An 18.6-per-cent jump in the enrollment of Chinese students at U.S. colleges and universities would be noteworthy anytime.
But the current surge is particularly surprising, since just two years ago the Chinese government issued regulations aimed at restricting study abroad.
Despite predictions that the flow of Chinese students would drop once the regulations took effect, just the opposite has occurred. Not only are more Chinese students coming to the United States than two years ago; they are staying longer.
The consensus among international-student advisers and Chinese students themselves seems to be that the so-called five-year work rule is having little effect on people who have made up their minds to study in the United States.
That comes as a surprise -- and a relief -- to many Chinese students who complained bitterly when their government announced in 1989 that college graduates would have to work for five years in China before they could pursue graduate studies abroad.
“When the government announced the restrictions, we worried that young people would lose precious time getting educated,” says Jin Dai, a Chinese postdoctoral student in physics at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, who earned his doctorate at the University of Texas at Austin. “Five years is a long time, but it turns out a lot of people can find loopholes and get around it.”
Last October the Institute of International Education released figures showing that a record number of foreign students had attended U.S. colleges and universities in 1990-91. China was the leading country of origin, with 39,600 students in the United States, 18.6 per cent more than in the previous year. In 1988-89, before the work rule was imposed, 29,040 Chinese were enrolled in U.S. institutions.
Not only are there many loopholes in the regulations, but the Chinese government apparently is enforcing the rules neither stringently nor evenly throughout the country.
Chinese students with close relatives in the United States are exempt from the regulations, as are those with any sort of relatives who agree to reimburse the government for the cost of the students’ education in China. The reimbursement fee, according to a U.S. consultant in international education, amounts to about $550 a year for undergraduate study and about twice that for graduate work. The money is refunded if the students return to China within eight years of their departure.
Students who are privately sponsored, rather than officially sanctioned by the Chinese government, can also avoid the five-year work requirement.
Finally, students who leave their Chinese institutions before the start of their fourth year to study abroad also have to reimburse the government for tuition for the years they attended, but they do not have to work for five years before starting their overseas study.
Students have taken advantage of such exceptions in several ways. Some find private sponsors, like friends or relatives; some go ahead and reimburse the government for their education; and some drop out of their universities so they can apply as transfer students and avoid the work requirement. Some Chinese students also report that government officials often accept bribes for waivers of the work restriction. “You have to have money or connections -- the process is very ugly,” says Mr. Dai of Rutgers.
Peggy Blumenthal, vice-president for educational services at the Institute of International Education, says the Chinese students who come here “are very talented and determined individuals who are able to get around the regulations.”
“Not only are the numbers going up, but the ways they’re getting out are also different,” she adds. “We’re seeing fewer officially sponsored students and more private students coming on their own funding.”
At the University of Southern California, Chinese-student enrollment has increased steadily since the bloody crackdown in Tiananmen Square in June 1989. The numbers grew from 336 in the fall of 1989 to 453 in the fall of 1991.
Dixon C. Johnson, executive director of the university’s Office of International Students and Scholars, says he found the steady increase “kind of puzzling,” in light of the restrictions.
“There’s a tremendous desire to get out of the country,” he says. “Never underestimate the desire of students to get out when they want to pursue their educations.”
The supposed rationale for the five-year work rule was that students who have been educated at state expense should pay back that investment in work before they pursue further studies abroad, says Glenn Shive, a consultant in international education. But some believe the rule was imposed to send a “get tough” message from government officials worried that the flood of requests for overseas visas could result in a brain drain.
Chinese government officials were also worried that students who came to the United States to study would be “corrupted by democratic ideals” and demand changes when they returned to China.
At Harvard University, where Chinese-student enrollment rose to 220 this fall from 191 the year before, an admissions official says many students opt to transfer as undergraduates to avoid the work restriction.
“Some students say they had planned to wait until graduate school, but felt that because of the new regulations, they had better do it now,” says Rosemary M. Green, associate director of admissions at Harvard.
Another possible factor in the high enrollment of Chinese students here is the executive order issued by President Bush in 1989, which protects Chinese students against immediate deportation after their studies are completed. Students are now permitted to remain in this country until January 1, 1994 -- a provision intended to protect students from retribution in China for their involvement in pro-democracy protests abroad.
Many students are taking advantage of that provision by continuing their studies or working in the United States, higher-education officials say.
“Since Tiananmen Square, people are coming, and they’re just not going,” says Norman Peterson, executive secretary for the Liaison Group for International Educational Exchange. “They’re prolonging their student status as long as they can.”
At the University of Texas at Austin, where the enrollment of Chinese students increased to 371 this fall from 301 the previous year, part of the increase came about because some students who were already at the institution decided to remain for another year, university officials say. However, most higher education officials interviewed said the bulk of the increase was due to new students’ coming to the United States.
“When you don’t lose as many students, fewer have to come to cause an increase,” says Margaret A. Kidd, director of the university’s International Office.
Chinese students coming to the United States are motivated by a number of factors. Opportunities for graduate study and career training are much more limited in China than they are in the United States. Just as important, the brutal repression of the pro-democracy movement left many young people in China disillusioned with their country and eager to get out.
“America is much richer and more developed,” says Yuh-lin Chang, a graduate student in electrical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin and president of the university’s Chinese Students and Scholars Association. “Whenever they have a chance, the Chinese students want to move to a better place where they can have a better life.”
