Chinese students are welcome in America, US education official Marie Royce says, calling China’s negative reports propaganda
- Marie Royce, the assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs, says ‘US higher education is increasingly accessible to Chinese students’
- The number of Chinese student visa applications refused has declined in each of the last four years, she tells Washington forum
A US education official on Tuesday accused China’s state-controlled media of painting an “inaccurate picture” of the hardships Chinese students are said to face living and studying in the US, stressing that Chinese students are welcome in America.
“The United States continues to admit qualified Chinese students for study at US colleges and universities,” Marie Royce, the assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs, told the annual EducationUSA Forum in Washington.
“Contrary to what you might have heard from the government of China, the number of Chinese student visa applications refused has declined in each of the last four years,” Royce told an audience of 500 international education professionals from US universities and colleges.
“This demonstrates that US higher education is increasingly accessible to Chinese students.”
Her remarks suggested that the US government is striving to play down fears of growing hostility towards Chinese academics and students working and studying in the US after some scholars complained about scrutiny from the US government over their ties to Beijing.