What Biden Victory Could Mean for Chinese Students and U.S. Universities that Recruit Them
A Biden administration can significantly improve prospects for US university recruitment in China. Students are cautiously optimistic, and parents and counselors welcome more predictability from a new administration.
Universities should avoid partisan commentary and instead use Chinese social media and webcasts to project a message of hope, change, and openness. Well-placed campaigns on Weibo or Wechat are worth exploring.
In-person fairs in China have recently happened, and prospects for physical fairs in Spring 2021 are positive. Universities should make arrangements to attend, using alumni, partners, or in-country representatives, while continuing to share high quality information about studying in the US online.
AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File
As swing states continue to tally votes after election day, Chinese voices have begun weighing in on the implications of a Biden victory for US universities and the Chinese students they hope to recruit. From Sunrise’s interviews with counselors, recent survey data, and an analysis of Chinese social media, we’re seeing cautious optimism from Chinese students and stakeholders. We’re hearing that studying in the US will be more attractive under a Biden administration, citing greater stability in visa policies, US leadership signalling greater openness to international students, and a more adept and sober handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. There appears to be an opportunity for US universities to renew recruitment efforts in China through traditional college fairs, social media, and other digital tools. While most recognize that a Biden administration will have its work cut out for itself in improving America’s lackluster handling of the pandemic and rebuilding years of hard-earned trust from Chinese parents, there is an air of optimism and curiosity among the Chinese overseas study community.
A Biden administration would have the authority to loosen visa policies for Chinese students, affirm the US’s interest in welcoming students from China, and inject a much-needed sense of certainty and predictability to the US’s broader political and economic relationship with China. Possible early steps might include rolling back some of the Trump administration's restrictions on visa eligibility and duration, reversing signals about the curtailment of OPT, and sending a clear message that international students are welcome in the US. It would also have the power to loosen pressure on universities to close Confucius Institutes and reevaluate partnerships with Chinese universities.
Thomas Peter/Reuters
Appointing an ambassador to China, a glaring vacancy since mid-September, would also help, as would working to reopen the Houston and Chengdu consulates of each country. According to Francis Miller, a counselor at Xi’an Tieyi High School in Shaanxi, “The current and graduated high school families with students that I work with who are looking to study abroad are cautiously optimistic that a Biden presidency will mean restoring some normality in people-to-people relations. However, I think everyone would be happy if things just stopped getting worse.”
Universities would be ill-advised to jump into the fray of electoral politics, but they would do well to re-engage the Chinese community, after 8 months of suspended recruitment travel. Universities might start by re-igniting the “You Are Welcome Here” campaign on social media accounts, signaling that the US will be a better place for international students while remaining non-partisan. Such a campaign would be especially well placed on Weibo, China’s Twitter. Universities might showcase stories about current international students’ optimism and of students engaging in civic discourse about the country’s future on their official Wechat accounts and incorporate this messaging in online information sessions for Chinese students. Sunrise’s 2020 Digital White Paper explored these digital platforms in depth. In a 2019 survey of 2,700 high school students by Sunrise, 70% of Chinese students said they research colleges using Chinese more than English. When asked about their most frequently used information source about overseas universities, local search engines like Baidu were used 53% more than international ones. They ranked official Wechat accounts as the most reliable Chinese digital source of information, and the survey indicated that they use Wechat official accounts 23% more often than newsletters.
A number of Chinese virtual fairs and university information webcasts exist for universities to spread the word, but in-person college fairs are coming back in China. The East Meets West Conference, a gathering of 200 high school counselors, hosted an in-person college fair at the Tsinglan School in Guangdong on October 17-18. Organizer Shiny Wang said that “Counselors and admission officers got together for the first time in months” and that “crowds of parents and students joined the college fair, far more than we expected.” If China continues to manage the pandemic effectively, universities can expect school-organized fairs like Wang’s and company-organized recruitment tours like those of Sunrise in spring of 2021. Universities will need to be creative and flexible with who represents the university at these fairs: universities would be better served to send alumni, Chinese staff members, or in-country representatives to these fairs rather than sit out the opportunity to meet students face to face.
