Is Washington driving global talent towards China?

America’s anti-immigration policies are demolishing the world’s preeminent academic enterprise, long centred on the US. Along with this, the global confidence that the US had enjoyed over decades, drawn from its soft power — the ability to persuade international talent through education, culture and values — is fading fast. 

This downturn comes almost a century after the US assumed the mantle of global scientific leadership from Germany in the 1930s, when Nazi persecution forced Jewish scholars to flee to the US. The US’s global appeal in higher education was strongly premised on its willingness to accept foreign talent, including persecuted intellectuals, through initiatives like the University in Exile at the New School. 

The Trump administration’s restrictive policies for foreign students and professionals can equally strengthen China’s academic branding. China is keen on exploiting the strategic opportunity by welcoming foreign talent. However, it must also battle negative perceptions. In such a situation, other countries with strong academic repute and friendly immigration policies may see new opportunities.  

The declining US brand

The American brand has been admired and celebrated for years, in contrast to that of a less liberal nation like China. Beijing’s assertive global posture, coupled with limited regard for personal freedom and individual liberties, made it a far less preferred destination for prospective skilled migrants than Washington and several other locations. 

Movement of talent to the US has been largely one-sided, comprising students, academics, literati, intellectuals and entrepreneurs. Foreign talent has contributed enormously to the economic success of the US. It has also been responsible for the flourishing of Silicon Valley through numerous innovations, making the US the undisputed global leader in technology. Almost half of high-tech start-ups in Silicon Valley, as well as a third of Venture Capital-backed new businesses, are attributable to immigrants. Further, foreign talent has cemented the country’s reputation as a global academic leader, hinged on its encouragement of research backed by scholarly freedom and independence from political interference. 

The anti-immigration policies of Trump 2.0 have severely dented the US global reputation. Trump’s “America First” slogan and campaign collided with Washington’s inclusive immigration and higher education policies. Strict border control, police crackdowns and tight visa policies have generated great fear and anxiety amongst immigrants, especially academics and foreign students, heavily eroding the US’s global appeal in higher education. 

The US DOGE Service crackdown on federal funding had further frustrated scholars and academics already struggling with the mounting number of regulations tied to receiving federal grants over the last decade. Besides, the administration’s proposal — granting government appointees authority over US federal funding — left little doubt about its intentions about political interference in US academia. Many perceive the move as running counter to America’s cultural spirit of a “free and open” research environment. 

It is perhaps not surprising that there has been a slip in the US universities’ global ranking, following the stringent visa regulations and funding constraints. While a drop in the enrolment of international students in American universities is discernible, noted international academics and émigré scholars are also considering leaving the country. 

Advantage China

China’s 15th Five-Year Plan focuses on enlarging global scientific collaboration and encourages domestic universities to invest more in scientific research. This contrasts with a report suggesting that the US National Institutes of Health now insist that grantees seek prior approval before publishing with foreign co-authors and exclude research papers involving unapproved foreign collaborations from annual progress reports. The generous commitment to public funding and international collaborations in scientific research by China is in sharp contrast to the US slashing such funding in several areas and introducing policies discouraging research alliances.

Trump’s aggressive actions have pressed China to actively elevate its academic global brand. With mainland universities improving their global ranking, China has introduced targeted visa programmes, like the category K visa for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) professionals, while designing new programmes like “Qiming” to position itself better for influencing the next phase of a global talent strategy while emerging as a global hub for specialised talent.

China is particularly keen on targeting specialists from medicine, biotechnology, space research and technology from top US universities and elsewhere. The objective though, will need to overcome typical challenges faced by foreign academics, students and professionals in China. Foreign talent, accustomed to Western conditions, especially the US academic environment and training, are not only wary of linguistic and social re-integration challenges but also find it difficult to adjust to a different curriculum design and grading system.

Old perceptions and new prospects

While crackdowns and funding cuts, along with targeting universities over failures to curb political activism on campuses, are eroding America’s historical appeal in education and scholarship, Beijing stands to benefit significantly. Its policies are not just an opportunistic response, but also part of its strategic ambition to challenge Washington’s global dominance and reputation in scientific research, including STEM.

China aspires to attract foreign talent in strategic areas, which is now hesitant to move to the US. However, China’s enabling policies in this regard must be weighed against its unfavourable perception of excessive state control over universities and academia. While generous funding, including financial incentives for innovative research and liberal visa policies, can motivate global talent to move to China, it is not necessary that global talent, circumspect of moving to the US, will necessarily choose China. 

Certain negative perceptions about both the US and China may push mobile foreign talent to look more closely at third countries with fewer regulations, more academic flexibility, higher resources for research, smaller adjustment costs and friendlier immigration policies. Major global education hubs like Australia, Canada, Germany, Korea, Singapore and the UK might emerge as preferred locations in this regard. These countries can collaborate on academic and research partnerships and alliances in strategic sectors for attracting foreign talent. These gains will mean a “zero-sum” outcome for both the US and China.

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