China's Education Ministry alerts students over studying in U.S.

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‍‍China's Ministry of Education on Monday issued a warning for Chinese students, following visa limits and rejections of some Chinese students applying to study in the United States.

It reminds students and scholars to evaluate the risks before studying abroad, increase awareness of ways to protect themselves and prepare accordingly.

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"For a certain period of time, visas of Chinese students studying in the U.S. suffered restrictions. Those included, but were not limited to, longer approval periods, shorter validity times and an increase in refusal rates," said Xu Mei, spokesperson for the ministry, at a press conference on Monday.

"This jeopardized their ability to study and/or graduate. The Ministry of Education reminds students and scholars to evaluate their options before studying abroad, to increase self-protection and prepare accordingly."

Xu Yongji, deputy director of the Ministry's Department of International Cooperation and Exchange, also addressed the issues, citing the official data.

Gate of Chinese Ministry of Education. /VCG Photo

“According to China Scholarship Council, among the 10,313 Chinese overseas students sponsored by the Chinese government to study in the U.S., 331 have to delay their plans due to visa issues, accounting for 3.2 percent. During the first quarter of 2019, a total of 182 out of the 1,353 students had to change their plans for the same issue, accounting for 13.5 percent,” said Xu.

He added that the affected majors include the social and natural sciences, and said some scholars studying China-U.S. relations have had their 10-year visas revoked.

“Such behaviors have harmed the dignities of Chinese students and scholars studying in the U.S., and severely hurt the Chinese people's feelings,” Xu said, urging the U.S. to shift their efforts to promote educational cooperation and communications.

According to the Ministry of Education, China make sup the largest number of international students in the U.S.

A Chinese student consults about studying in the U.S. at the 2018 China Education Expo. /VCG Photo

Between 2017 and 2018, a total of 363,300 registered Chinese students studied in U.S. colleges, increasing 3.6 percent year-on-year, and accounting for 33.2 percent of all the international students.

In 2017, Chinese students brought in about 1.3 billion U.S. dollars to the country.

Xu said China is willing to communicate and cooperate with all countries, including the U.S., but such cooperation should be built on mutual willingness and respect.

“China believes that no matter how the political and economic communications changed, we should be confident and persistent in the exchanges and cooperation in education,” he said.

From 1978 to 2018, a total of 5.85 million Chinese students have pursued their studies abroad. In 2018 alone, the number of Chinese overseas student reached 662,100, an 8.83 percent year-on-year increase.

(Top image: China Education Expo is held in China National Convention Center, Beijing, October 20, 2018./ VCG photo)

(Videos contributed by CGTN reporter Wu Guoxiu.)