Crackdown on Chinese Students Raises Fears for UK Tech Ambitions

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Chinese national Luo, 23, was thrilled when he was accepted into Cambridge University’s electrical engineering PhD program in 2021.

All he needed before starting was clearance from a UK government agency that vets postgraduate students who study topics that could have military applications. Luo considered that a formality, he told Bloomberg in an interview, considering he’d already been green-lit for his masters degree at the same school.

But he was rejected. So he applied again, and was rejected again. 

The agency that reviewed his application — the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office — gave no reason. But since Luo couldn’t fathom being considered a security risk, he applied 14 more times over the next two years while enduring Covid-19 lockdown from his hometown in Sichuan, tweaking the applications to what he hoped would be seen as less sensitive subjects each time to no avail, before switching his research to a field not covered by the FCDO’s vetting process. 

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