US President Donald Trump’s administration revoked Harvard University’s ability to enrol international students on Thursday, and is forcing existing students to transfer to other schools or lose their legal status
Kristi Noem, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, ordered her department to terminate Harvard University’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification, Homeland Security said in a statement. Noem accused the university of “fostering violence, antisemitism, and co-ordinating with the Chinese Communist Party”.
In the 2024-25 school year, 27 per cent, or 6800, of Harvard’s student body were international students.Credit: AP
Harvard said the move – which affects thousands of students – was illegal and amounted to retaliation.
The clampdown on foreign students marks a significant escalation in the Trump administration’s campaign against the Ivy League university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which has emerged as one of Trump’s most prominent institutional targets. The move comes after Harvard refused to provide information that Noem had previously demanded about some foreign student visa holders who attend the university, the department said.
“It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enrol foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition payments to help pad their multibillion-dollar endowments,” Noem said in a statement.
Harvard rejected the allegations and pledged to support foreign students. The university said it was “fully committed” to educating foreign students and was working on producing guidance for affected students.
“The government’s action is unlawful,” the university said in a statement. “This retaliatory action threatens serious harm to the Harvard community and our country, and undermines Harvard’s academic and research mission.”
Reuters
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