Over 60 US universities attend the forum to attract Chinese students in Chengdu, Sichuan Province on March 23, 2018. Photo: VCG

Chinese students feel their plans of studying abroad may now be uncertain due to the new policy introduced by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). However, the TOEFL, IELTS, and GRE exams have resumed after months' suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Due to the public health concerns related to COVID-19, the IELTS, TOEFL, GRE, and GMAT tests scheduled for recent months across Chinese mainland cities have all been postponed or canceled. 

As the epidemic has largely been put under control in China, the organizers resumed the language tests in some mainland cites over the past few days. 

The IELTS test was resumed in three of its computer-based exam sites in Shanghai since July 9, while the TOEFL, GRE, and GMAT tests resumed in some cities including Shanghai, Suzhou, Yangzhou and Changzhou in East China's Jiangsu Province, Xi'an in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, and Shenzhen and Dongguan in South China's Guangdong Province over the past weekend. 

However, just days before the language tests resumed, the US ICE announced on July 6 that international students in the US will have to leave the country or risk deportation if their universities decide to move classes to online-only. 

The ICE explained that only non-immigrant students that attend schools that offer entirely online courses will not be permitted to enter or remain in the country. However, such students will be allowed to continue to attend online classes at these schools from outside the US, and their student records will be maintained, ICE said in response to the opposition from international students and some universities in the US. 

Chinese testing candidates planning to study abroad applied for the language capacity tests as soon as they were informed of their resumption, and traveled long journeys to the cities that held tests. 

Many student candidates felt concerned about the US' unpredictable policies that target international students and thought their study plans may be affected. 

A senior high school student, surnamed Li, who took the TOEFL test in Shanghai on Saturday told the Global Times that it is inconvenient to take online courses offered by US universities while in China because of the time difference. What's more, the pandemic situation in the US is currently complex, leading him to reconsider his plans to study abroad. "I had planned to study in the US, but now I'm considering Canada and the UK," Li said. 

An IELTS candidate, surnamed Cui, had planned to study abroad next year. She had planned to apply for universities both in the US and UK; however, along with the unprecedented COVID-19 situation in the US with over 3.29 million confirmed cases and 135,100 deaths as of Monday, the new ICE policy has meant she has to reconsider her study intentions. "If international students taking online-only courses have to leave the US, I will look to apply for universities in the UK," Cui said.

Some parents also showed concern toward the US' new policy. One parent, surnamed Cai, told the Global Times that studying in the US may not be her child's final decision, and the UK and Canada might be their child's new options, due to the new policy and the US' poor control of the epidemic. "It is meaningless to take online courses in China as they cannot offer the atmosphere that on-site learning offers," Cai said. 

Another parent, surnamed Yang, hopes her child will postpone his plan of studying in the US. "As a university lecturer, I know that online courses are far from satisfactory. Besides, the improvement of university students' abilities and thinking does not just depend on some courses, but relies on communication between students," Yang said. "China won't close its door. I hope the US can keep its door open as well. And the communication between the two countries and people from the two countries will become normalized," Yang added. 

Meanwhile some senior high school students who apply for universities next year feel they are lucky since they don't have to make choices when the US' policy is unclear. A senior high school student, surnamed Wang, who plans to apply for universities in the US next year thought there will be no problem next year when she applies, since she thinks the policies of the Trump administration are highly changeable. "I think after the US presidential election, there will be no problem," Wang said.