Last week, US President Donald Trump said the country was “honoured” to host 600,000 Chinese university students, marking a sharp U-turn from his administration's previous stance of “aggressively revoking” their visas. “You know what would happen if they didn’t? Our college system would go to hell very quickly,” Trump said on Tuesday. While the plan has sparked increasing anger from his political base, let’s take a look at why Trump might think the American college system would struggle without Chinese students. The US has historically been the primary draw for Chinese students. Nearly 280,000 of them were studying in the US in the academic year starting 2023, according to the 2024 annual Open Doors report sponsored by the US State Department. Chinese students, representing a quarter of the 1.1 million international students in the US that year, made up the second-largest group after India’s more than 330,000 students. As a whole, international students accounted for about 6 per cent of the total US higher-education population. Data released by the Washington-based NAFSA: Association of International Educators in November showed that the 1.1 million international students at US universities contributed US$43.8 billion to the US economy in the academic year starting 2023. “The economic activity total is the highest amount ever calculated by NAFSA, eclipsing the high water mark of US$41 billion in 2018-2019 academic year,” it added. Combining the two figures above, we can estimate the contribution of Chinese students to the US economy by multiplying the total contribution of US$43.8 billion by 24.6 per cent, the proportion of Chinese students among all international students. The result is nearly US$11 billion. In July, the association warned that “a potential 30-40 per cent decline in new international student enrolment in the United States this fall could result in a 15 per cent drop in overall enrolment”, which would “deprive local economies of US$7 billion in spending”. It said student visa interviews were paused during the peak issuance season of May and June for students seeking to enrol in a US institution this autumn. While interviews were later resumed in June, they “carried a directive that US consulates implement new social media vetting protocols”. “There are reports of limited or no appointments for international students at consulates in India, China, Nigeria, and Japan. India and China are the top two international student-sending countries to the United States; Nigeria is seventh and Japan is 13th.” CEO of the association Fanta Aw said the effects of losing international students reached beyond immediate economic impacts. “International students drive innovation, advance America’s global competitiveness and create research and academic opportunities in our local colleges that will benefit our country for generations. “For the United States to succeed in the global economy, we must keep our doors open to students from around the world,” she said. Now that Trump acknowledges the importance of Chinese students to the American college system and welcomes them with open arms, what do the Chinese think? scmp.com/news/us/diplomac.. #A Glance of China 行摄中国 #China Education Policy Group #ScholER