China News Service, July 7 (local time). On the 6th local time, the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) stated that international students applying for this fall semester will not be able to obtain visas and allow entry if the school only offers online courses. In response, the American Overseas Chinese Daily commented that international students cannot enter the United States by "only hurting themselves".
The article is excerpted as follows:
This rule is aimed at international students who take F1 and M1 visas. These people are not allowed to stay in the United States if all courses in the fall semester are online courses. For international students who have not yet entered the United States, visas and entry will not be granted. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement Bureau stated that those who do not follow the rules will be repatriated.
This decision will undoubtedly make international students who have been affected by the epidemic face more limited choices. At the same time, many colleges and universities in the United States are in a dilemma-whether to reopen the school despite the increasing number of new coronary pneumonia infections; or to face the situation of international students and their tuition loss.
This puts a question mark on the question of going abroad for international students from many American universities including Harvard University. In addition, some students are restricted from traveling back to the United States from the United States. If they cannot return home, it is still a question of how these students plan next.
It seems to be foreseeable that this new regulation will affect tens of thousands of international students. Although they pay expensive university tuition, they have to return to their home countries to take online courses.
To make matters worse, as the epidemic worsens in the United States, more and more schools have chosen to teach online from March to April. If the epidemic continues in the second half of the year, the number of purely online schools is expected to continue to increase. And returning international students to online courses directly affects the income sources of universities in the United States.
According to data from the US State Department, the US issued 389,000 F visas and 9518 M visas in fiscal 2019. According to data from the US Department of Commerce, in 2018, international students contributed US$45 billion to the US economy. Most of them pay full tuition, which is an important source of income for many universities.
In other words, the United States had attracted top talents from all over the world, and now driving them out is not only a loss of resources, but also weakening the economy. Moreover, enrollment of international students in the future will also be affected.
Moody's report in April this year stated that American public universities face greater risks than their global counterparts due to potential government funding cuts and lower investment income. In addition, most top-ranked universities rely heavily on income from international students. American educational institutions predict that the prospects for recruiting new international students may be very bad, and the number of new international students enrolled may drop by 60% to 70% due to various visa policies.
Regardless of the above situation, it is not optimistic for international students or American universities. (Sasa)