“The management requirements for Chinese students should be applied equally to foreign students – earning credits, abiding by school discipline, being ethical – none of [these virtues] should be missing,” the editorial said.

It added that the value of Chinese-issued diplomas had to be protected by ensuring that all students were earning them the same way.

Number of Americans studying in mainland China falls sharply

According to the college’s regulations, students who have been absent for more than 60 class hours can face a range of punishment, from probation to expulsion.

The editorial said the college’s move had received “unanimous praise” online and showed China’s attitude towards strictly regulating international students.

“When you come to China to study, you must abide by Chinese laws and regulations [and] study hard,” it said. “Do not abuse the Chinese people’s sincerity, let alone expect any ‘preferential treatment [over Chinese nationals]’.”

The editorial applauded the immigration and education authorities’ joint handling of the case, saying it sent a “strong signal for stricter management of international students and entry-exit management” that was conducive to establishing a clear direction for “equal management”.

It also underlined Ministry of Education guidelines issued in 2019, demanding higher education institutions “strictly implement the attendance system for international students in China, clarify the attendance qualification standards” and provide relevant information to education and immigration authorities.

Survey of 30 years of Chinese students in US reflects pressures, satisfaction

International students are an important part of China’s international outreach efforts. From 2009 to 2018, the number of international students more than doubled to nearly 500,000, according to official data.

No official data is available for student numbers since 2019, but the total is believed to have fallen dramatically as China closed its borders during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Preferential treatment for international students has long been a hot-button issue in the country, with critics raising various accusations, from access to reserved facilities to leniency for misbehaviour.

“We have seen that some international students do not cherish the opportunity to study in China, and even regard the Chinese people’s friendliness as their ‘privilege’, leading to very unpleasant social implications,” the editorial said, referring to a 2019 incident in which an international student in Fuzhou, Fujian province, illegally rode an electric vehicle and “violently pushed” a traffic police officer.

Sentiment flared again in 2019 when Shandong University, a top-tier college in eastern China, came under criticism for its intercultural buddy programme that paired foreign students with Chinese students of the opposite sex.

The scheme was introduced in 2016 to encourage students to “learn culturally and academically” from each other.

In a notice issued in 2018 and circulated online the next year, the university said the programme had paired 141 Chinese students with 47 foreign students, from countries including Pakistan, Kenya, Yemen and Nepal. Most of the buddies were of the opposite sex.

The university later apologised, saying: “We deeply regret the negative influence of this … We failed to do a proper job and included ‘making foreign acquaintances of the opposite sex’ as an option in the programme application.”