The Trump Administration has released some restrictions on international students, like reducing the validity of visas for students and scholars from China studying and conducting research in sensitive fields, so as to reportedly protect national technical safety. This in fact reflects certain US anxieties in the competition of research and development (R&D) and talent, said commentator Xu Lifan in the
The Beijing News.
The scale and intensity of R&D activities are seen as a key marker of competitive potential for a country. According to UNESCO statistics, the proportion of Chinese R&D personnel in the global total has reached 20 percent, surpassing the US.
Although the number of R&D personnel in China is more than that in the US, the dominant position of the US in the R&D market is still obvious. China still needs to improve its efficiency in R&D investment, the density of R&D personnel and the leadership in cutting-edge science and technology. Yet, under zero-sum game thinking, the Trump Administration still feels China is stepping up to chase the US. This is why it is imposing restrictions on international students.
But it is not easy for American colleges and universities to fully listen and cooperate with the Trump Administration and then to change their admission policies.
On the one hand, universities in the US have autonomous traditions under the protection of the US Constitution. The US government cannot interfere with the operation of universities. Even for public colleges, the US government can only increase or reduce financial allocations and nominate school directors for public colleges. There may be a crisis of collision with constitutionalism, if the US government insists on interfering with college autonomy in terms of school enrollment policies. Some schools will tighten the number of international students, but most of them will not.
On the other hand, recruitment of international students not only represents the traditions of diversity that American colleges and universities pride themselves on, but it provides significant financial support. For STEM (referring to science, technology, engineering and mathematics) majors, more than 80 percent graduate students are international students; for most American colleges and universities, it is impossible to reduce those numbers.