A Relationship Restored Trends in U.S.-China Educational Exchanges, 1978-1984 (1986) / Chapter Skim
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3 Characteristics of Exchange Participants
3 Characteristics of Exchange Participants
Pages 30-61
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From page 30... ...
This rapid growth in the number of Chinese students and scholars in the United States is likely to continue in the immediate future; if it does, China may have more students and scholars in America by the early 1990s than any other country has. An analysis of the personal profiles and academic characteristics of the PRC Chinese exchange participants reveals patterns with significance which transcends academic exchange.
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From page 31... ...
American universities (drawing funds from many sources) have become the largest single source of financial support for PRC students and scholars in the United States, with expenditures exceeding those made by the Chinese government itself.
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First, their information system is not automated; their statisTABLE 3-2 New and Continuing PRC Students and Scholars with ] -1 Visas, 1979 Through 1983 Year New Continuing Total 1979 891 134 1,025 1980 1,854 866 2,720 1981 3,210 2,358 5,568 1982 3,077 3,894 6,971 1983 3,190 4,550 7,740 Total 12,222 SOURCE: USIA data tape.
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From page 33... ...
in its annual census of foreign students in America, 1,000 Chinese students were enrolled at American institutions of higher education in academic year 1979-1980. By academic year 1983-1984, this number had risen to 8,140.5 These numbers include both J-1 and F-1 students; they do not include nonmatriculated "visiting scholars" who are not degree candidates.
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From page 34... ...
increased while the percentage of "research scholars" declined.6 The increase occurred because many students remain for several years to complete their degrees ant] because the percentage of students among new visa holders has been growing since 1979 (see Table 3-4~.
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bPercentage of missing data excluded from total is 3 percent. SOURCE: Records of visas issued in 1983.
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36 so C)
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In late 1984 China's State Council announced its intention to send one-third more "people abroad to study at State expense."8 (2) In January 1985 the State Council issued "Draft Regulations on Self-Supported Study Abroad." These latter regulations signal Beijing's encouragement to Chinese students and scholars to make privately sponsored arrangements to study abroad.9 The crucial questions in terms of the effect on the number of PRC students and scholars in the United States are how liberally these regulations will be implemented by Chinese officials at various levels and how American immigration authorities will respond.
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From page 38... ...
Health sciences Humanities Law Library and archival science Life sciences Mathematics Physical sciences Social sciences Other Total N= F-1 Visa Holders 1 9 13 3 23 1 4 IS s s 14 4 2 100 (91 l) a NOTE: The symbol `'—" indicates a value less than 0.5 percent.
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From page 39... ...
Health sciences Humanities Law Library and archival science Life sciences Mathematics Physical sciences Social sciences Other Total N= 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 3 4 2 3 4 5 1 1 1 5 4 4 30 l 2 2 4 4 4 2 2 2 2 2 31 31 29 27 29 1 10 11 11 10 11 2 2 3 3 3 1 1 9 6 8 s 29 25 4 3 2 3 3 2 2 100 100 100 100 100 100 (1,000)
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From page 40... ...
In recent years, Chinese women from the PRC who have come to the United States have been concentrated in American studies, library and archival science, health sciences, education, English as a second language (ESL) , and the humanities (see Table Add.
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2 o 100 (3,150) NOTES: Percentage of missing data excluded from F-1 and J-1 figures is less than 2 percent.
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From page 42... ...
Personal Attributes: Socioeconomic Status The first Chinese students and scholars began arriving in the United States in the "normalization" period only a few years after the official close of the decade of the Cultural Revolution. The opening to the West was part of the ever-expanding and continuing repudiation of the Cultural Revolution and the excesses of the entire period (from 1957 to 1966)
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From page 43... ...
That same year, 47 percent of this group came from "key schools" in China; that is, instituTABLE 3-10 Percentage Distribution of PRC J-1 and F-1 Visa Holders by Occupation in China, 1983 Occupation Type of Visa in China J-1 F-1 Student 21 26 Teacher—high school or below 1 College teacher or professor 42 16 Researcher 15 5 Administrator 1 Party/government cadre 1 1 Journalist 1 1 Engineer 9 15 Doctor 6 4 Musician, artist, etc. — 5 Other 3 18 Total 100 100 N = (3,113)
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(24) 14 N= Employer in China High school or lower school College or university National key institution Other Chinese Academy of Sciences Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Scientific organization Hospitals Media Government Finance or trade corporation Performing arts troupe Factory Commune Other Total Type of Visa J-1 F-1 56 (21)
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From page 45... ...
Over the years, China has increased the percentage of younger J-1 students and scholars it sends to the United States (Table A-9~; the percentage of those below 30 years of age rose from 5 percent in 1979 to 34 percent in 1983. The dramatic increase in 1982 of the percentage of J-ls under age 30 TABLE 3-13 Percentage Distribution of PRC J-1 and F-1 Visa Holders by Age, 1983 Age J-1 Visa F-1 Visa Under 20 — 5 20-29 31 58 30-39 22 33 40-49 32 3 50-59 12 — 60 and over 2 Total 100 100 N= (3,192)
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From page 46... ...
First, the F-1 visa holders' lack of official sponsorship and permanent employment in China, relative youth, and general lack of ties to China have led many observers in the PRC and elsewhere to expect fewer of them to return to China. China's intention to liberalize its policies on "self-supporting" students and scholars, then, has potentially important implications for U.S.
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From page 47... ...
Among applicants for F-ls, only 1 percent received any assistance from the Chinese government or a Chinese work unit, and only 12 percent received aid from an American university; 76 percent of the TABLE 3-14 Percentage Distribution of ] -1 and F-1 Visa Holders by Stated Source of Financial Support, 1983 Stated Source of Financial Support Self, savings, or family in China Chinese government or work unit U.S.
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. In 1981, American universities for the first time provided more support for Chinese students and scholars than did the Chinese government (Table 3-16~.
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1979 Total Source of Funds Chinese government Personal funds U.S. government U.S.
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Although J-ls have been discussed as a group thus far, in fact there are important differences between the various categories within the J-1 group, the most salient of which is the distinction between students and research scholars. The Chinese government and American universities together provided about 80 percent of the support for ]
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From page 51... ...
Chinese estimates do exist for the cost of foreign study in general, although they are not detailed enough to per 1979 1980 1981 57 30 20 5 2 5 21 48 1982 1983 20 30 6 3 2 62 53 6 s 62 1 7 100 100 TABLE 3-20 Percentage Distribution of Funds Spent on PRC J-1 Research Scholars, by Source of Funds, 1979 Through 1983 Source of Funds Chinese government Personal funds U.S. government U.S.
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In contrast, the Chinese government basically supports those persons not as likely to be supported by American universities—more teachers and research scholars (Appendix E, Table Ebb. Finally, the Chinese government funded more students and scholars in engineering, architecture, computer science, agriculture, library science, and humanities, in descending order, and was less likely to fund those in law and American studies.
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If the repeat visitors constitute 10 to 20 percent of the total provided by the Chinese (Table 3-21) , approximately 2,900 to 3,300 American students and scholars would have traveled to China for what the Chinese government considers academic purposes.
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in China. In late 1984, the MOE announced that there were 2,500 "foreign students for regular courses."22 The number of such American students implied in Table 3-21 (for 1983)
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Conversely, North American nations sent 12.1 percent of all students going abroad and received 33.2 percent of the world total.27 Fields of Study The patterns of study in Sino-American exchange are like those Sirowy and Inkeles observed worldwide: students from the Third World tend to focus on pure and applied science, while those from economically advanced nations are more often concentrated in the liberal arts disciplines.28 The field distribution displayed in Table 3-22 is based on reports from 30 American universities with Asian studies programs. The numbers should not be viewed in absolute terms, as they are only a small sample of American scholars.
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From page 56... ...
" Added to these data were figures, estimated by the same respondents, for students and scholars in China studies fields. TABLE 3-23 Percentage Distribution of American Chinese Studies Graduate Students and Faculty Conducting or Planning One Month or More of Research in the PRC, by Field, 1978-1979 Through 1984-1985 Field of Study Anthropology Art history Economics History Linguistics Literature Political science/international relations Sociology Total Percent 7 s 6 28 s 25 17 6 100 (199)
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From page 57... ...
American universities have funded the Chinese for several reasons, among them: the quality and competitive performance of PRC students (see Chapter 5) , the comparative ease with which the Chinese have been absorbed into American university communities, and the important teaching and research roles played by PRC Chinese students in many graduate science programs.
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The PRC persons of interest in this study fall into a number of categories. The largest proportion of them are students; next are research scholars, and the remainder are professors, trainees, teachers, or international visitors.
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Questionnaires. In 1984, a questionnaire was sent to 391 American universities and colleges that were identified as having five or more Chinese students and scholars.
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Furthermore, if it is assumed that the double-counting problem is no more severe among privately sponsored students (the 7,358 F-ls in Table 3-1) than for J-ls, this would mean that a total of about 19,000 Chinese students and scholars have come to study in the United States during the 1979-1983 period.
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From page 61... ...
It was assumed that this group is representative of all J-1 visa holders.
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