Beijing’s $2b Reminder to US Varsities

BEIJING - Chinese brain power and money are shaping American education, with 60,000 Chinese students last year enrolled mostly in graduate schools across the United States.

They form the US' biggest community of overseas students, who together pay billions of dollars a year to study engineering and the sciences, but also increasingly business and the humanities.

The news emerged on China Central Television's international channel CCTV-9 on Tuesday, with the emphasis on China being the top provider of international students to the US for three years running.

The report was straightforward, but the timing is significant. The news may be intended to underscore the closeness of Sino-US ties as President Jiang Zemin embarked on his trip to the US.

But more likely, it is a veiled reminder to the US of the impact of recent tightening of visa policies, especially for students, to combat terrorism.

The restriction was made after officials discovered that at least two of three terrorists had entered the US on student visas.

Chinese students are having a hard time getting visas.

Figures from the US Immigration and Naturalisation Service for five weeks between May 15 and June 20 showed that 41 per cent of Chinese applications were rejected, up from 27 per cent over the same period last year.

Frustrations boiled over in August when Chinese students whose visa applications had been turned down protested outside the US Embassy in Beijing.

''I don't think the US as a country is suspicious of Chinese students. It's the immigration department being very cautious,'' said Mr Song Wa, director of the China Education Association for International Exchange.

But the American media reported recently that fewer Chinese students were coming to the US in the wake of the Sept 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

Noting that Chinese students had growing concerns over security, the reports implied that stricter visa procedures would have little impact since applications from China were falling.

But Chinese students told The Straits Times the perceived fear was false, as they would still opt for the US as their top destination.

Said 23-year-old interpreter Zhou Jing: ''I don't have fears about safety, especially because I am eyeing colleges in the west coast where it's definitely safe.

''If I can't go now, I'll wait a few years to re-apply. American colleges offer scholarships, while other countries don't. I need those scholarships.''

Others with their own money warned that if the US persisted in being difficult, they might just go to Britain, Australia or New Zealand.

According to Beijing-based Chinese Service Centre for Scholarly Exchange, tuition fees range from 150,000 yuan to 160,000 yuan a year. That means the 60,000 students would contribute between nine billion yuan (S$2 billion) and 9.6 billion yuan annually to American universities.

CCTV said 66 per cent of last year's cohort was sent by their work units, with the rest applying on their own. China's US Embassy website said some students had full scholarships, although ''many were self-supporting, in whole or in part''.

According to the People's Daily, more than nine in 10 are studying engineering or the sciences, although many are also enrolled in business and humanities programmes.

The falling number of Chinese students is worrying American universities.

The University of California, Berkeley, reported recently in a student journal that the decline was a ''financial headache'' for US colleges, ''many of which count on tuition to survive''.

Outlining the financial contribution of international students, it said: ''These students bring money into the national economy and provide revenue to their host states for living expenses.''

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Top supplier of students for 3 years

In the past three years, China has been the top supplier of students to the United States. Last year's 60,000 students were an increase of 11 per cent from 2000, when 53,941 students enrolled in American colleges.

They made up last year's fastest-growing overseas student body, although India surpassed China this year.

Chinese students still form the biggest community followed by Indians, Japanese, Koreans and Taiwanese.

Asians comprise 51 per cent of all international enrolments. Europeans are the next biggest group.

In the US last year, there were more than half a million international students, contributing more than US$11 billion (S$19.7 billion) to the economy.

California leads the US in hosting international students, followed by New York, Texas, Massachusetts and Florida.