Chinese students, US universities impacted by trade tensions

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Trump’s administration is considering limiting visas to Chinese students as part of an up-and-coming package of tariffs targeting Beijing, according to some reports. This could have negative effects on US universities and the US economy.

China sends the most international students to the US, which was approximately a third of the 1.1 million international students enrolled at American universities in the 2016-17 academic year, according to the Institute of International Education (IIE).

Moreover, Chinese students alone contributed 12 billion US dollars to the US economy last year, while international students contributed a total of 36.9 billion US dollars. So even the slightest drop in Chinese or oversees enrollment could have a devastating impact on US universities, as this sum of money supports more than 450,000 jobs.

"Generations of foreign policy leaders agree that international students and scholars are one of America's greatest foreign policy assets," Esther D. Brimmer, executive director and CEO of the Association for International Educators, said in a written statement.

Sian L. Beilock, president of Barnard College, Columbia University, interviewed by CGTN. /CGTN Photo‍

"If the administration imposes restrictions that will further prohibit students and scholars from choosing the United States as their destination, we will suffer devastating impacts for decades to come," Brimmer added.

CGTN interviewed Sian L. Beilock, president of Barnard College, Columbia University, a women's liberal arts college in New York City, and she talked about another reason why it's important to have a multi-cultural student population at her institution.

"We really view our education as benefiting from having students from different perspectives, whether in the US or abroad. So we value having students from China and women from all over the world because it makes everyone's thinking better when you get to learn from people who are different from you," she said.

Beilock later added, "We're really always open and interested in encouraging Chinese students, whether they are studying in China or abroad to think about Barnard for an education. And we think that will continue."