Jenny Lee: The Perceived “China Threat” to U.S. Higher Education

China is a rising superpower and has been for some time—and that includes its status in the international education landscape. The perceived “China threat” to a change in how China is regarded politically in the United States—from ally to competitor to adversary. This perception extends to several avenues in the higher education sector, from international exchange to knowledge generation, with China on pace to exceed the United States’s publication and research output by 2022.

NAFSA Senior Fellow Jenny Lee explores the implications of China’s rising role in international education in the United States, including the impact of neo-racism, how national security interests affect internationalization goals, the consequences on collaborative research between the two countries, and the need for reframing long-term thinking about traditional student mobility.