By SYLVIA HUI, Related Press
LONDON (AP) — In China, wait occasions for U.S. visa interviews are so lengthy that some college students have given up. Universities in Hong Kong are fielding switch inquiries from overseas college students within the U.S., and worldwide functions for British undergraduate packages have surged.
President Donald Trump’s administration has been pressuring U.S. faculties to scale back their dependence on worldwide enrollment whereas including new layers of scrutiny for overseas college students as a part of its crackdown on immigration.
The U.S. authorities has sought to deport overseas college students for collaborating in pro-Palestinian activism. Within the spring, it abruptly revoked the authorized standing of hundreds of worldwide college students, together with some whose solely brush with legislation enforcement was a site visitors ticket. After reversing course, the federal government paused new appointments for pupil visas whereas rolling out a course of for screening candidates’ social media accounts.
The U.S. stays the primary selection for a lot of worldwide college students, however establishments elsewhere are recognizing alternative within the upheaval, and candidates are contemplating locations they may have in any other case missed. The affect on U.S. universities — and the nation’s economic system — could also be important.
New worldwide enrollment within the U.S. might drop by 30% to 40% this fall, based on an evaluation of visa and enrollment knowledge by NAFSA, an company that promotes worldwide training.
That might deprive the U.S. economic system of $7 billion in spending, based on the evaluation. Many worldwide college students pay full worth, so their absence would additionally damage faculty budgets.
Britain stands to realize because the US takes ‘a massive hit’
Because the second hottest vacation spot for worldwide college students, Britain is positioned to learn.
The nation’s new Labour authorities has vowed to chop migration, and officers have imposed cut-off dates on post-study visas permitting graduates to remain and work. However admissions consultants say the UK continues to be seen as probably the most welcoming of the standard “big four” English-speaking locations in greater training — the U.S., U.Okay., Canada and Australia.
After declining final 12 months, the variety of worldwide functions for undergraduate research within the U.Okay. this fall grew by 2.2%, official figures present. A file variety of functions got here from China, up 10% in contrast with the earlier 12 months. Purposes from the U.S. additionally reached practically 8,000 college students — a rise of 14% and a 20-year excessive.
Acceptances of worldwide college students for graduate packages within the U.Okay. grew an estimated 10% from final 12 months, pushed by demand for enterprise and administration programs specifically, based on knowledge from UniQuest, which works with many British universities on admissions.
Information displaying the extent of any affect is not going to be accessible till fall, stated Mike Henniger, CEO of Illume Scholar Advisory Companies, a consultancy that works with faculties within the U.S., Canada and Europe. “But the American brand has taken a massive hit, and the U.K. is the one that is benefiting,” he stated.
Staying in Asia is rising in popularity
Demand from Chinese language college students has risen quickly for universities locations in Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia, stated Will Kwong, managing director of AAS Schooling, a consultancy in Hong Kong. Many Western universities have offshore campuses there which are extra inexpensive than going to the U.S. or U.Okay.
“Opting for study in Asia has been a trend since the easing of COVID-19,” Kwong stated. “But obviously it’s been exacerbated by the change of administration in the U.S.”
Some Asian households have instructed him the U.S. is now not their clear first selection due to political turbulence and visa difficulties, many are nonetheless ready for U.S. visa interviews and can probably miss the beginning of the autumn time period, Kwong stated.
Chinese language faculty pupil Alisa, who’s finding out knowledge science, plans to attend an alternate program this fall on the College of California, Berkeley. She hopes to pursue a grasp’s diploma within the U.S.
However she can also be trying into different choices “just so I could still go to school if the extreme scenario occurs,” stated Alisa, who spoke on situation of partial anonymity out of worry of being focused.
Hong Kong will welcome any college students who’re denied entry to the U.S., the town’s chief John Lee has stated. Final 12 months, the Chinese language territory determined to permit worldwide college students to work part-time.
Hong Kong College stated it has acquired over 500 inquiries from college students within the U.S. and is processing round 200 functions for switch. At one other faculty, the Hong Kong College of Science and Expertise, worldwide undergraduate functions have surged by 40% from final 12 months, stated Alison Lloyd, affiliate provost on institutional knowledge and analysis.
Upheaval may very well be a boon for international locations with satellite tv for pc campuses
International locations together with the United Arab Emirates have invested closely in attracting worldwide college students by partnering with universities elsewhere to host department campuses. These preparations might attraction to college students who worry being denied entry to the U.S.
Dubai, which has designs on changing into a worldwide training hub, hosts dozens of worldwide establishments’ satellite tv for pc campuses. It noticed worldwide pupil numbers develop by a 3rd in 2024-2025.
FILE – An Emirati pupil arrives on the constructing of the College of Wollongong in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Dec. 28, 2009. (AP Picture/Kamran Jebreili, File)
Lisa Johnson, principal of Dubai’s non-public American Academy for Women, stated her largely Emirati pupil physique is more and more trying away from the U.S. for faculty.
“Every student wants and dreams to go to Harvard,” she stated. “But as college options increase in the United Arab Emirates, more and more students are staying.”
Kazakhstan has comparable ambitions, stated Daniel Palm, who has helped U.S. universities arrange campuses overseas. Illinois Tech and the College of Arizona are amongst faculties providing diploma packages within the Central Asian nation, drawing college students largely from China and Russia.
“All of a sudden U.S. colleges are asking how to provide diversity, provide access,” Palm stated, “because you have students who want to come to the U.S. and can’t.”
Related Press writers Kanis Leung in Hong Kong; Albee Zhang in Washington, D.C.; and Gabe Levin in Dubai contributed.
Initially Revealed: August 6, 2025 at 10:11 AM EDT
