The Washington Post: Education is no longer attractive? The United States should not let Chinese students be heartbroken

According to the American Overseas Chinese News Network, it took Jeff Ren three years to apply for american schools and spent $10,000 on him. But recently he decided to give up admission to four American universities, including New York University, and chose to study at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in the Netherlands. The COVID-19 pandemic and deteriorating U.S.-China relations have dimmed the glow of American education. Ren is just one of the Chinese students who choose not to study in the United States, even though they have been preparing for it for years.

According to the Washington Post article, the total number of Chinese students in the United States fell by one-fifth between 2019 and 2020, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. In the 2019-2020 academic year, the number of international student applications in the United States declined across the board, although this year the situation rebounded, with the exception of China. Only about 19,000 Chinese students filled out application forms for U.S. undergraduate schools this winter, a 16 percent decrease from the previous cycle.

Counseling agencies say many Chinese families have begun to turn their children to prepare for the Chinese gaokao. "Just two or three years ago, it was very popular for Chinese families to send their children to educational institutions in the United States. We notice the weakening of this culture... This is unfortunate. Joseph Ingam, manager of SOS Admissions, a study abroad consultancy in Los Angeles, said. Ingem said the agency's Chinese clients had fallen to around 1/3 of what it was before the outbreak, adding, "People assume that things will get better after the pandemic is over, but I'm not sure if that will come true." ”

Since the 1970s, there has been a steady stream of young Chinese coming to the United States for higher education, but it wasn't until the early 21st century that the total number of Chinese students coming to the United States surged from 50,000 to more than 350,000. Parents have children choose what they think is the best major in the United States, such as computer engineering or finance, or stay in what they consider to be a more advanced economy after graduation.

"People who are going to be influenced by those around them, they're not going to be affected anymore because people don't talk about taking the SAT or toefl test anymore." Andy Xiao, managing director of Tiandao Education, a Chinese study abroad institution, said. Shaw noted that schools like ivy league schools can still maintain their prestige, but "everything that has happened over the past year reminds Chinese families that going to the United States is not only good, but also risky." ”

Even before the outbreak, Tiandao had begun to increase its staff for studying in Singapore, Canada and the United Kingdom – studies have shown that Singapore, Canada and the United Kingdom have recently surpassed the United States as the preferred study destination for Chinese students. Shaw said the agency used to send about 5,000 students to the United States each year, but that number has been declining, especially among undergraduates — parents who are horrified by what they see as a surge of anti-China and anti-Asian sentiment.

"During the Trump administration ... There have been some major events, and although they are in fact rare, they have sparked the imagination of parents. Shaw added.

Last year, Chen Hongyan, 51, urged her son, Tony Lian, to apply to schools in Canada and britain, but eventually his son was ready to accept an offer from Brown University in the United States. She said she has been shocked by a number of events in the United States over the past year, from the frantic hoarding of groceries at the beginning of the outbreak to the congressional riots in Washington, D.C.

"This is not the America I imagined." Chen Hongyan said. She said many of her peers have switched children to study in other countries.

Just this week, a few days before her son left, Chen Hongyan was still restless. She asked her son to find out what was happening in Rhode Island and asked him to translate the latest data for himself. She has repeatedly considered the deteriorating relationship between the United States and China, hoping that her 19-year-old son will not be hurt.

"We're just ordinary people. I'm not a billionaire, and he's not an heir. Chen Hongyan said, "He just wants to go there to study, to study there." ”

Source: China News Network