Banking on China: University of California’s China Collaborations Under the Spotlight
In the past decade, the University of California (UC) system faced a sticky situation. Staring down the barrel of precipitous cuts in state funding, UC needed to find benefactors to make up for the shortfall. It found its savior in the form of Chinese students who were willing to fork out around three times as […]
In the past decade, the University of California (UC) system faced a sticky situation. Staring down the barrel of precipitous cuts in state funding, UC needed to find benefactors to make up for the shortfall. It found its savior in the form of Chinese students who were willing to fork out around three times as much tuition as Californian residents to attend one of the system’s 10 campuses, which include some of the most prestigious public universities in the country. Billions in tuition rolled in, and now UC boasts the largest number of Chinese students and scholars in the United States. The university’s dependence on Chinese students for cash flow is not a unique phenomenon. It’s emblematic of deepening academic and economic links between Western institutions and China that until recently has attracted little scrutiny. While U.S. universities often tout that collaboration with Chinese institutions serve to advance scientific endeavors ...
