The University of Tennessee ended the memorandum of understanding between the university and the China Scholarship Council that has been in place since 2024. The agreement allowed both bodies to select and support Chinese students as they pursued UT's PhD and Master's degree programs.
Documents state the program would fund students for up to 48 months for PhD candidates and up to 24 months for Master's candidates, with up to 10 students per year in each respective track. They also state that CSC would provide the in-state tuition total for each student, as well as round-trip international airfare and visa application fees.
UT would be responsible for covering the out-of-state tuition for the students, as well as providing graduate assistantships, each included a funding package, during the students' stay.
The committee sent letters to six other universities: Dartmouth College, the University of Notre Dame, Temple University, and University of California campuses in Davis, Irvine and Riverside.
The University of North Texas ended its partnership with the program in 2020.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced a new policy in May to revoke visas for students from China and Hong Kong, and in April the Trump administration suddenly terminated the immigration status of nine international students at UT. The decision was later reversed.
The Knoxville campus enrolled 1,425 international students in the fall 2024 semester, including 194 students from China.
