Chinese students boost US graduate programme growth, STEM enrolment, and local economies, NBER study reveals
Chinese students have significantly contributed to the growth of graduate programmes, STEM enrolment, and local economies in the US, according to a working paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). The study examined how the influx of Chinese master’s students impacted American colleges, finding that their presence supported both institutional expansion and economic activity in college towns.Contrary to concerns that Chinese nationals might displace American students, the research showed that each additional Chinese master’s student corresponded to an increase of around 0.26 in American master’s enrolments. This indicates that revenue from international students can subsidise domestic enrolment, allowing universities to expand offerings and maintain accessible tuition rates, the study found.Chinese students fuel graduate programme growth and STEM enrolmentResearchers from the University of California, San Diego and Stanford University analysed two datasets to track Chinese college graduates who studied in the US. The first included Chinese college admissions data from 1999 to 2011, detailing students’ home cities, majors, and admission years. The second dataset was the federal Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, which monitors international student enrolments in US colleges.Between 2005 and 2019, the number of Chinese students enrolled in US universities increased from roughly 62,000 to more than 317,000. The paper described the period from 1999 to 2010 as “one of the most dramatic higher education expansions in modern history,” during which China’s college and university system doubled in size and total enrolment rose from about 1 million to over 8 million, as reported by the Higher Ed Dive.Gaurav Khanna, an economics professor at UC San Diego and co-author of the study, told the Higher Ed Dive that “enrolling more Chinese students allows universities to expand their offerings, and it leads to the growth of these new master’s programmes in STEM. That kind of essentially allows there to be increasing enrolment for American students and other international students.”Economic benefits extend beyond campusesThe NBER paper also highlighted the impact on local economies. Chinese students contribute to regional economic growth through spending on housing, cars, and dining. “You see more job growth, even outside the university,” Khanna said in conversation with the Higher Ed Dive.Fanta Aw, executive director and CEO of NAFSA: Association of International Educators, noted that the findings align with longstanding migration research. “Whenever you have a major shift, particularly a demographic shift of young people, and access to education in one part of the world, it will generally have some level of implications for other parts of the world,” Aw said, as quoted by the Higher Ed Dive.The paper’s release comes amid heightened scrutiny of international students under the Trump administration, with some congressional lawmakers proposing stricter visa rules for Chinese nationals over concerns about espionage and intellectual property theft. The NBER study provides evidence that the presence of Chinese students has a positive ripple effect on US higher education and local economies.
