admission in addition to the conventional fall admission. They are also rolling out flexible measures for students, with 61 percent scheduled to offer online teaching, and 16 percent planning to adopt hybrid teaching that allows students to finish the remaining parts of their programs after the pandemic is no longer a significant threat, he added.

Yu Lizhong, founding chancellor of NYU Shanghai, said the pandemic and tensions in the China-US relationship have not seriously dampened students' long-term enthusiasm to pursue overseas study and foreign universities are still eager to enroll Chinese students as they usually pay full tuition.

If bilateral tensions persist in the long-term, more Chinese students will choose destinations that are more welcoming, he said.