Is the US arrogant to say it prefers Indian STEM students to Chinese nationals?

A senior US official has sent chills down Chinese students and their families by suggesting that their studies at American universities will be restricted to the humanities by geopolitics.

Deputy secretary of state Kurt Campbell said on Monday that his country needed to recruit more international students in STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) – but not from China.

Instead, Washington is setting its sights on attracting students from India – an increasingly important US security partner – he told an event hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations think tank.

He noted that US universities were already limiting Chinese students’ access to sensitive technology because of security concerns.

According to Campbell, the US should also welcome more students from China, but to study humanities rather than sciences. “I would like to see more Chinese students coming … to study humanities and social sciences, not particle physics.”

While the number of students from China has fallen for three consecutive years through a combination of Covid-19 curbs and strained bilateral relations, the cohort remains the largest international group at US universities.

There were 289,500 Chinese students enrolled in the 2022-23 academic year, according to the Open Doors Report published by the State Department and the Institute of International Education, compared to more than 370,000 in 2019-20.

Indian students make up the second-largest cohort, which saw a 35 per cent increase to 268,900 in 2022-23 on the previous year.

Despite potentially benefiting from a Washington preference for Chinese humanities majors, communications student Julia Zhu said she felt there was “arrogance” in Campbell’s remarks.

“His talk defined the role of other states in the international order from a position of superiority,” said Zhu, who is studying at Shanghai International Studies University, one of China’s best foreign language universities.

“His point is that India is already democratic and Indians are willing to come to America, work for America. By contrast, Chinese need to be re-educated through American humanities,” she said.

Zhu was also not convinced that Campbell’s welcome for Chinese humanities majors was sincere. “Words cannot be trusted. I want to see policies actually implemented. If he really welcomes humanities students, the least he can do is reduce tuition.”

Mandy Wang, whose 15-year-old son is a middle school student in Beijing, said she was very worried that tensions and tech rivalry would worsen between the two countries, with Chinese students planning to study in the US falling victim.

“It’s my son’s dream to study STEM in the US as it has the world’s best universities. He’s keenly interested in maths and physics, excited about revolutionary changes to benefit the whole world,” she said.

“Science should have no borders, nor should it be influenced by any narrow-minded political purpose.”

Wang said she had already been upset by stories from friends about Chinese STEM students receiving stricter scrutiny when applying for visas or entering the US. “They should not be treated like that.”

Academics from both countries have complained about interrogations as well as laptop and mobile phone checks, as Washington and Beijing play the blame game over intellectual property theft and espionage concerns.

Earlier this year, China’s embassy in Washington accused US authorities of “unwarranted” interrogations and harassment of students arriving in the US with valid travel permits. Some had their visas cancelled and were deported, it said.

Telecommunications engineering major Jack Li’s university is on Washington’s “entity list” of sanctioned organisations, so neither he nor his fellow students included the US in their planned postgraduate applications, he said.

According to an employment report published last year by Li’s university, fewer than 70 of its students chose further study abroad, with most going to Britain and Australia.

US worries about Chinese students’ motives were unnecessary, said Li. “Most of our teachers are busy making money by operating their own companies.”

Very few of his tutors cared about their students’ academic performance, let alone asked them to steal intellectual property from other countries, he added.

Gary Shuai, managing director of a Beijing-based agency Weichen Education, which helps students to study abroad, said strict screening of Chinese international students could be a double-edged sword for the US.

Shuai warned that Campbell’s comments could be a precursor to new measures to restrict Chinese nationals from some academic disciplines.

“Corresponding policies or measures may be introduced to restrict the study and research of Chinese students in science and engineering fields, which may include stricter visa review and restrictions on research projects,” he said.

While some younger students might consider switching to social sciences or business studies as a result of such comments by US officials, others could apply to universities in other countries, according to Shuai.

“Chinese students have made great contributions to scientific research in the US. These restrictions [would] not only affect individual Chinese students, but may also lead to a brain drain and a decline of innovation potential in the US scientific and academic community.”