How Do Americans View International Students?

NEW STUDENTS ARE STUDYING IN THE UNITED STATES Jack Li received his doctorate in science from a major university in the southeastern United States in 2020. The Chinese student said research opportunities remain strong in the U.S. but he planned to continue his work in Germany. Li told VOA earlier in 2021 that part of his decision was because of the “political environment in the U.S.” Li had good reason to feel that way. A recent survey by an education policy group showed Americans are somewhat concerned about too many Chinese students coming to study. The American Council on Education (ACE) talked to 1,000 Americans in the first part of 2021. It found that 43 percent of the people in the survey said they think international students take away places from American students. In addition, about 40 percent also said they think “some international students are sent by their country to try and steal valuable U.S. intellectual property.” When China was used as an example, nearly 50 percent said it is a “widespread problem.” Karin Fischer writes about international students for The Chronicle of Higher Education. Fischer said the number of international students coming to the U.S. grew by large numbers in recent years. So international students, especially those from China, became “a lot more visible” for people who live near colleges. “They’d become kind of caught up in the politics of immigration, of the politics of sort of Chinese-American geopolitical conflict, they got caught up in the politics of COVID and school re-opening a year ago.”