【Epoch Times December 15, 2025】Purdue University, one of the public Ivy League schools in the United States, has reportedly begun refusing applications and admissions from “enemy countries” such as the People’s Republic of China since the summer of this year, making it the first case in American universities. What signal does this release? What kind of impact will it have? How should mainland Chinese students face this?
According to a report from the Journal & Courier at the main campus in West Lafayette on December 3, Purdue University informed faculties and officials from various departments such as the School of Education, the School of Engineering, and the College of Science in October and November that even if certain countries’ graduate students were admitted by various departments, the university was “highly unlikely” to sign those admission letters in most cases during the upcoming enrollment season.
These countries include China, Russia, Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, and North Korea – all recognized by US federal regulations as “enemy countries”.
A faculty member responsible for graduate student admissions said, “They (the university) almost require us not to issue admission notices to Chinese students, or not to consider Chinese students. In a way, they want us to directly reject these students without any consideration.”
A statistics professor revealed that at a mid-October meeting, graduate student advisers in the department told faculty members that they might have to start refusing a large number of students’ admissions.
The professor said, “They (the university) encouraged us to admit students from any country other than China.”
The Purdue Exponent reported on December 5 that Purdue University banned admissions of graduate students from mainland China and Taiwan – which was considered an erroneous report as Purdue University did not have enrollment restrictions on Taiwanese students.
Furthermore, Inside Higher Ed reported on December 12 that Purdue University had rejected a significant number of Chinese applicants from enrolling in graduate programs for the current academic year. One graduate student mentioned that in the past few months, the university informed the Graduate Recruitment Committee that they were “highly unlikely” to enroll any students from “enemy countries” next year.
Purdue University’s move to freeze the acceptance of Chinese graduate students is the first of its kind in American universities. Although Purdue University did not comment on these reports, multiple reports mentioned that the university’s relationship with China has always been closely monitored and pressured by members of Congress.
In March of this year, the US House of Representatives’ “China Communist Party Special Committee” requested Purdue University to provide information on Chinese students enrolled at the university, suggesting that student visas became “Trojan horses for Beijing,” implying that Chinese students may enter the US with student visas and potentially steal sensitive research secrets for the Chinese government.
Less than two weeks later, the university administration provided information on the enrollment rate of Chinese students at the university and details on their ongoing research, but did not provide specific information on each Chinese student.
In a response to Congress, Purdue University’s Provost Patrick Wolfe agreed with the House’s special committee’s view, acknowledging the “increasing risks” the Chinese government poses to the US and its attempt to “leverage US universities for technological and military expansion.”
According to Purdue University’s policy page, by June, the university officially adopted a policy targeting “enemy countries,” prohibiting faculty and staff from establishing financial and enrollment connections with these countries.
Kieran Hilmer, one of the heads of Purdue University’s Graduate Rights and Welfare Organization (GROW), mentioned that Purdue University took action out of concern that federal or state funding would be withdrawn. This action is just a part of a larger trend.
As per the Purdue University website, several federal agencies including NASA, the Department of Energy, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Department of Labor have warned of budget cuts to Purdue University.
Recent graduate Chen Langri from Purdue University told Epoch Times that Purdue University took action because it is ranked higher in the US and is a more conservative university academically. The considerations by the university lean towards conservative or moderate policies, whereas most other universities are more liberal or left-leaning.
Tian Xie, a professor at the School of Business at the University of South Carolina Aiken, believes that after Purdue University’s initial response to the US congressional committee’s call, other universities will follow suit. Due to the Chinese Communist Party’s espionage activities posing a security threat to the US, the Trump administration, US Congress, and the US education sector have all begun shutting the door on China.
It is unclear when Purdue University began advising various departments to refuse applications from some international students, but for some Chinese applicants, their rejections may have appeared as early as this summer.
A Chinese student who applied for Purdue University’s graduate program told Inside Higher Ed that he received an acceptance letter in February, but in April or May, the Graduate Admissions Office informed him that his application was denied.
Tian Xie stated that the fundamental reason for the US rejecting Chinese students is China’s espionage activities because China has always used international students to recruit spies and operatives for the Chinese Communist Party.
In 2017, China enacted the National Intelligence Law, which was implemented in 2018. This law stipulates that all social organizations, business organizations, and citizens in China have the “duty” to cooperate with the Chinese Communist Party’s intelligence work.
Xie said, “China’s hostility towards the US and its threat to the US have caused backlash from the US Congress and the American people. After this backlash, to cut off China’s access to high-tech, these students, young Chinese people, have become sacrificial victims. The blame is, of course, on the Chinese Communist Party. It is regrettable for these young Chinese people.”
In a September report, the US House’s China Communist Party Special Committee stated that it had conducted a year-long investigation into Purdue University, Stanford University, Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Maryland, the University of Southern California, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, investigating the behavior and research activities of Chinese students on their campuses.
Reportedly, Purdue University faculty members stated that the refusal of Chinese graduate students was conveyed through face-to-face meetings and private conversations to the research recruitment committees in various departments, representing an “unwritten policy.”
Chen Langri believes that Purdue University’s use of this informal method to restrict the influx of Chinese graduate students is probably to prevent making the situation look very bad, so that Chinese students might not be willing to study at Purdue University in the future.
According to university enrollment data, the number of international students enrolled at Purdue University – including undergraduate and graduate students – has significantly decreased. This year, the number of international freshmen enrolled at Purdue University reached its lowest point since 2004, accounting for only 5% of the total new students.
The declining trend at Purdue University is consistent with the trend of American universities as a whole. Data showed that although the number of international student applications received this year hit a new high since 2015, the university only admitted 23% of international students.
Chen Langri explained that although Purdue University is a state public university, it attracts mainland Chinese students because its mechanical engineering department is “very advanced,” and many of its research activities are “closely related” to US defense.
Renowned nuclear physicist Deng Jiaxian, who later became known as the “founding father of China’s atomic bomb and hydrogen bomb program,” obtained his doctoral degree from Purdue University and returned to China in 1950, becoming a key figure in China’s nuclear program.
Purdue University has produced three Nobel Prize winners in Physics, three Nobel Prize winners in Chemistry, and 22 astronauts, including the first man on the moon, Neil Armstrong.
Chen Langri believes that Purdue University’s new policy will not have a significant impact on Chinese students already studying there, but it will definitely impose “restrictions” on mainland Chinese students who wish to study there in the future. However, they can still apply to other universities without restrictions.
He said, “The Chinese Communist Party might need to redeploy and find ways to obtain technological intelligence from other universities. Therefore, many universities need to emulate Purdue University’s approach to effectively prevent the theft of technological information by the Chinese Communist Party.”
For mainland students who have been rejected after arriving in the US, Tian Xie suggests that they can switch to less sensitive majors.
“For them personally, if they still want to take advantage of studying opportunities in the US, they can entirely switch to other disciplines, and it will be fine. It doesn’t have to be all STEM fields,” Xie said, noting that other disciplines also offer good job opportunities.