[ti:Chinese Students Shift from US to Australia, Britain]
[al:Education Report]
[ar:VOA]
[dt:2024-10-03]
[by:www.voase.cn]
[00:00.00]A yearly report on international study shows the number of Chinese students in the United States fell by a small amount last year.
[00:13.12]Meanwhile, a growing number of Chinese students are choosing to go to less costly countries like Britain and Australia.
[00:26.29]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.
[00:41.86]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. 
[00:57.37]That information comes from Open Doors, the yearly report on international study.
[01:06.09]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.
[01:28.11]China still had more students in the U.S. than any other country that year.
[01:35.18]India was the second-largest country to send students to the U.S. in 2022-23, with 268,923 students. 
[01:49.83]That represents an increase of 35 percent from the previous year.
[01:57.18]In the 2021-22 school year, the number of Chinese students in the U.S. fell nine percent. 
[02:06.49]The COVID pandemic saw Chinese student numbers in the U.S. drop in 2020-21 by nearly 15 percent. 
[02:17.36]That number is about the same as the drop in students from all parts of the world in 2020-21.
[02:27.01]Vincent Chen advises Chinese students about studying abroad. 
[02:34.88]He is based in Shanghai. 
[02:37.90]He said most of the students he advises are still interested in studying in the United States.
[02:47.08]However, he also said there are growing numbers of students applying to study in Britain and Australia.
[02:56.76]"If you just want to go abroad, a one-year master's degree in the U.K. is much cheaper," Chen said. 
[03:06.04]"Many people can't afford to study in the U.S., so they have to settle for the next best thing."
[03:14.65]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.
[03:43.52]Foreign students, including Chinese students, also study in public U.S. universities. 
[03:52.58]Those schools are generally less costly than private colleges.
[03:58.93]The British Council said three to four years of undergraduate tuition in Britain costs as little as $15,000 per year.
[04:12.20]The number of Chinese students in Britain was 154,260 in 2022-23, according to the U.K. Higher Education Statistics Agency, HESA. 
[04:30.67]That is about 22 percent higher than in 2018-19, when the number was 121,145.
[04:44.35]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.
[05:04.91]Chen gave two other reasons more Chinese students are choosing to study in Britain and Australia:
[05:13.69]Chinese media's negative image of the United States and concerns about unfair treatment in the U.S.
[05:23.17]Bruce Zhang is a Chinese citizen who received his master's degree in Europe after studying in China.
[05:32.61]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.
[05:45.51]When he entered Boston's Logan International Airport last year, Zhang said customs officers questioned him for more than an hour about his research.
[05:58.70]They asked him if it had any connections to the military.
[06:03.92]And he said they took his computer and mobile phone for examination.
[06:11.24]Zhang was permitted to enter the U.S. for his studies in materials science. 
[06:17.77]Still, the questioning left him so upset that he has told other Chinese to study elsewhere.
[06:25.52]Cui Kai is a study abroad advisor based in the American state of Massachusetts.
[06:34.61]She told VOA Mandarin that experiences like Zhang's -- or worse -- happen for a reason.
[06:44.98]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.
[07:00.38]Former U.S. President Donald Trump signed Proclamation 10043 in June 2020.
[07:10.32]That ruling denied visas to any Chinese student who had studied or worked in an organization connected to China's "military-civil fusion strategy".
[07:25.41]The U.S. says China has been using students and researchers to get important technology.
[07:34.14]Under Proclamation 10043, the U.S. took away more than 1,000 visas given to Chinese nationals and has denied thousands more.
[07:49.55]Critics say the policy is costly to the U.S. and is making Chinese students look to universities in Europe and other places.
[08:02.52]I'm Andrew Smith. And I'm Anna Matteo.