After years of big gains, Chinese enrollment has flattened out at UC San Diego and the number may drop in 2020.

Many American universities are experiencing the same shift. Educators say that the social and political climate in the U.S. has left many international students, especially those from China, feeling unwelcome and unsafe.

Here’s a look at how the Union-Tribune reported the story for Sunday’s InDepth package.

Q: How did the shift in Chinese enrollment come to your attention?

A: It almost went overlooked. Asian-Americans have long made up a large portion of UCSD’s student body. So I assumed that’s who I was mostly seeing on campus as enrollment soared over the past decade. Last winter, I took a hard look at the data and realized I was wrong. Like other University of California campuses, UCSD has been drawing large numbers of students from other countries. Most of them come from China, which has a surplus of students looking to get into elite research schools.


Q: Why is the UC system turning to other countries? Aren’t there tons of Californians who want to get into schools like UCSD?

A: That’s a sensitive political question that UCSD does not like to discuss.

Over the past 20 years, the percentage of revenue that the UC gets from the state has dropped by almost 20 points, to about six percent. The Great Recession made things worse. So UC campuses began recruiting more out-of-state and international students. Those students pay about $30,000 a year more that California residents in tuition and fees.

I get angry emails from people who say that this should not have happened. The reality is that California voters, as a group, did not rise up say, “No, don’t do it” when the state cut the UC’s budget.” They accepted the fact the the UC would increase tuition and seek money in other places to make up for the shortfalls.

Q: Does this mean that the number of California residents attending the UC has been declining?

A: No. But UCSD has done a poor job with this question, adding to the confusion. The campus recently sent me a statement that says, in part, “Nonresident students do not replace California residents.”

The number of Californians attending the UC has greatly increased. But they represent a smaller percentage of total enrollment. In 2008, about 91 percent of UCSD’s students were from California. In 2018, the figure was about 71 percent. Much of that change involved the increase in students from China. We’re in the middle of a trade war with China, which has made the topic politically charged.


I sense that’s part of the reason UCSD has made it very difficult for me to get its admissions executives on the phone.

Q: So how have you been getting information?

A: I sought help from Shu Chien, the Chinese-born UCSD scientist who was awarded the National Medal of Science for his pioneering studies of blood cells. His work has saved countless lives.

Chien is a revered figure at UCSD, having brought in more than $90 million in research funding over the past 30 years. He’s also known for his gentle diplomacy. I asked him to encourage faculty members to speak candidly with me about the school’s Chinese enrollment. He made it happen, like a wizard waving a wand. That enabled me to get a much deeper sense of what’s been occurring at UCSD.

Q: Did this lead to any surprises?

A: Shock would be a better word.

China has a totalitarian government that fights dissent, including dissent from Chinese nationals who study or work abroad. So it didn’t surprise me when I struggled to get Chinese students to talk on the record. I did get a postdoctoral researcher to talk. She didn’t say anything controversial. But when I sent her a transcript of our interview, she deleted more than half of her answers and asked to be identified by a pseudonym.


That’s self-censorship. I found it absolutely horrifying.