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Hello, I’m Karin Fischer, international-education reporter. Here’s what I’m following this week:

The Real China Threat?

The number of scholarly articles published by American researchers in science and engineering would have declined without collaboration from Chinese co-authors, according to a new study of Sino-American research partnerships. Americans’ research output would have declined by 2 percent from 2014 to 2018, the study’s authors conclude, while Chinese publications in science and engineering would have increased even without such cooperation. “From solely a U.S. nation-state perspective that views scientific advancement as zero-sum competition with winners and losers, the findings demonstrate that the U.S.A. has more to lose than gain in cutting ties with China,” write Jenny J. Lee and John P. Haupt, both of the University of Arizona. Research with China has come under scrutiny as U.S. government officials warn of higher education’s national-security vulnerabilities. In this week’s issue of my global-education newsletter, latitude(s), I take a look at a related issue: What happens when Chinese students are labeled as a threat.

Hong Kong Campuses Cut the Semester Short

At least two universities in Hong Kong have cut their semesters short amid widening unrest. Campuses have become flashpoints in the pro-democracy protests that have roiled the city since June, and college students account for about a fifth of those arrested in connection with the demonstrations. On Tuesday night, the police and students clashed on a bridge leading to the Chinese University of Hong Kong, with police officers firing tear gas and rubber bullets and students hurling Molotov cocktails and bricks. At least 100 students were injured.

Students Rally In Support of DACA

Thousands of students and other supporters rallied on Tuesday on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court as justices heard a case that could end Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, an Obama-era program that protects from deportation the thousands of young people who were brought illegally to the United States as children. Some of these students, known as Dreamers, expressed concern that the court’s conservative majority could uphold the Trump administration’s decision to halt the program. Others remained optimistic about the future. DACA enjoys widespread bipartisan support, but hard-line opponents of immigration consider it a form of amnesty for lawbreakers.

Congress Looking Into Ed Dept.’s Middle East Studies Investigation

Congressional Democrats are expressing concern that an investigation by the Department of Education into a Middle East-studies program run jointly by Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill could chill academic freedom. In a letter, the lawmakers suggested that the department’s review of the program, which receives federal grants, “cherry-picked” certain job-placement numbers. They also wrote that regulators appeared to “add requirements beyond those in the statute, regulations, or published guidance,“ such as a requirement that program have “balanced perspectives.” Federal officials had criticized the Duke-Chapel Hill program for emphasizing Islam without giving equal attention to other religions, like Christianity and Judaism. The members of Congress requested documents about the program review as well as information about oversight of other federal grant recipients.

One Grad Student Isn’t French Enough for Quebec

How French is French enough? That’s the question surrounding Émilie Dubois’s application to immigrate to Quebec. The French citizen earned a doctorate at Laval University, a French-language institution in Quebec City. Yet the government of the French-speaking Canadian province rejected her residency application, saying that she had not demonstrated a sufficient level of French proficiency. The reason? One of the five chapters in her thesis on cellular and molecular biology — a scholarly article published in a scientific journal — was written in English.