The U.S.-China educational exchange began auspiciously after a 30-year hiatus in 1978 when Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping announced his strategic decision to send 5,000 students and scholars from China each year to further their education. 1 Then-U.S. President Jimmy Carter famously responded, “Tell him to send 100,000.” This was the launch of educational exchange as a core pillar of the U.S.-China relationship. Until the 40th anniversary of the normalization of U.S.-China relations and U.S.-China educational exchange in 2019, there was general agreement that the exchange of students and scholars benefited both countries. There was recognition that the enormous increase in personal interaction and friendships — and knowledge about each other’s society, culture, economy, and government — strengthened understanding, trust, and cooperation. At a time when U.S.-China relations are at its lowest point since the normalization of relations, the benefits of educational exchange are being questioned, if not under assault. Few could have predicted that Chinese students would be weaponized by both sides, caught up in the political and security disputes between the two governments. A trade war, political tensions, concerns about academic espionage and influence operations, rising incidents of anti-Asian hate, and a global pandemic have created a perfect storm to stir up distrust as well as retaliatory measures that restrict student mobility on both sides of the Pacific. After years of fast growth, the number of Chinese students and researchers coming to the U.S. has slowed. China is still the largest source of international students in the U.S., accounting for about one-third of the total, but America’s appeal is weakening. Is this shift toward declining numbers an overdue correction to better protect America against academic espionage and influence operations and prevent China from capitalizing on American know-how to accelerate its own progress? Or is this decline in numbers an unnecessary and damaging hit on American universities’ preeminent position in global higher education and its open science model, leading to loss of U.S. competitiveness and international prestige? This report more broadly, is an attempt to discern the benefits, risks, and challenges of U.S.-China educational exchange and determine how educational exchange can advance the interests of both the U.S. and China going forward.

This report more broadly, is an attempt to discern the benefits, risks, and challenges of higher educational exchange of two countries and determine how educational exchange can advance the interests of both countries going forward.

This impressive study and analysis by Dr. Minghao Li and Dr. Wendong Zhang, entitled "Finding Firmer Ground" adds a significant analytical element to the effort to enhance the Sino - American relationship through increased “Agricultural Cooperation” here in the Heartland of America, the part of the United States that has such a long and illustrious history of leadership in building connections between the Chinese and American peoples.

This annual report on U.S.-China Relations is a project of The Carter Center with generous support from the Ford Foundation and the National Association of Chinese Americans in Atlanta. The Grandview Institution, a think tank based in Beijing, is a partner for this project.  For more information on the Carter Center, please check its website at https://cartercenter.org/.  For more information on the Grandview Institution, please check its website at http://www.grandview.cn/. For media inquiries or questions, please contact [email protected]. URLs for The Carter Center websites on U.S.-China relations are:  English Language website: https://uscnpm.org/  Chinese

The shift in U.S.-China relations since normalization has resulted in a rapid influx of Chinese students and scholars studying at U.S. institutions. There is an urgent need among institutions and individuals working with the Chinese for firm data about the Chinese student population. Also needed is a better understanding of Chinese policies and practices on foreign study. Chinese Students in America is the only comprehensive resource available today to fill these needs. Author Leo A. Orleans uses original Chinese resource materials to explore several overall issuesâ€"such as China's concern about a "brain drain" as more Chinese students decide to stay in the United States. He explains why data on Chinese students in the United States are so elusive and presents an in-depth analysis of the best figures that are available. Chinese Students in America will be of particular interest to policymakers, professors and administrators who work with Chinese students and scholars, specialists in education, international organizations, members of U.S.-China affiliations, and libraries, as well as Chinese students and scholars studying in America.

This book examines the rise of China’s global profile in the international higher education community, as indicated by its rise of human capital, visibility in academic publications, world university ranking, expanding international cultural influence, and becoming a study-abroad destination of international students. It identifies the diplomatic role of higher education in China’s politico-economic development over a century, and how the role has been shaped by China’s self-identity as a great power in the world. Higher Education and China's Global Rise provides an understanding of linkage between higher education and China’s international influence, and a scholarly discussion of what Chinese higher education tells about China’s international relations, especially the aims, means, and nature of China’s rise as a global power. It will help to broaden perspectives surrounding debate about China’s rise that is currently dominated by Western international relations theory and comparative higher education discourses.

In each chapter of The Rise of China-U.S. International Cooperation in Higher Education: Views from the Field, scholars, leaders, and practitioners describe the theoretical and practical implications of partnerships between higher education institutions in China and the U.S.