Jing Yu
In the context of Donald Trump’s return to office and the escalating geopolitical rivalry between the U.S. and China, this study provides timely insights into how macro-level political and economic forces intersect with micro-level agency in shaping the decisions and lived experiences of Chinese international students. Drawing on the theoretical frameworks of geopolitical economy and student self-formation, this article critically examines how global power dynamics and structural constraints influence international students’ educational trajectories. Based on the semi-structured interviews with 38 Chinese students at a U.S. public research university, the study finds that their decisions to study abroad are shaped by concerns about personal safety, financial constraints, and restrictions on international mobility. However, these students are not merely passive recipients of these external challenges; they actively navigate these political and economic uncertainties by leveraging transnational social networks and digital resources, exploring alternative educational and career pathways, and adapting their aspirations in response to shifting global landscapes. By highlighting the entanglement of geopolitics, race, and higher education, this study calls for a geopolitical turn in higher education research to better theorize how international students are positioned not only through race and class, but also through nation-state rivalry and global restructuring.