Purdue blocks admission of many Chinese grad students in unwritten policy

Science.org ^ | 01/16/2026 | Jeffrey Mervis

[DFG]

In an unprecedented step for a major research university, Purdue University has begun to curb the flow of Chinese graduate students to its Indiana campuses. The policy follows pressure from Congress and President Donald Trump for U.S. institutions to monitor Chinese scholars more closely but goes far beyond those demands.

The directive, which was first reported in early December 2025 by the Lafayette Journal & Courier and the Purdue student newspaper, has never been put in writing. But several faculty members confirmed to Science that it is in effect. Last spring it apparently led Purdue to rescind departmental letters of acceptance to more than 100 graduate students, most from China. More recently it is impacting students that faculty members would like to employ as research assistants in their lab but whom the university has not admitted into a doctoral program.

“The policy doesn’t make any sense,” says one faculty member, who like others requested anonymity because faculty have been ordered not to talk to the media. If it continues, “we’ll experience a huge brain drain of talented students simply because the university is willing to capitulate to avoid being targeted by this administration.”

Last month, the Federation of Asian Professor Associations expressed its “grave concern” about the new admissions policy and asked Purdue to explain its rationale and impact on students. “Purdue University is risking its global reputation by endorsing a practice that shifts away from” long-standing academic norms, the group wrote to Purdue’s president, Mung Chiang, who has not responded. Purdue declined to answer Science’s questions about the policy, but said in a statement that Purdue “does not discriminate in admissions on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, age, national origin or ancestry, or any other protected status.”

The new policy applies to students from as many as 30 countries, according to faculty members, including seven the U.S. government has designated as “countries of concern.” The latter group includes China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and Venezuela.

Faculty members say the new procedures have been presented verbally at meetings but remain vague. “There hasn’t been an official stop to admitting [Chinese students],” one says. “But when we’ve asked to get it in writing, [administrators] say they haven’t done it because then somebody could sue us.”

University officials have described the unwritten policy as a prudent response to the current uncertainty facing Chinese and other foreign students when they apply for visas to study in the United States. “They are telling us that these foreign students may not show up if we offer them a position,” the faculty member says. “And that could jeopardize our research.”

But many faculty and affected students see the change as an overreaction to the current political climate. In March 2025, a select committee in the U.S. House of Representatives investigating the Chinese Communist Party asked Purdue and five other major U.S. research institutions to document the activities of Chinese students and scholars on campus, their interactions with Chinese institutions, and steps the universities are taking to prevent the theft of intellectual property. Purdue responded within days, reporting that the school’s overall doctoral population includes 1144 Chinese nationals, or one-fifth of the total.

Representative John Moolenaar (R–MI), who chairs the House committee, singled out the university for praise in a September 2025 report. “Purdue has proactively reviewed its policies regarding foreign students and research collaboration and has already implemented new safeguards,” Moolenaar wrote. “This forward-leaning approach should serve as an example to other institutions of higher education.”

Purdue’s graduate student association believes the policy was first applied in May to more than 100 students who were told that their acceptance letters had been rescinded. Kieran Hilmer, a math graduate student and association leader, says all received the same form email. “The Office of Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Scholars [OGSPS] must approve all graduate admissions and funding offers at Purdue,” the letters read. “Unfortunately, your application was not approved for admission by OGSPS.”

The new policy is now affecting students seeking admission for this year’s spring and fall semesters, as one Chinese-born student discovered recently after setting their sights on earning a Ph.D. in computer science from Purdue. “I sent in my application last fall, and sent [the professor they wanted to work with] a video of my research,” the student says. “She offered me a position immediately and told me it was a done deal.” But after several failed attempts to clarify the status of the student’s application, the professor told the student to apply elsewhere.

“I’m really disappointed,” says the student, who had been accepted elsewhere but chose Purdue “because the professor is a genius.”

A rescinded offer can result in a student losing their right to remain in the country if they cannot enroll at another institution, Hilmer notes. For those who had already moved to the main Purdue campus in West Lafayette, it could also mean breaking the lease on an apartment they had rented—or absorbing the cost.

Despite the unwritten policy, an unknown number of Chinese graduate students were admitted last fall. It appears that departments that had made decisions early in the cycle and got approval from the graduate office were not greatly affected. Science was also told about department chairs who went to bat for specific students and convinced senior administrators they should be admitted.

The faculty Senate has asked administrators to clarify questions about the policy, such as whether it also applies to foreign-born students now living in the U.S., according to several faculty members. But to date the group has received no additional guidance. In the meantime, the Asian faculty alliance warned in its letter to Chiang that “any practice that instructs or pressures faculty to exclude applicants on a country-wide basis institutionalizes bias, corrupts the admissions process, devalues the hard work of all applicants, and undermines the integrity of our academic degrees.”

Indiana isn’t the only state where Chinese grad students face new hurdles. In 2023, the Florida legislature passed a law designed to restrict students from countries of concern from working at the state’s public universities, for example as research or teaching assistants. Its legality is being tested in federal court after three Chinese graduate students whose employment offers were withdrawn sued the state.

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TOPICS: Education
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[Leaning Right]

> The policy follows pressure from Congress and President Donald Trump… <

I’ll tell you how old I am. I’m old enough to remember when “science” sources just talked about science.

[55Ford]

So; fewer Chinese spies.

[Da Coyote]

Purdue is a great STEM school and thankfully is showing that it also has morals.

[healy61]

Why doesn’t China have a world class university system with such professors as the Chinese students, or rather spies, would call him a genius? Why? Cause spying in America is the Chinese party goal.

[HYPOCRACY]

“the Federation of Asian Professor Associations”
Is that like the Department of Redundancy Department?

Is there a Federation of European Professor Association? No there is not because that would be white supremacy. So this gang exists solely to advocate for bringing in more Chinese and Indian trash/spies. Scumbags.

[escapefromboston]

But how will China spy on us now ? Jeez this is racist

[103198]

Go Boilers!

[AppyPappy]

I can tell you from experience that students from China are not big donors.