President Donald Trump has signaled his intention to tighten immigration policies, but that has not stopped Chinese students from enrolling in the University of California, an executive from the university said Friday.

In 2016, nearly 20,000 students from China enrolled in the university, almost 10 times more than 2000, said Christine Gulbranson, senior vice president at the University of California’s Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

The world’s second-largest economy also contributes the largest number of international students to the university, she added.

“I don’t think it’s slowing down, I don’t think it’s had an impact at least on the academic side,” she told CNBC on the sidelines of the Fortune Global Forum in Guangzhou, China.

Tougher Immigration measures featured hugely in Trump’s election campaign, during which he made the well-known promise of building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. Since taking office, the president has attempted to impose a ban on travelers from several Muslim nations and ended a program that allowed young people, who arrived in the U.S. illegally as children, to work in the country.

But that has not stopped Chinese students from applying to the University of California, which is also exploring opportunities, such as setting up a local campus in China, to bridge the U.S. and Chinese markets, Gulbranson said.

Source: cnbc china
Trump hasn't deterred Chinese students from enrolling, University of California says