An Increase in Chinese Undergrads at American Universities

An article in the Chicago Sun-Times yesterday reported that China exported more students to the U.S. than any other country last academic year and that out of the 691,000 international students attending in American Universities, 18 percent were Chinese.

China has had this ranking before in both the late 1980’s and 1990’s, but this difference this time around is that the majority of these Chinese students are coming to American Universities as undergraduates.

The influx of Chinese students enrolling in American Universities this time around can be attributed to premium China places on American degrees and the new wave of middle class families in China that want and can afford to send their children to American Universities at full price.

With this influx comes many benefits. With the great increase in U.S. corporations conducting business with China, having U.S. educated employees is a great advantage.

The increase in diversity on campuses is also beneficial for the students by “creating more of the global community students will graduate into,” said Robert Easter, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s interim chancellor and provost. However, there is an element of alienation as well. “They definitely stick with each other,” said Keira Huang, 22, a senior at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign who transferred from a Chinese university. “Most of them complain that we want to have more American friends, practice English and learn more about the Western campus. But they stick with each other maybe because they are shy or afraid of a new environment.”

Much of the United States’ concerns about China as a rising superpower have to do with China’s differences socially, politically, and ideologically. With this influx of Chinese students to the Unites States, America has been given a unique and important opportunity to educate and close the gap between China and the U.S. on these platforms. By educating a portion of the youth of China now, it will undoubtedly ease some of the tension that exists between the United States and China improve how interactions on all platforms are conducted between these two powerful countries.

Also, with schools like NYU opening up a campus in Shanghai
for as many as 3,000 students in the Fall of 2013, it seems like an even more global education and mutual understanding between the United States and China is on the horizon.