方向真變了？中國赴美留學生下降

方向真變了？中國赴美留學生下降

2023年10月10日  來源：FX168財經

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1989年，當結構生物學家施一公從清華大學獲得學士學位時，同年畢業的2251名學生中，約有1600人去了美國並留在了那裏。

2017年，時任清華大學副校長的施一公在中國中央電視台的一檔節目中講述了這個故事。

如今，情況發生了巨大變化。這一點可以從最新的統計數據中看出：2022年，清華大學本科生和研究生的畢業生中，隻有7%的人出國深造。

在3197名本科生中，14%的人選擇出國留學，與2017年形成鮮明對比，當時28%的本科生尋求海外教育。在另一所一流學府——北京大學，也可以看到類似的下降趨勢。

清華大學一位不願透露姓名的物理學家表示:“在過去四年裏，我們大多數最優秀的學生都選擇留在中國，出國的人更少。”

他說，在2019年之前，他所在係近一半的畢業生選擇出國留學，主要是前往美國和英國最知名的學府。然而，這一比率一直在顯著下降。

《南華早報》稱，發生在清華大學的事情反映了一種悄無聲息的新興趨勢：盡管出國留學仍然具有吸引力，但越來越多的優秀學生正在排除出國留學的可能性。

根據教育部的數據，自1978年中國改革開放以來，截至2021年底，約有800萬中國學生在國外學習。這是一個巨大的數字，他們的流動對雙方都具有重要的戰略意義。

現在，一些在美國學術界工作的科學家已經感受到了中國留學生數量的減少。

美國喬治亞大學傑出的物理學研究教授趙奕平表示，他所在係過去新招收的學生中有一半以上是華裔，但今年這個數字隻有一兩個。取而代之的是來自尼泊爾和孟加拉國等發展中國家的候選人。

“我們希望錄取更多的中國學生，因為一般來說，他們有更堅實的學術基礎，”趙說。

中國持續了大約三年的動態清零防疫政策對這一轉變造成了直接影響。

北京大學教育學院副教授沈文欽說:“大流行是一種破壞，但它不是主要原因。”他補充說，這種下降在過去兩年尤為明顯。

沈文欽自2016年以來一直在觀察這個問題。他說，大約5、6年前，在中國最好的大學主修數學、物理和化學等學科的最聰明的學生將海外留學視為他們職業階梯上的最佳下一步。

但這種趨勢正在消退。2020年，時任清華大學校長邱勇指出，在過去的五年裏，清華大學畢業生出國留學的比例逐年下降。

他說:“越來越多的畢業生選擇留在中國繼續深造或進入就業市場。”

在國外，中美關係的惡化給一些學生的美國教育夢想蒙上了陰影，導致他們推遲了學習計劃，主要原因是簽證審批更加嚴格。

根據美國《高等教育紀事報》(Chronicle of Higher Education)的數據，2022年年中，美國向中國學生發放的簽證比2021年同期減少了45%左右。盡管如此，對於許多中國家庭來說，在國際知名的高等教育機構學習仍然是一個誘人的夢想。

《外交事務》雜誌上個月發表的一篇文章稱:“美國大學促進國家間相互理解的最重要方式之一，同時也促進了美國的利益，就是培養來自世界各地的學生。”文章還補充說，美國大學吸引世界上最優秀人才的能力是美國成功的關鍵。

根據市場研究公司ICEF Monitor的數據，2022年，約有130萬國際學生在美國持有有效學習簽證，比2021年增長了10%。中國仍然是最大的來源國，約有32萬名學生前往美國。

The United States has lost its charm, maybe forever, to China’s brightest students

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3236080/united-states-has-lost-its-charm-maybe-forever-chinas-brightest-students

• More students are opting to stay home, and not pursue further studies at international universities

• While the pandemic affected the drop in numbers studying abroad, worsening ties between the two powers has also contributed.

Dannie Peng  , 10 Oct, 2023

 

In 1989, when structural biologist Shi Yigong got his bachelor’s degree from Beijing’s Tsinghua University, of the 2,251 students who graduated the same year, about 1,600 of them went to the United States and stayed.

This story was told in 2017 by Shi, who was vice-president of Tsinghua University at the time, in a programme broadcast by China’s state-owned CCTV.

These days, the landscape has changed dramatically. This can be seen in the latest statistics: in 2022, only 7 per cent of all Tsinghua graduates, across both undergraduate and postgraduate students, pursued further studies abroad.

Among the 3,197 undergraduate students, 14 per cent chose to study abroad, a sharp contrast to the rate in 2017, when 28 per cent of undergraduates sought overseas education. A similar downward trend can be seen at another first-class institution – Peking University.

“In the past four years, the majority of our best students have chosen to stay in China, with fewer going abroad,” said a physicist at Tsinghua, who asked not to be named.

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He said that before 2019, nearly half the graduates from his department would opt to study abroad, mainly heading to the best-known institutions in the United States – such as its Ivy League universities – as well as Britain. However, that rate has been declining significantly.

What has happened at Tsinghua University is a reflection of a quiet, emerging trend: despite studying abroad remaining appealing, an increasing number of high academic achievers are ruling it out.

Since China’s reform and opening up in 1978 until the end of 2021, around 8 million Chinese students have studied abroad, according to the Ministry of Education. This is a huge number and their flow is strategically important for both sides.

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Now the reduction in the number of Chinese students heading overseas is being felt by some scientists working in American academia.

Zhao Yiping, a distinguished research professor of physics at the University of Georgia in the US, said more than half of the newly recruited students in his department used to be of Chinese origin, but this year that number is just one or two. Candidates from developing countries such as Nepal and Bangladesh are filling the spots instead.

“We want to hire more Chinese students because generally, they have a more solid academic foundation,” Zhao said.

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China’s zero-Covid policy, which lasted for around three years, directly affected this shift.

But the Tsinghua physicist said that even in the post-pandemic era, students might not stay in the US, with both domestic and international issues contributing.

“The pandemic is a disruption, but it is not the main reason,” said Shen Wenqin, an associate professor from the school of education at Peking University, adding that the decline had been particularly pronounced in the last two years.

Shen has been observing this issue since 2016. He said that around five or six years ago, the smartest students who majored in subjects such as mathematics, physics and chemistry at China’s best universities saw overseas study as the optimal next step on their career ladder.

But it is a trend that has been fading. In 2020, Qiu Yong, then-president of Tsinghua University, pointed out that in the previous five years, the proportion of the institution’s graduates studying abroad had declined more each year.

“More and more graduates choose to stay in China to further their studies or go to the job market,” Qiu said.

Externally, worsening relations between the US and China have cast a shadow over some students’ American education dreams, leaving them putting off their study plans, mainly as a result of a tougher visa approval.

When structural biologist Shi Yigong first graduated in 1989 from Tsinghua University, around 70 per cent of undergraduate students went to do further studies abroad. Photo: Westlake University

In mid-2022, the US issued around 45 per cent fewer visas to Chinese students compared with the same period in 2021, according to the US-based Chronicle of Higher Education.

However, researchers interviewed by the Post attached more importance to the fact that, unlike where China was at the start of the century, the nation is now becoming a major global powerhouse of science and technology.

This was seen in the latest Nature Index released in June, in which rankings based on published scientific papers showed that Chinese institutions had overtaken the US and other Western counterparts.

 

“China is experiencing a fast rise in many academic fields,” Shen said. “For example, if students are restricted from getting a computer science qualification in the US, they are less likely to seek an alternative in Germany, the UK, or other countries because China is also a leading power and it harbours so many big tech companies.”

Shen has conducted interviews with students from top mainland universities in recent years, and they listed the Western-trained teachers as a reason why they were now looking at continuing their studies or conducting research in China.

“If you have a scan at the résumés of faculty at such institutions, you will find that many younger generation scholars are armed with a background at the most prestigious schools like Stanford, MIT or Harvard, and therefore they have a worldly horizon and international collaboration network,” he said.

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In the same vein, China has been upgrading its industrial structure to grow into a more technologically advanced economy and thus has created more hi-tech jobs for young professionals.

“One of the most important ways that American universities promote mutual understanding between countries – while also advancing US interests – is by educating students from around the world,” a Foreign Affairs article published last month said, adding that the ability of American universities to attract the world’s best talent was key to the country’s success.

But, what implications will it bring for China? Academics interviewed expressed a cautious but positive sentiment towards the change.

“China is not as reliant on the West in talent training as it was in the past,” Zhao said.

In Shen’s opinion, the shift is in fact a good thing for China.

“I think in the past we were experiencing a sort of talent drain as the best brains went abroad and a high proportion of them no longer came back, which was in return hurting China’s talent training system,” he said.

But if the rate continued to drop, Shen said there would be a reason to be worried, as one of the key contributions to China’s scientific development over the last few decades has come from sending young talent to developed countries and maintaining academic exchange with the world.

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That said, studying in well-known international higher education institutions is still a tantalising dream for many Chinese families.

According to data from market research firm ICEF Monitor, in 2022, around 1.3 million international students held valid study visas in the United States, a 10 per cent increase compared to 2021. China remained the largest source country, with around 320,000 students heading to America.

A vaccine development scientist at a mainland university, who spoke on condition of anonymity, observed that some college students, especially those from less privileged backgrounds, were no longer as keen to pursue further education in the US, under the converging influences of the negative portrayal of the country by Chinese media, the hype about China’s technological prowess, and anti-Asian hate crimes in the US.

However China’s elite group, he said, was increasingly prioritising international education for their children. He said a close friend, a famous scientist who intended to send his child to a US university, had decided to bring that plan forward, opting to send them there for high school.

The vaccine expert said he could understand such a decision, as he has become disappointed with the fostering of talent in mainland universities.

“Many irrelevant political ideology courses are consuming a significant portion of students’ time, while major-related materials and knowledge imparted are outdated,” he said, adding that the intensifying restrictions on freedom of expression and exploration had hindered innovation.

He said that despite significant advancements in science and technology in China, there was a considerable gap when compared to some Western countries, citing the proliferation of Chinese biotech companies in recent years as an example.

“Many of them lack original technologies,” he said.